Full Coverage: Israel Attacks Lebanon (Part II)

- "In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place." That one sentence (a surprisingly rare example of a complete sentence spoken by Cheney spokesman George W. Bush), taken on its own, would fully explain why the Middle East is now on the brink of regional war. But of course, Bush always finds a way to engage in Orwellian newspeak. At a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, he managed to rewrite history in the very next sentence by blaming Hezbollah for instigating the violence by launching rocket attacks into Israel and capturing Israeli soldiers. But then, George most likely has no idea where Gaza is, let alone what has been occurring there for decades. See... Dahr Jamail: "Open War" in the Middle East

- In among the tens of thousands of words being written at the moment on Middle East fighting there lurks some obvious home truths. In a letter to today's Sydney Morning Herald Dennis Shakesheff managed to condense it into three sentences: "I think most observers would agree that Israel's response to the Palestinians' recent provocation is disproportionate. Yet one can't help but be struck by the stupidity of it. Can anyone think of a case in history when a people has been bombed into submission?" If you add Lebanon/Lebanese to the equation you just about got it all in a nutshell. Sol Salbe: Middle East Round-Up

War: Uri Avnery (Israeli) Discloses The Real Aim Of This War - THE REAL aim is to change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government. That was the aim of Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It failed. But Sharon and his pupils in the military and political leadership have never really given up on it. As in 1982, the present operation, too, was planned and is being carried out in full coordination with the US. As then, there is no doubt that it is coordinated with a part of the Lebanese elite. That's the main thing. Everything else is noise and propaganda. See... Uri Avnery: The Real Aim

Israel Must Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon - The Israel Defense Forces should provide details about a bombing on Saturday that killed 16 people in a convoy of civilians fleeing a Lebanese village near Israel’s border, Human Rights Watch said today. Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians fleeing areas at risk. On Saturday, a number of families fled the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned them to evacuate ahead of a threatened attack. On the road leading to the coast through Chamaa, however, Israeli missiles struck a convoy of the civilians. See... Israel: Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon

Is There Another Option? – UN Sends Team - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s high-level team to the Middle East, which includes his Special Political Adviser, arrived in Cairo today on the first leg of a diplomatic mission aimed at stemming the increasing violence between Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians. The mission’s first meeting is scheduled with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abu Ghait after which the three-person team is expected to hold discussions with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, a UN spokesperson said in New York. Mr. Annan decided to send the mission following the numerous phone calls he had made with officials around the world about the escalating violence in the region, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters. After Egypt, the team will travel to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. See... UN team on the Middle East arrives in Cairo