Children Scarred beyond repair
Of the 64 men, women and children who were slaughtered by the Israelis at Qana 37 were children and of the 37, 15 were physically challenged and therefore the refugee party took shelter at Qana for the night. I do not know whether the "embedded" western media has drawn attention to this fact. The roads leading out of Qana had been bombed, the lonf convoys of refugees streaming out of Beirut, Sidon and Tyre have been bombed. Vans carrying choldren have been bombed and in this carnage we have the United Nations taliking of a "political framework" for an "enduring peace". The sentiment against the UN and the aollaborative role it has played with the US and Israel has completely undermined the confidence of the people of the region in the wisdon and fairmindedness of the world body. Even after the Israelis killed 4 of the UNIRIL doldiers the UN did not muster the moral or political strngth to condemn such wanton killing. The Arab world along with the rest of the world will have to collectively withdraw from the UN as protest because the silence of the lambs is only increasing the appetite of the world powers.
Israeli air attacks on the unarmed civilians of southern Lebanon has not been adequately exposed in the West. The bodies of the victims of air raids especially those of children do not show any sighn of injury except puffed lips and a little blood near the eyes and ears. Correspondednts have seen children as young as 7 and 8 with their noses covered with blood dragging their pathetic possessions in plastic bags along the crater strewn roads outside Tyre. One correspondent saw an 8 year old girl badly wounded herself cradling a little baby in her arms and it was clear that the baby was dead. Why? God. Why? Do the Isralis have the licence to kill and maim in such large numbers because two of their soldiers have been kidnapped.. The world is waiting for an answer. The Lebonon Governmnet gives the official figure of the war dead as 828 out of which nealy 300 or 35% are children.
Think of a little boy, Abbas Sha'ito who was travelling in the mini van with his mother and the rest of the family. He and his entire family was injured when the Israelis bombed their van. His uncle and granmother were killed and his mother badly injured. All that the bou could say over and over again,"Dont't leave me mother. Don't go. Don't go". It appears that this woman is now still alive and in intensive care in a hospital, but as the Israelis bomb even hospitals we cannot be sure how long such refugees will live. The there is Samah Shihab, a 8 year olsd gilr whose legs were blown off in the bombing at Tyre. Little children separeted from their parents, wander aimlesslly along the refugee trails outside Beirut and Sidon. The 2 day "humaNITARIAn" ceasefire arranged by the Great Condi Rice saw only 1 truckload of relief material reaching Beirut as the Israelis have bombed all the roads and bridges. I think the world has abandoned the Lebonese and they have to think of their future afresh.
The toll taken of the credibility of the Uited Nations is beyond immediate assessment. Even in the best of time the UN was not very popular and now with the UN standing by when its charter is being torn in the same manner in which the League of Nations was undermined by the Germans, the time has probably come to part company with the UN. Israel is in posseesion of the Shebaa Farm which belongs to Lebanon and how can it insist on the fulfillment of the non binding resolution 1559. Moreover the aquifers in the Shebaa farm region are being exploited by the Israelis.
Will the fighting end soon. Yes. When Israel has exhausted its supply of bombs supplied by its partner the USA. Will there be peace in the region. After this round of fighting the peace in the Middle East has lost all urgency and one more generation of displaced refugees will provide grist to the terror mills of the region.
I can anticipate the reaction. Hizbollah propaganda some will seream. Melodramatic some will say. I have just raised my voice against the infernal war and would like to see peace return to a beautifula and historically important part of this planet.