The State of Israel has continued to violate the ceasefire repeatedly. Israel has used rockets, drones and missiles to attack the all-but-defenceless country of 3 million people. The United Nations has repeatedly confirmed Israel’s numerous violations of the ceasefire. There is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping force stationed in Lebanon. They have observed countless violations by the Israelis.
Some of the UN troops are Irish. Many UN peacekeepers have been killed by Israel over the decades. Israel resents the presence of independent witnesses to its actions. Numerous international journalists have affirmed the same. Craig Murray, a former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, has been in Lebanon and reported eyewitness accounts of many alleged Israeli crimes against humanity.
In 1982, Israel invaded and illegally occupied South Lebanon. Israel held this same area illegally from 1982 to 2000 until it was defeated by Hezbollah and compelled to withdraw from all but a few square kilometres. There are widespread allegations and documented reports that both Israel and Hezbollah have violated ceasefire arrangements in Lebanon at different times.
The Lebanese government, UN officials, and multiple international media outlets have accused Israel of repeated violations. Any crime committed by Israel is explained away by Zionists as ‘self-defence’. Illegal occupation is not defensive. Israel often invokes 7 October as justification for its actions.
The topsy-turvy reasoning is this: ‘Nothing justified October 7, but October 7 justifies everything.’ Any act, no matter how savage, and any death toll, no matter how high, is termed ‘self-defence’. On the other hand, Israel’s victims are denied the right of self-defence.
Israel says it is attacking Lebanon because of Hezbollah. Iran has supported Hezbollah as a fellow Shia organisation.
The Israelis say that Hezbollah’s military force breaches UN Resolution 1701. This is arguable. What is unarguable is that Israel is in breach of more UN resolutions than any other country.
The United States brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel earlier this year. This is the first diplomatic contact between the two sides in decades. Lebanon does not recognise Israel. There is talk of ‘Jordanisation’. Jordan is an Arab neighbour of Israel that hosts many Palestinians and has fought Israel several times.
The Jordanians decided to stop fighting in 1973. In 1994, Jordan recognised Israel. Jordan has not been attacked since and has performed relatively well economically. Is this not a tempting option for the Lebanese? There is no prospect of Israel being crushed. A question therefore, arises as to whether it would not be better to learn to live with Israel than continue suffering indefinitely to no purpose.
Lebanon is an Arab country with Israel to its south, Syria to its north and east, and the Mediterranean Sea to its west. This mountainous land is one of the smallest countries in the Middle East and has only 3 million people.
The Governorate of Mount Lebanon was part of the Province of Syria within the Ottoman Empire. Lebanon was the most Christian area of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the Lebanese were more receptive to Western influences, such as the French language and Western education, than people elsewhere in the region.
That was partly because the Christian majority felt a degree of affinity with European Christians. European missionaries travelled to Lebanon to persuade Lebanese Christians to convert from one Christian denomination to another. They achieved some success. Western missionaries founded schools, universities and hospitals there.
During the First World War, the United Kingdom and France signed the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Monsieur Picot was a Frenchman and Mr Sykes his British counterpart. They divided the Middle East between them without the knowledge or consent of any Middle Easterner.
France claimed Lebanon, which was separated from Syria partly because around 60% of Lebanese were Christians, with the remainder being Shia, Sunni and Druze. The French believed that the Francophile Christian majority would welcome them. This proved only partially successful. Many Lebanese, including Christians, fought against French rule.
In 1943, France granted independence to Lebanon. The French language and culture endured for a surprisingly long time after only a quarter-century of French rule. Beirut became the most cosmopolitan city in the Middle East. Women wore Western clothes that would have been considered scandalous in much of the Arab world.
Lebanon received many Palestinian refugees after 1948. They increased the size of the Sunni community. Israel attacked Lebanon repeatedly after 1948.
In the 1970s, Lebanon descended into a horrific civil war. Israel intervened and supported some of the Christian Phalangists. Syria intervened largely on the side of Shia groups. Israel even invaded the country and besieged Beirut in the 1980s. The Israelis were persuaded to withdraw in return for the Palestine Liberation Organisation relocating to Tunisia.