Israel dropped 23 tons of bombs on a site in south Beirut recently, claiming that it was the headquarters of Hezbollah. Hezbollah insists that Israel bombed a mosque under construction. I have no doubt that Hezbollah is telling the truth this time. After they constructed a bunker deep underground, Hezbollah started erecting a mosque on top of it. Israel actually respects places of worship, unlike her neighbors. The world would quickly condemn any attack on a mosque. This is part of the same strategy that hides missiles in civilians’ homes. At this point, there is no word yet on whether or not Nasrallah was praying underneath the mosque when the bombs fell.
Read Krauthamer’s column from yesterday. He makes a point I was intending to make, and as always, he is more eloquent. (Actually, my point simply was that Israel is doing the world’s dirty work and they should be thanked; he says much more than that.)
And another suggestion: read a book. Too much interest in “news” is bad, I believe. Things change so fast and you can waste a lot of time staying up on what is no longer true in a few hours. Maybe now is a good opportunity to learn more about the “big picture” of the Middle East. I’m not sure that I can recommend a single book that does it all, but there are a few books that I have found very helpful in understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Jerusalem in the 20th Century, by Martin Gilbert. Maybe this sounds too narrow for you, but I found it to be astonishingly revealing about the whole conflict. Jerusalem really is a microcosm of Israel and the Middle East. If you prefer, you can read Gilbert’s Israel: A History. It was published a few years later and, I’m guessing, covers similar territory with a broader focus. I just haven’t read it and thus can’t recommend it personally.
Six Days of War, by Michael Oren. Not exactly the whole history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but it will teach you much about the way that things work.
A Durable Peace: Israel and Its Place Among the Nations, by Benjamin Netanyahu. This presents the view of a conservative Israeli on the Middle East conflict. It’s only $6 at Amazon.
It’s now vacation time and so I’m afraid that I can no longer give you “front line” reports. Not that I was doing much good before in reporting that life was normal. Since everything I was getting was from the same news reports that you read, I’m pretty sure that I could continue to comment without anyone knowing the difference. And I just may well, but now you know :-).
Great point about the Mosque. We see this in homes (as you mentioned) and with them transporting weapons in Red Crescent trucks. I’ve been on some “human rights” blogs that definitely need to take your advice on getting some historical perspective to this conflict. Great advice.