Ceasefire?

New York Times: The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Friday calling for a halt in the fighting in Lebanon, the deployment of Lebanese and United Nations forces in southern Lebanon, and the withdrawal “in parallel” by Israel.

Glenn Greenwald takes account of some of the early reaction: The disappointment and anger of neoconservatives over this ignominious end must be severe, and it is almost certain to be a source of very intense conflict between them and the Bush administration…. When this all started, neoconservatives were in full bloodthirsty glory, salivating over the complete obliteration of Hezbollah and much of Southern Lebanon, as the start of the “great opportunity” — “our war” — in which we would do the same to Syria and Iran. Instead, they got a joint U.S.-French U.N. resolution engineering a cease-fire dependent upon French troops protecting Israel from the Hezbollah militia….

For a deeper analysis of the past four weeks, check out this perspective.

Can't tell the players…

… without a scorecard

“Some cities seem forever doomed.”

Via my fine friend Truck: “Powerful story and beautifully written.”

Also, the BBC has been running a daily series of first-person accounts from civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the occupied territories who have been affected by the fighting.

FYI

Why it’s not World War III.

NYT: Israel may expand ground offensive

At the White House, President Bush’s press secretary, Tony Snow, said, “I’m not sure at this juncture we’re going to step in and put up a stop sign,” although he called on Israel to “practice restraint” and said Mr. Bush was “very much concerned” about a growing human crisis in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile…. “Carpenters are running out of wood for coffins. Bodies are stacked three or four high in a truck at the local hospital morgue. The stench is spreading in the rubble.”

Evangelical Blindness

Martin Accad, academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon, was teaching at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Ca. when Israel bombed the airport in Beirut and is now unable to return home. In response to this earlier piece by David Gushee in Christianity Today, he rips the “childish wishes” of Christians that the U.S. will be able to broker the peace.

“When did the U.S. ever use anything other than its veto power at the United Nations, precisely in order to prevent policies and resolutions that might potentially have been helpful to my people?…. I think that some pseudo-biblically motivated Christians with decision power, who believe that apocalyptic destruction is a precursor to global salvation, are presently working toward provoking a Middle Eastern conflict of regional significance….”

UPDATE: Gushee responds in an open letter: “My sympathy for Israel—which is indeed deep, a mix of all kinds of factors, some rational, some emotional—does not extend to support for what has clearly become a massive and disproportionate military offensive.”

“seemingly haphazard bombing”

July 19, 2006

Columbia Missourian
221 S 8th St
Columbia, MO 65201

Dear Columbia Missourian:

I am currently a Fulbrighter in Syria. Since the beginning of Israel’s
invasion of Lebanon, I have seen a great flux of Lebanese–Christians and
Muslims– coming through Damascus and have heard their sad tales. The
world must not turn a blind face to Israeli’s brutal invasion and
demolition of Lebanon. Women and children are continually dying. The
Israeli army is destroying all sorts of infrastructure that is sending the
country back to the Middle Ages. What is perhaps the worst part of this
unjust war against Lebanon is Israeli’s seemingly haphazard bombing of
Lebanon. Israel says it is only out to eradicate Hizbullah, but then why
is it bombing private factories, churches, and Christian and Muslim
residential areas? Additionally, why does it continue to shoot unarmed
civilians who are trying to leave the war zone? Please get this message
out to the community and our political leaders. I don’t want my community
to stand behind this kind of injustice.

Evacuation

The United States and European nations have dispatched more than 20 military and commercial ships to aid in the evacuation, one of the largest in recent times.

Watch Americans Being Evacuated From Lebanon…

UPDATE: The White House has reversed its position and will be waiving the costs.

Israel attacks, Evangelicals have collective orgasm

Lebanon offensive will last ‘weeks.’ “A top Israeli general said today that Israel’s offensive in Lebanon would last another few weeks, and he said that the use of large numbers of ground forces had not been ruled out.”

Meanwhile, a five-ship U.S. naval group and a British flotilla steamed toward Lebanon today to help in a hastily organized evacuation effort. However, Americans have to pay their own way out of the country.

All aboard…