Poor Qana. One village that really didn't need another massacre. I remember the last one and feel for the people there.
But what is the point of the way the Lebanese are demonstrating against it? How can Lebanese people act in such a way, a way guaranteed to bring any hope of peace to an end?
The BBC website says:
"Hundreds of protesters are staging a violent demonstration in Beirut. An angry crowd is attacking the UN building, chanting slogans against the US and in support of Hezbollah."
Chanting slogans against the US, yes, that makes sense. Attacking the US embassy would make sense but they're not doing that.
Instead they're attacking the UN, people who are trying to help Lebanon.
Attacking the UN Security Council offices would make sense, given the arms industry link to the bombardments on Lebanon and the fact that that's where America vetos any resolutions designed to help Lebanon.
But tthe UN Security Council offices aren't in Beirut. The UN staff in Beirut have only ever tried to help Lebanon, with aid, relief work, educational development, UNIFIL observers etc.
And showing the whole world that Lebanese support Hezbollah? How stupid can Lebanese people get? World opinion had just turned in their favour because of the numbers of civilian deaths and the overload of Israeli destruction of Lebanese infrastructure.
Now, the whole world will just feel revulsion again: once again, they'll feel that nobody decent could support Hezbollah. The Lebanese themselves have just destroyed much of the sympathy anyone outside Lebanon felt for them.
Why? Why have Lebanese kicked themself in the teeth in this way? How could they?
Al Jazeera's website says:
"A draft resolution prepared by France proposes deploying up to 20,000 peacekeepers along Lebanon's borders with Israel and Syria.
The proposal stresses the need for "a permanent ceasefire and a lasting solution to the current crisis between Israel and Lebanon" while addressing "the root causes that have given rise to the current crisis".
The conditions for a permanent ceasefire include a buffer zone stretching from the Blue Line - the UN-demarcated boundary that Israel withdrew behind in 2000 - to the Litani River, which was the northern border of Israel's occupation of Lebanon in 1982.
The buffer zone would be "free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Lebanese armed and security forces and of UN-mandated international forces," the draft says."
Maybe this is why. Was the protest arranged by Hezbollah to ensure that no UN-mandated international force was sent to Lebanon, that no permanent ceasefire happens, that no lasting solution comes about?
Yes, that would suit them, wouldn't it? They need the chaos to get worse before they can start building an Islamic republic of Lebanon.
Condoleeza Rice has left the region abruptly. That's the end of any American pretence at helping Lebanon. They'll now be even more with Israel.
And why should the UN risk their soldiers' lives when Lebanese have already treated the UN like an enemy? UN observers in Khiam were deliberately bombed and killed by Israel just this week. The Lebanese respect those young foreign men so little that they are now attacking the UN building! Young men who have nothing to do with Lebanon's problems, who are there UNARMED, who are only there to report Israeli and Hezbollah infringements of bilateral agreements and international law. And also, who have done more than their stated duty by trying to help Lebanese villagers in many ways.
If I were in charge of the UN, I'd pull out all the UNIFIL soldiers, whose lives are now at risk from both Israeli and Lebanese madmen.
The European countries that America wanted to make up an army in the "buffer zone" already weren't happy with the idea. What European country is going to risk sending their soldiers to help Lebanon now? The UN helps Lebanon and gets attacked as an enemy. Why should Europeans risk more young foreign men being treated the same way?
I pity normal, decent Lebanese people, the ones who are suffering most during this conflict. But with Hezbollah and their lapdogs, like the idiots attacking the UN building, around, you'll never be able to live a normal, decent life.
The water of peace and the possibility of living normal, decent lives is right in front of the Lebanese but so many will not drink it. Instead, they befoul it, spoiling it not only for themselves but also for those who really want to drink.
