Madison-Rafah Journal

Amira Hass, Haaretz, 09 Aug 2006

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station would dismiss as feminine and sentimental the view that peoples don't win wars. Like other Arab analysts, they regard attacking Israeli civilians and engaging the IDF in fierce battles as an Arab victory. But where's the victory for the 1,000 Lebanese the Israeli army has killed? Where's the victory in a million people fleeing homes that were bombed and destroyed? Are such losses worthwhile just to demonstrate that a guerrilla group can entangle a regular army and expose such an Israeli weakness?

On the other hand, the non-victory of the other side is not an Israeli victory, even if Israel triples the number of Hezbollah fighters and doubles the number of Lebanese mothers that it has killed so far. Even if the Israeli Air Force wipes out a thousand villages, it would still not bring back to life the Israelis who were killed.

The trauma and economic damages will continue to affect many people's lives. Even if the cease-fire agreement is closer to Israel's positions than to Lebanon's, it would still not be a victory. Israel's insistence to unilaterally lay down the rules in the region perpetuates and deepens its character as an alien element within it. Israel's future generations will continue to pay for this obstinacy.

It comes as no surprise that this war has not yet been finished in one fell swoop. For six years, the Israeli army has accustomed its soldiers to regard their assaults in the occupied territories as "fighting" and "battles." They fostered the myth that there was symmetry between the advanced regular Israeli army and groups of Palestinians armed with light weapons and homespun bombs, scurrying among the tanks and helicopters that are demolishing their houses and fields. Indeed, on a few occasions, the Palestinians succeeded in guerrilla operations that killed or wounded the troops. But these were the exception. The suicide attacks inside Israel attest to the "military" weakness of the Palestinian organizations.

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Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Press Release, 09 Aug 2006

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) maintain the closure of Rafah Terminal, conducting psychological warfare against Palestinians as part of a collective punishment policy

The IOF are maintaining the closure of Rafah Crossing for the 45th consecutive day, demonstrating their indifference to the suffering of Palestinians. According to Al Mezan field sources, since two weeks and on a daily basis, the IOF informed Palestinian officials on the Palestinian side of the terminal of the intended opening of the crossing, which thus caused Palestinian passengers to pack their belongings daily and prepare for travel. They were later informed each day, however, that the crossing wouldn’t open. This practice has caused desperation and distress to passengers. [More]

The Capital Times, August 10, 2006
Tsela Barr, Esty Dinur, Betsy Lawrence, David Loewenstein, Jennifer Loewenstein, Ben Manski, Edward Oltman, Marc Rosenthal, Matt Rothschild, Allen Ruff, Judy Strasser

Dear Editor: As Madison area Jews, we condemn the indiscriminate and disproportionate Israeli attack on Lebanon and the Lebanese people. We condemn violence in all its forms, including the Hezbollah attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians within Israel.

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Erica Silverman, Al-Ahram Weekly, 10 - 16 August 2006, Issue No. 807

An-Najar Hospital in Rafah is a gruesome sight as staff — short on basic supplies like X-ray film and antibiotics — are trying to cope with an unprecedented number of amputees amongst the steady stream of victims of Israeli state terrorism. "Whole parts of the body are cut: legs, heads, even entire bodies cut in half," said Samir Judah, emergency room manager since the start of the second Intifada. "Israel is using a new kind of weaponry that burns the bodies, cuts like a knife. It enters the body and rips organs apart," continues Samir, holding large jagged pieces of burnt shrapnel removed from one victim's body. [More]

Time to Call It Quits
By SAREE MAKDISI
CounterPunch, August 3, 2006

Israeli commandos staged a daring raid the other night on the ancient Lebanese town of Baalbeck, catching Hassan Nasrallah asleep, bundling him into a waiting helicopter, and spiriting him back to Israel.

But as the dust settled and reports from the ground began to emerge, it turned out that the Hassan Nasrallah that Israel's most elite military unit had captured-with the assistance of the formidable intelligence capabilities of the legendary Mossad-was apparently not Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizballah, but rather Hassan Nasrallah, the owner of a small toyshop on the dusty outskirts of Baalbeck. [More]