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| The new Flip Flop |
ETWolverine |
07/25/06 |
HEZBOLLAH 'COWARDS' TO BLAME FOR CIVILIAN SLAUGHTER: U.N. BIG
By URI DAN, with Post Wire Services
July 25, 2006 -- JERUSALEM - The top U.N. humanitarian official yesterday charged that Hezbollah is fighting like cowards and causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent women and children in Lebanon.
In scathing comments, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending" among civilians and said he was appalled that the group was proud that more innocents had died than its own fighters.
"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending . . . among women and children," Egeland said at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after visiting Lebanon to coordinate an international aid effort.
"I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men," Egeland added.
The terrorist group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians.
"We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war where civilians are paying the price," said Egeland, who was heading to Israel next.
Egeland had previously called Israel's offensive "disproportionate" and "a violation of international humanitarian law."
Early this morning, Israel took control of the town of Bint Jbail in southern Lebanon following hours of intense fighting, Israeli radio reported. And the army said the fighting wasn't over yet.
Dozens of Hezbollah fighters were killed in the besieged terrorist stronghold, the Israeli military said.
Four Israeli soldiers also died - two in a helicopter crash and two in the fighting at Bint Jbail, known as "the capital of the [Hezbollah] resistance" and is believed to hold the group's largest arsenal in the area.
Israel has already taken Maroun al-Ras, another Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.
In other developments:
* Hezbollah guerrillas fired 80 more rockets into Israel, wounding 13 people, despite the steady push of Israeli ground troops north of the border.
* Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed he told "some of the main political leaders" in Lebanon he planned the July 12 kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, which triggered the border war.
"And nobody said to me 'You are not allowed to abduct Israeli soldiers,' " he told al-Jazeera TV.
* Four U.N. peacekeepers were wounded, one seriously, in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah in South Lebanon, U.N. officials said.
* Israeli diplomats around the world have been warned to beware of terrorist attacks because Hezbollah activated "sleeper cells" abroad. Missions and other diplomatic offices have been put on high alert, sources said.
* The White House said declaring a truce would not be enforceable now.
"I think the notion that you have a cease-fire at this point is unenforceable and does not really get us to the point we need to be at," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said in Washington.
* Hamas and other groups in Gaza are reportedly ready to accept a cease-fire deal that would include the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped on June 25.
The Palestinian Agriculture Minister told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Shalit would be returned if Israel guarantees the future release of Palestinian prisoners.
. In Lebanon, Israelis attacked 20 more missile launchers yesterday, but there are many left, officials said.
In the fighting at Bint Jbail, an estimated 100 to 200 Hezbollah holdouts were under siege by about 6,000 Israeli soldiers. At least 20 Israelis were wounded.
Much of Bint Jbail's population of 30,000 had fled. But the outnumbered holdouts put up ferocious resistance, Israeli officials said.
Some 300 Americans and 100 Europeans are believed to be trapped in villages south of Tyre, said a German official involved in evacuation efforts.
About 11,700 Americans have fled Lebanon since the conflict began, the State Department said.
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Yesterday Egelund said that Israel's actions are illegal. Today, he says that Hizbollah are cowards, and they are happy about civillian casualties. Is this a flip flop? Did Egelund not know what was going on before he shot his mouth off yesterday? Does this flip-flop constitute a change in the UN's position? Does it matter?
We also hear that members of the Lebanese government knew about the kidnappings and missile attacks in advance... but nobody told Nasrallah that kidnapping soldiers is a bad thing, and the poor, stupid, rag-head couldn't figure it out on his own.
And in other news...
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CONDI SERVES RICE SURPRISE
By DEBORAH ORIN
July 25, 2006 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday launched a Mideast shuttle diplomacy mission with a surprise stop in shell-shocked Lebanon, where she spelled out her terms for a cease-fire.
Rice's rules - backed up by the White House - stress that any cease-fire must be part of a broader deal that cracks down on how Hezbollah terrorists use southern Lebanon as a base to attack Israel.
"The situation on the border cannot return to what it was before July 12," she firmly told Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, in Beirut.
It was July 12 when Hezbollah crossed the border and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, touching off the war that has devastated Lebanon, which is caught in the crossfire.
Rice's proposal was rejected by Berri, who demanded a cease-fire followed by a prisoner swap for the two Israeli soldiers, and then broader talks.
But Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's office suggested he was more receptive and discussed Rice's ideas and "ways of developing them."
Rice also offered sympathy plus $30 million in humanitarian aid but rejected Lebanon's plea for an instant cease-fire that leaves Hezbollah in place - she said any cease-fire must be "sustainable."
That means a buffer zone of around 20 miles - longer than the range of the Katyusha rockets that Hezbollah fires across the border into Israel, she said.
Rice's plan, based on U.N. resolution 1559, also calls for an international force deployed along the Israeli-Lebanese border to keep Hezbollah from using it as a military staging area.
Rice later flew to Israel. Today she'll also meet marginalized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before flying to Rome to meet other leaders and try to spearhead a solution.
"Any peace is going to have to be based on enduring principles and not on temporary solutions," Rice said after meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "The free world is facing a threat, the goal of Hezbollah is to set the world aflame and we will not let them succeed."
A central strategy for Rice and President Bush is to get other Arab states, like Egypt and Jordan, to pressure Syria to stop backing and arming Hezbollah.
The theory is that those Arab states are also worried about Hezbollah because of its links to the non-Arab state of Iran with its radical Shiite mullah leaders.
Rice's message to Lebanon's fragile government is that removing Hezbollah would be a big step toward finally giving it real control over its entire territory.
She also stressed that Lebanon's government - which claims it can't control Hezbollah and includes Hezbollah sympathizers like Berri - must sign any cease-fire and take responsibility for it.
"If there is a cessation of hostilities, the government of Lebanon is going to have to be the party," she said.
"Let's treat the government of Lebanon as the sovereign government that it is."
Saniora warmly greeted Rice with kisses on both cheeks as she arrived on a heavily armed helicopter from Cyprus because Israeli bombing has closed Beirut's airport.
Saniora also told Rice that Israel's bombardment has set his country "backwards 50 years" as he pleaded for an immediate cease-fire, his aides said.
Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said Berri claimed a prisoner exchange would fix other problems but "that is not what we think."
Hezbollah kidnapped the soldiers in hopes of a prisoner exchange - and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrullah told Al Jazeera TV that he alerted the Lebanese government before kidnapping the soldiers.
Back in Washington, White House press secretary Tony Snow stressed that Rice speaks for the president: "There's no give on this. The United States believes in a sustainable cease-fire."
He said that means Hezbollah must return the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers and remove the rockets that have been shelling Israel.
"The sustainable cease-fire is one that is not going to enable Hezbollah to declare victory," Snow added, making clear that a cease-fire that leaves Hezbollah in place would do just that.
"You've got to keep in mind, the aggressor in this case is not Israel, it's Hezbollah," Snow added. "Hezbollah crossed over into Israeli territory and kidnapped two soldiers."
deborah.orin@nypost.com
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It seems that the Lebanese Parliment's speaker, Nabih Berri is a Hizbollah sympathizer and ally. It also seems that he is prepared to reject any cease-fire negotiations that don't include a prisoner exchange (presumably in the ratio of 100-1).
Here's my prisoner exchange plan: in exchange for releasing the Israeli kidnapees, Israeli will grant you your life, and that of your countrymen. Since Lebanon's total population is approximately 3,800,000, I'm sure that an exchange ratio of 1,900,000-1 will satisfy even Mr. Berri.
What say you?
Elliot |
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