Is there any ME problem Israel is NOT responsible for?
There seems to be no political or military situation anywhere, that Israel is not responsible for. Donna Miles (formerly Donna Miles-Hojab) is a regular critic, but today she has excelled herself in pinning Lebanon's problems on its southern neighbour. Today in the Press (Christchurch), and The Post (Wellington), Miles doesn't hold back: 'New fears inflicted on Lebanon', provides this scene-setter as her opening argument: 'Its capital Beirut, has gone from the Paris of the Middle East in its heyday (1952-1975), to the poster child for regional warfare'. OK Donna, so what catastrophe befell Lebanon to prompt that change in fortunes? It was the arrival of Yasser Arafat and his terrorists after they had been ejected from Jordan by King Hussein. Defeated in Jordan, Arafat and his successors have successfully destroyed Lebanon which enabled Hezbollah and its missile firing base into Israel. Lebanon always had been a balancing act between Muslim and Christians, but Arafat's arrival was the straw that broke the camel's back. Incredibly Ms Miles extrapolates that situation to castigate Israel. Given the hundreds of indiscriminate missiles fired into Israel, the exploding pagers was a response of surgical precision.
It is worth noting that Lebanon, Jordan and Israel were all formed by Britain out of the Palestine Mandate. The first two were created in the 1920s, but Israel had to wait until 1948. Despite a near 30-year start on Israel in their nation-building, both Islamic states have lurched from crisis to crisis with Lebanon currently in existential death-throes. All at the hands of Islamic wreakers. 'Must try harder' Ms Miles.