Israel & Lebanon

I highly recommend checking out this article, written by Jim Wallis, about the currently escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Regretfully, you must sign up to receive Sojourners weekly emails to view it, but for what it is worth, they are worth receiving, and easy to unsubscribe from if you don't want them. Wallis is regularly insightful, and the current article is no exception. Here is an exerpt:

Jan Egeland, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who has been critical of Israel's "disproportionate" response, has also assailed Hezbollah's tactics: "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children."

Hezbollah's rocket attacks into northern Israel have killed 19 civilians and injured hundreds more. But the disproportionate Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, with their horrible death toll among civilians with nothing to do with Hezbollah must also be condemned. The latest estimate is more than 400 Lebanese civilians killed, with the needless destruction of the country's infrastructure, which took 15 years to rebuild after the devastating civil war. Israel has gone after Hezbollah, but is destroying Lebanon and, don't forget, its fledgling democracy. And let there be no double standards when it comes to how we label "terrorist" acts. When a nation state, such as Israel, carries out military policies which it knows will kill many civilians, including the use of cluster bombs, and deliberately targets civilian infrastructures and areas, does not the label also apply?

Prior to this excerpt Wallis is careful to note that the current conflict is ultimately the fault of Hezbollah, and later he goes on to discuss possibilities for the United States and U.N.'s possible role in resolving the conflict.

What I appreciate here is the acknowledgement that Israel's response, even though some response was certainly necessary, is problematic. The U.S. is well known for its support of Israel as a nation-state, and we should absolutely support and defend their right to exist, but I'm afraid we are at times too quick to condone their actions no matter the cost. As Wallis accurately points out, Israel has escalated the situation, and caused a great deal of hurt doing so. A cease fire is essential, but thus far it is unlikely because the both Israel and the U.S. want an entire package from the outset - a cease fire accompanied by concessions to certain demands. Unfortunately, the result of such an all-or-nothing approach is that while they argue, more (mostly innocent) people die.