Lebanon Editorial Misstates Case

In their article appearing on April 29 titled "Israel's Campaign of Terror," authors Ahmed T. El-Gaili, Ramy M. Tadros and Rami A. Thabet badly misrepresent the situation in Southern Lebanon. Their editorial contains several factual as well as analytical errors which distort the nature of the recent conflict.

Most offensive was their dubbing Israel a "terrorist" nation. This misnomer puts Israel in the ranks of groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which actively and intentionally murder civilians to promote their religious fanaticism. Likening bus bombings and katyusha rocket attacks to a tragic and decidedly accidental shelling of a U.N. camp mistakes ends for means: Hezbollah purposely and proudly attacks civilians while Israel take precautions far beyond the call of modern warfare to avoid harming them when possible.

The authors' characterization of Israel's presence in Southern Lebanon as an "occupation" is strongly misleading. Strictly speaking, Israel indeed occupies the region, yet the use of the term "occupation" implies long-term interest in settling the area, much as has been the criticism of Israel's ambivalent approach to the "occupied" West Bank. Yet unlike in that region, Israel has no designs on settling Southern Lebanon; it maintains a presence in the area strictly to ensure the security of its Northern citizens. Hence, the use of the phrase "legitimate act of resistance" is also unjustified. The Lebanese people are not leading the fight against Israeli occupation. In fact, Hezbollah, the group leading this noble resistance, is an element foreign to Lebanon. According to CIA and U.S. Navy profiles of this terrorist organization, Hezbollah is an Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored group of fundamentalist Shia Muslims that has carried out horrific attacks on civilians of the world. Hezbollah is widely believed to be behind the 1983 truck bombing that killed 241 Americans in Beirut. It was also responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. Contrary to the claim of the authors that the sole aim of the Hezbollah aggression in Southern Lebanon is "to end the Israeli occupation of their country" (which country, Iran?), the motives of the so-called "Party of God" as declared in their 1985 charter are "not limited to the [Israeli Army] presence in Lebanon" but rather include "the complete destruction of the State of Israel."

Blaming Israel for defending itself against attacks from an elusive attacker (of which 12, not six members were killed) and not impugning Syria (whose 35,000 troops have occupied and controlled Lebanon since 1976) or Iran for promoting the attacker is putting the cart before the horse. Israel did not disrupt the peace process by its attacks; on the contrary, its refusal to allow terrorism to rule the region actually advances the movement to achieve a comprehensive agreement between the nations in the region. Once terrorism ceases, there will no longer be any need for "occupation" or self-defense. --Michael M. Rosen '99,   Beth R. Goldstein '99