Break The Silence

Aug. 22 corresponds to the 27th day of the month of
Rajab of the year 1427.

This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims
commemorate the night flight of the prophet
Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the
farthest mosque,' usually identified with Jerusalem,
and then to heaven and back.

In Islam, as in other religious, certain beliefs describe
the "cosmic struggle" at the end of time, ending in the final victory of the forces
of good over evil.

We all have our inner daemons, as Muslims we must look at ourselves and help identify and neutralize those who wish to hijack our religion for the propagation of their own hatred and political agenda. Let's hope that mankind can live peacefully together irrespective of race, religion or creed.

Today is the 21 day into the Israeli/Lebanese Conflict, a recent conservative estimate of casualties was reported at 577 Lebanese civilians and close to 51 Israeli's. In an interview last night the wife of one Kidnapped Israeli Solider wanted the world to know what the conflict was all about! Having spoken with several isreali's in the UK and US it was clear that even the citizens of Israel are divided on this issue.

However we must ask ourselves some serious questions, how many more must die before it becomes apparent that Hezbollah only gains strength and credibility with ever new bomb/missile/shell that Israel fires at Lebanon.

I had a chat with a Lebanese Blogger who told me that some places were so bad that even the Red Cross refused to go in to rescue survivors and recover bodies. The UN despite all its condemnation and Luke warm gestures has been proved impotent once gain.

To all who are observing this crisis one thing is clearly apparent that with every passing day Israel’s neighbours cant help but go though the "Itchy-Trigger Finger" syndrome with Syrian Government Officials stating that its military assets have been put on High alert.

While all hopes for a high profile and immediate peace deal struck by Dr. Condie Rice (US Secretary for State) has fizzled out and the flaccid and pompous old farts at White-Hall blame France for not exerting considerable pressure on Iran/Syria we have to look a little bit deeper, to scratch beneath the surface and examine the root causes of such violent and disturbing disagreements between neighbours.

Present tactics such as the proposed 1.5 Kilometre buffer zone between Israel and southern Lebanon will not help matters, more land grabbing on the part of Israel will only antagonise pro-Hezbollah militias across the middle-east and will only add further pressure to the destabilising force in the middle-east.

We must use our voice, our rights as citizens to peacefully demand that our governments do all that is in their power to stop the killing and open a pathway to peace.

Meanwhile the high profile attacks on Lebanon have diverted attention from the plight of Palestinian people in Gaza, last night a bomb struck a house killing an entire family of seven and leaving a 13 year old girl brain-dead.

In closing I would like to quote the words of Kofi-Anan (Secretary General of the United Nation)- "There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace."

The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) for one month

New York-based group Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by carrying out what it called an indiscriminate bombing campaign in Lebanon

Thousands of protesters in the Syrian capital Damascus joined a demonstration against Israel's military offensive, with many declaring their support for Hezbollah

Lebanon observed a national day of mourning following the deaths in Qana, with many banks and public buildings closed

Thankyou (BBC)

Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor. - A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"

The statesman who yields to war fever...is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.-Sir Winston Churchill

There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in. It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which Al Qaeda could thrive. -Robin Cook " Former British Foreign Secretary, resigned from the British Cabinet over the Iraq War.

Will . . . the threat of common extermination continue?. . . Must children receive the arms race from us as a necessary inheritance?-Pope John Paul II

In a recent attack Israeli missiles destroyed a building instantly killing 50 Lebanese including 24 children the majority disabled as they took shelter with their mothers from the shelling.

For the First time i saw a Corresponded lose his cool with a Foreign Official, demanding an answer from the Israeli Military Spokesperson how could they have got the intelligence so wrong? After the Diplomatic and Tactful white-wash failed to pay off the young captain accepted that intelligence was wrong but could not rule out similar attacks in the coming days.

In a bold move the Lebanese PM immediately called off the peace talks and impending meeting with the U.S. secretary of State saying that there was nothing to talk about without a cessation of violence.

Meanwhile international commentators have been examining the role the U.S. has played in trying to defuse the snowballing crisis in the Middle-East, so what was their grand strategy you ask? "Lets supply Israel with even more sophisticated munitions"... That will solve the problem for sure.

While the White-House keeps matters clean under a diplomatic cloak all is not so well in White-Hall (UK) with many pro-Blair cabinet members becoming outspoken about the escalating situation in the Middle-East the P.M. Blair's reluctance to play a more active role in calling for peace.

The bombs drop day and night, night and day without respite and the true hero's in all this are the Citizens of Lebanon, the News Crews and the Red Cross (Especially the Red Cross) having been a relief worker myself and worked in some very hard and testing environments I was shocked to see Kevlar Helmets and Flack-vests as part of red-cross PPE! War truly is pointless.

Transportation of supplies and recovery of casualties has become next to impossible due to the constant shelling and bombardment of roads and with craters big enough to loose a truck in it is no wonder the UN and Red-Cross are pleading with Israel for a three day safe corridor.

In all this it is the civilians, the innocent that die on sides, so many lives and so many hearts shattered. While i was at a meeting i heard that a armed gunman walked into a Jewish Centre in the United States and Shot dead several civilians, this is proof that the current escalating violence affects the entire globe and not just the Middle-East.

If the international community is committed to fighting terrorism then they must call for a immediate cease-fire and end to hostilities, their inaction only adds credibility to the rubbish spewed out by the nasty trolls at Al-Qeada.

A Jewish citizen put it well, war is like a hammer and comparing it to the precision of a scalpel is not just flawed it is stupid.

Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone--glimmering through the dream of things that were; First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away--Is this the whole?- Lord Byron [Childe Harold (canto II, st. 2)]

Today is the 9th day of the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah and continuous bombardment which has ripped the country to pieces. In a recent interview the PM said that the safe return of the soldiers is priority number one for the Israeli government and even has pictures of the missing soldiers besides his desk to prove the point.

Now maybe I am mistaken but is there any substantial proof that the soldiers are alive? Now I would not want to be counted as a lunchbox analyst but seriously, prisoner swaps have occurred before, abductions have occurred before this is nothing new to be honest, and even some Israeli's are of this view.

However till date there is no proof of the welfare or state of the missing soldiers, considering the amount of military hardware and munitions used against Hezbollah strongholds I fear the worst.

If Israel is fighting a "war" against Hezbollah then why blockade the ports? Why bomb Tyre and other parts of the country including Beirut when they know that the Hezbollah stronghold is in the south?!

According to the Federation of American Scientists and a BBC Report Hezbollah's Katyushas are thought to derive mainly from former Soviet and Chinese stockpiles. A typical example is the Soviet BM-21 Grad missile, which was first deployed in 1963 and has a maximum range of about 25km. However recently missiles struck in the town of Haifa 35km (20 miles) south of the Lebanese border leading analysts to believe that Hezbollah may have longer range weapons systems.

Systems like the Fajr-3, with a 45-km range; the Fajr-5, with a range of some 75km, some analysts believe that Hezbollah also has the more potent Zelzal-2 which has a claimed range of 100+ KM and can carry a High Explosive War-Head.

In reality the furthest Hezbollah have penetrated into Israel has been Haifa thus limiting their offensive capability and also allowing the Israeli's to isolate potential launch sites, I.E theoretically speaking if Hezbollah have a Fajr-3 or Fajr 5 missile system and Haifa 35 Km south of the border and considering that Lebanon has a total land mass of 10,400 sq km so it is clear that potential launch sites would have to be close to the border rather then deep into the north of the country.

While the West continues to evacuate its citizens from the country many have asked the all important question! What about those who cannot leave those without resources or a foreign passport? It was moving to see images of people forced to say goodbye to their loved ones not knowing if this might be the last time they see each other.

In all this chaos and media activity, we are overlooking the fact that indigenous infrastructure has been crippled in Lebanon and Gaza, what is being done for the displaced, injured? Medical facilities are overstretched and what about water and sanitation, what about food security and child welfare?

Is it not time that the UN or the ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross stepped in? At least entry of workers from the WHO or any other major organization should be on the cards or we could be looking at a major humanitarian crisis in the making.

While the response of many has changed across the world with Israel squandering public sympathy by tearing apart Lebanese cities, today some words of encouragement came from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour "Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians... Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable"-BBC: Online.

It is unacceptable that on either side of the border while the martial orders do what they do best it is the citizens that a caught in the cross fire. Casualty figures rise day by day with the current being: 300 Lebanese, mostly civilians and 30 Israelis including 15 civilians.

The International community should act with one voice and exercise their powers of influence on either party to de-escalate the rising violence which threatens to destabilise the entire region.

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think."-Lord Byron [Don Juan (canto III, st. 88) ]

Israel’s Internal Security Minister said yesterday on the BBC " We are bombing for Peace, by demolishing the back-bone of Hezbollah we will free Lebanon of its terrorist captors.

Those words made me think, Hmm... Bombing for Peace, it's like Fu*king for Virginity, it just dose not make sense well at least to someone like me anyway. It didn’t work in Afghanistan and sure as hell didn’t work in Iraq, but that is besides the point.

Although i am probably one of the only Muslims that sides with Israel’s rights to defend her self, we must never forget that Israel has the most advanced, sophisticated and experienced army in the region and is using it for all its worth in the recent conflict.

However we must ask ourselves, by attacking Lebanon and destroying its infrastructure creating a humanitarian crisis similar to Darfur and Palestine is Israel’s actions helping Regional stability?

Israel said it would turn the clock back on Lebanon 20 years and spare no effort in retrieving its soldiers, most of us look at the ruins of the beautiful prospering city labelled "the Paris of the east" now in ruins and believe Israel has achieved its goal, actually 20 years ago Lebanon had no real political force. The country was politically instable and the majority party was Hezbollah and rival factions fighting for power.

Now coming to the second of Israel’s objective which was retrieving the two soldiers, well the regional power is yet to free its corporal from the talons of hamas let alone hunt down the abductors from Hezbollah.

I would constantly be shunned by my peers when i would say that Israel lives in a predominantly hostile Arab dominated region which see Israel’s existence as immaterial and should the chance be given would not hesitate to act on their plans.

However recently i have been baffled by the ferocity of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, as the death toll mounts we would have thought that our great leaders in the G8 summit would come to cries of orphaned children and widowed wives? Well guess again, as of today Israel has another 3 weeks to continue pounding innocent civilians before serious pressure is applied to Israel by the International Community.

And while the British compare the mass evacuation of Britons and Commonwealth citizens out of Lebanon to "Dunkirk" the evacuation of British troops in WW2 and while leaders both Arab and western debate and twiddle their thumbs, while Hezbollah smirks for getting its way, when all this is happening, who is counting the Casualties? on both sides but especially in Lebanon and Gaza? We should speak with one voice, that although Israel as any other sovereign nation "Lebanon included" has a right to defend itself the mass murder of civilians cannot be accepted in today's day and age a UN Peace keeping and Assistance force should be deployed into Lebanon and WHO officials allowed to survey Gaza.

For if we don’t take action now to prevent any future acts like the ones that go one today, what for the future? We are all remembered for the Legacy we leave our children, I for one do not want to leave a legacy of Hate, Death and Misery for mine.