In one week of a deliberately calculated act of aggression and savagery against Lebanon and the Lebanese people, the Israeli army have entirely destroyed the nation's civilian infrastructure and massacred more than 400 innocent civilians in cold blood, injured at least 1,000 people and caused a million people to flee their homes.

The “civilised” U.S. and its Western allies have justified this massacre and wanton destruction by publicly stating (at the UN) that there is no “moral equivalence” between innocent Lebanese civilians killed by Israel’s terror and those Israelis killed by Lebanese resisting it.

Israel and the U.S. alleged that the motive behind this criminal atrocity is that Israel trying “to free” two Israeli soldiers, taken prisoners of war by the legitimate Lebanese resistance movement (Hizbullah) during a heroic military operation. However, “freeing” the soldiers was never an Israeli priority; it was only a pretext used to justify state terrorism. Israel’ real motives are:

(1) the destruction of Lebanon economy;

(2) the destruction of legitimate anti-Israel resistance movement

(3) the terrorising of the Lebanese civilian population; and

(4) the imposition of subordinate dependent (puppet) government. In other words, Israel’s planned agenda is designed to perpetuate violence against legitimate resistance to Israel’s terror and in the process instigate a region-wide war.

If Hizbullah is the target, why then is Israel deliberately killing innocent civilians and destroying the country's vital civilian infrastructure?

In violation of international law, Israeli war planes (U.S.-made F-16s) have destroyed the country’s largest milk factory, a major food factory and two pharmaceutical plants. In addition to the destruction of electricity supply, roads and bridges, water purification plants, power plants and grain silos have been destroyed. As the media reported, a convoy of two trucks carrying medical supplies was hit and destroyed. Furthermore, Israeli force deliberately massacred eleven and injured many Lebanese soldiers while sitting in their base. In the village of Srifa, Israeli warplanes (U.S.-made F-16s) destroyed an entire neighbourhood murdering at least 18 innocent civilians, including many children. According to the UN, one third of all victims are innocent children. “Israel has thrown an atom bomb on Lebanon, it is the Israeli Hiroshima”, wrote Palestinian author Azmi Bishara.

The U.S. has given Israel an unconditional “green light”. By rejecting a proposed "ceasefire", it has given Israel sufficient time to inflict maximum terror on Lebanon and the Lebanese people. However, despite Washington's obvious complicity in this mass murder, the Bush Administration continues to accuse Iran and Syria of orchestrating the violence. Robert Fisk, the British correspondent of the London (not so) Independent accused Syria of being “behind all of it [Israel’s terror] … And this is Syria’s work. This is Syria saying, ‘We're back’”. Of course, Fisk provided not a shred of evidence for this ranting. If the U.S. and Israel want to attack Iran and Syria, why are they committing such heinous crimes against Lebanon and innocent Lebanese civilians?

It is important to note that while Hizbullah have targeted the Israeli military in its operations and self-defence, all Israeli attacks were indiscriminate and deliberately targeting innocent civilians, mostly children, and civilian infrastructures. Indeed, Hizbullah stopped short of attacking the petroleum installations in Haifa, fearing that it may cause massive numbers of civilian casualties. Further, the majority of the Israelis killed by Hizbullah’s fighters were soldiers.

Hizbullah is not a proxy of Iran or Syria, as the U.S., Israel and other Western governments continue to mislead the public. Hizbullah is an independent Lebanese resistance and political movement. Hizbullah is a resistance and political movement or party composed of indigenous Muslim and Christian Lebanese with massive grassroots support. Hizbullah’s aim is to defend the territorial integrity of Lebanon and to free Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners who are languishing in Israeli jails and subjected to torturous treatment. Further, Hizbullah is the only Lebanese force willing and able to stand up to Israel’s terror.

Contrary to Western views, Hizbullah did not act “very irresponsibly” as the “Left” and “Progressives” trying to justify Israel’s terror against Lebanon. To the contrary, Hizbullah retaliated against Israel’s violent behaviour and illegal occupation , including; (1) Israel refusal to adhere international law and exchange prisoners in a peaceful way; (2) Israel routinely enters Lebanon, abducted and assassinated prominent Lebanese and Palestinian leaders in cold blood; (3) Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory, known as the Shebaa Farms, where Israel continues to illegally steal topsoil and draw water from the Litani River, and Israeli soldiers have often abducted and murdered Lebanese shepherds and farmers; and (4) Israel refuses to provide location maps for the 400,000 landmines Israel planted in Lebanon during the 18-years occupation.

The Lebanese people are no stranger to massacres; they have lived Israel’s terror and aggression in the past. In 1982 the Israeli army invaded Lebanon and massacred more than 20,000 innocent Lebanese civilians. After 18-years of brutal occupation, including the massacre of 2000 Palestinian refugees for which the criminal Ariel Sharon was found to be directly responsible, Israel withdraw its army from southern Lebanon in 2000. Thanks to the heroic resistance of Hizbullah fighters.

In April 1996, for more than two weeks, the Israeli army bombarded Lebanon destroying civilian properties and besieged the entire country. At least 800 innocent Lebanese civilians, including more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge at the UN compound (UNIFIL's Fiji BATT) in the village of Qana, south east of Tyre were massacred in cold blood.

In July 1993, the Israeli army attacked Lebanon in the same act of terror as today. In addition to the massacre of more than 130 Lebanese civilians, Israel destroyed Lebanon civilian infrastructure, resulting in 300,000 civilians being displaced. The UN condemned Israel’s aggression, but failed to act strongly due to U.S. pressure. These are only few examples of countless Israeli atrocities against the Lebanese people. The root cause of the violence is Israel’s terror and U.S. financial and political support for Israel‘s terror.

While Western governments condoning Israeli crimes and competing with each other to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon, they are condoning and providing tacit support to Israel’s war crimes against the Lebanese people. It is self-evident that the West and the U.S. in particular, do not see Arabs as human beings and continue to live in self-imposed culture of racism.

One has to read Robert Fisk to understand why the “civilised” West, led by the U.S., is so silent while Israel is massacring innocent Arab civilians with impunity – even those Arabs who look like Westerners. Fisk puts the icing on the cake when he unashamedly described the Lebanese people as; “sophisticated, educated, cosmopolitan, people who don't look like the Arab world, they look like us”. Fisk added, “I mean, people who could be quite at home on the streets of Paris or New York and London, and some of them are people who read, who are very well educated; people who speak English fluently, French beautifully, and fluent Arabic, as well, of course”. After 30 years in the Middle East, Fisk has not noticed or learned that the Arab World – particularly, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Iraq – is a heterogeneous world, where people, regardless of colour, religion and ethnicity, managed to coexist peacefully until Western imperialists and Zionists started to interfere in their internal affairs.

Like major historical war crimes against innocent civilians, the complicity of major Western powers, particularly the U.S., in Israel’s war crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese civilian population will live in infamy. Israel’s terror will fail to achieve its intended goal.

Global Research Contributing Editor Ghali Hassan lives in Perth, Western Australia.

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