Marilyn shepherd,

I saw your comments (4) on the BBC Have your Say reg. Australian policies. I am so sorry for you because you are a fan of terrorists. Today, some 10,000 may have died and you missed a chance to feel happy.

"Hezbollah is deliberately and cynically using civilian shields to confront Israel with a no-win situation."

This article reminded me of an interview with an Israeli spokesperson who claimed that Hizbollah are not only deliberately using civilians as shields but they are using them with the knowledge that they will be killed. His view was that Hizbollah would do this because the deaths of civilians would bring condemnation from the Arab states and the rest of the world on Israel and would bulster support and empathy for thier cause.
Is it not farcicle that a group which claims to be a resistance movement would knowingly and intentionally plan for deaths of the very people it claims to defend?

This is not say that Hizbollah's methods of operation are justified in any way but the main discourses which have emerged from this conflict are centred on the idea that Israel has a right to defend itself against 'terrorists': I use this term lightly because it seems that only Arabs and Muslims fit this criteria of deliberately attacking civilians, and yet, I quote from today's Herald:

"The war has cost the lives of at least 1005 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 116 Israelis, mostly soldiers."

These figures are sufficient evidence that attacks and retailiation of from either side are only adding to the humanitarian crisis as well as the long-term psychological effects this will have on those involved.

It's pretty easy to say that the Israelis are to blame for what is happening in Lebanon; or blame Hezbollah for sending missilles into Israel. As has been indicated many times the beginning of this conflict could have occured 2,000 years ago; or with the capture of the Israeli solders; or somewhere inbetween.

One matter is clear though, and that is that the infra-structure has been blasted out of a country Lebanon that has not declared war on Israel. Once a cease fire has been declare the Lebanese will continue to suffer for sometime into the future: housing, water, food, sanitation, transport, etc,etc. Innocent Lebanese people will be dying from this war even after it has been finished.

Darwin1, 30,000 children died today and not one terr'ist in sight. They were too weak to cry, too tired to moan, too hungry to ask for food. Where were you Darwin 1 and please tell me just precisely what locking up christian refugees from West Papua has to do with a bogus plot to blow up planes with stuff the experts said could not cause an explosion and that nothing at all was planned for today.

Are you suggesting the children dying in the desert were going to do it or the West Papuan refugees? I reckon Britain's latest "terror" attack is about the same as Jean Charles De Menendez was a terr'ist and the two student brothers were terr'ists.

Give it a rest Darwin1. What on earth some refugees have to do with Israel blowing Lebanon to bits when not one Lebanese is on their soil beats me.

It also beats me this hysteria about refugees - because under this law if Jewish refugees want to come and can't get papers they will be sent to Nauru or sent back, just like before when we sent them back to be killed.

I am not anti-Jewish, I think the survivors of the holocaust are the most extraordinary people on earth, their spirit and their hope for decency to others should inspire every person on earth.

Others like Rubenstein choose the path of gross paranoia pretending that Israel with all it's military might is a poor little victim while they slaughter refugees.

I know this will not be popular with the civil rights crowd, of whom I am one (albeit an unusual one, civil rights in a country belong to those who reside in that country). This an opinion peice by Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School:

He states that the terrorists in this conflict, have long used the fact that the deaths of their own civilians, as well as the deaths of Israel's civilians, both benefit them, whilst harming Israel.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2006/07/21_dershowitz.php

A better advocate, it is obvious, would be hard to find. He explains the requirements of proportionality, here:

http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El3555&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&

For those who would question his civil rights credentials, please read:

http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12

Also see his biography on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dershowitz

To Keith in particular, I have no ambition to engage in a tete-a-tete with this man, very few people in Australia would, and certainly not over this issue. However, in any prosecution of a member of the IDF this is likely one of the faces you will encounter.

Inshallah

2bob

Hi Marilyn,

I am sorry to say the things which you believe:

" 1.Bali blasts, 9/11, 7/7, Madrid blasts, Jordan, Israel (Telaviv suicide-blasts), Indonesia, Thailand, Phillippines, Mumbai, Kashmir,Delhi blasts are all fake..

2. and even if they did occur, they were done by CIA, Mossad agents

3. The videos of Bin Laden, Zawahiri are all fake. Infact, they are Bush and Blair (howard too)who wear those masks.

4. Even Al-jazeera is also a CIA TV station which shows those videos.

Are you happy now?

And few questions for you:

1. You said "30,000 children died today".. Where? How?
2. Have you ever tried to help those children?
3. Why do you loathe your own country(if it is)?..

(My suggestion: Please find a better country that suits you.. as living in the country that you hate gives you no peace of mind.)

4. who are al-qaeda? Are they fake terrorists? Do you like to join it?