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Lebanese 'defensive shield' - no problem - no cries of 'massacre'.
Jerusalem Post ^ | 5-27-07 | JOSHUA L. GLEIS

Posted on 05/27/2007 7:22:09 AM PDT by SJackson

In the Palestinian refugee camp outside Tripoli it is Arabs killing Arabs - hence there are no cries of 'massacre'.

More than 50 people have been killed - the civilian death toll is unknown - as Lebanese Army forces battle Islamists in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared, located just outside of Tripoli.

The event that set off the shooting began last Sunday, after security forces raided a building to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. The suspects were associated with the same Fatah al-Islam elements apparently involved in the bombing of two passenger buses last month filled with Lebanese Christians.

The resemblance of the Lebanese chain of events to Israel's April 2002 assault on the Jenin refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield is striking. Israel launched its attack after sustaining seven suicide bombings in a two-week period, culminating in the bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya on Seder night, which killed 30 civilians.

Following Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin, Palestinians, Arab League, United Nations and human rights organizations all called for investigations into the Israeli operation, initially dubbed a "massacre" by Arab leaders and the news media. The IDF operation resulted in the deaths of 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers.

Depending on which report you believe (Human Rights Watch's or the IDF's), anywhere between 30 to 38 of the Palestinians killed were gunmen.

Still, protests were sent to the UN Security Council, and inquiries were conducted by the UN, journalists and human rights organizations. All admitted that no massacre had taken place; however Human Rights Watch and others did claim that Israel had violated international law.

CURIOUSLY, similar calls by the world community for investigations into the recent fighting in Lebanon are absent. Missing are the cries of the Arab world for an investigation into the deaths of innocent Palestinians. Gone are the demands by human rights organizations to access the area and scrutinize the actions of the Lebanese Army vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

The UN has not been called upon to examine the operation, and some Western newspapers even took the bold step of calling the Fatah al-Islam "terrorist" - a word absent in describing attacks against Israelis.

Plainly, while it is acceptable for Lebanese to deal with the Palestinians as they see fit, it is not okay for the Israelis to defend themselves from Palestinian violence.

Granted, the Palestinians are the most oppressed people in the Arab world: They are denied citizenship by most of their Arab host countries, restricted from jobs and educational opportunities, and deported from countries at the whim of security officials. At the same time, contributions from the Arab world to Palestinian "resistance" organizations continue, as Israeli-Palestinian violence is played out on Arab television on a daily basis.

The only time the world seems to care about the Palestinian Arabs is when they are suffering at the hands of Israelis. Amnesty International has issued more reports on Israel than the Sudan. The hypocrisy is astonishing.

So this begs the question: With regard to the most recent military activity in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in Lebanon, where are the cries of "massacre"?

The writer is a research fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard University, and a Ph.D candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: israel
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1 posted on 05/27/2007 7:22:10 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: SJackson
The world has long since grown accustomed to the Alice-in-Wonderland world of muslims generally, and arabs and "palestinians" specifically.

It's a joke.
Murdering savages simply enjoy it.
Politics by mass murder is all they know. Trillions in "aid" over the last 60 years and they still live like unsupervised savages in human zoos, wherever they go.

Same ol' same ol'...

2 posted on 05/27/2007 7:28:42 AM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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To: SJackson
It is a little annoying. When Israel was tagentially involved (not directly involved) in the killing of Sabra and Shatila, there was a hue and cry even though Zahal didn't do any of the killing.

However, now that there is killing of the so-called Palestinians by the Lebanese, the world does not give out a peep. Clearly, they don't care about these guys, but only care if Israel is involved. Unless Israel realizes the world dynamic toward her, instead of trying to be a good little boy on behalf of world opinion, they will continue to suffer greatly.

Incidentally, At the last paragraph, the author uses the phrase begs the question. The author should've said raises the question instead. Begging the question is claiming something is true by repeating the assertion in different words. An example of such would be, I know this painting is worthless because it's trash. Someone should correct the author of that post on this.

3 posted on 05/27/2007 7:30:44 AM PDT by Stepan12 ( "We are all girlymen now." Conservative reaction to Ann Coulter's anti PC joke)
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To: SJackson

And you were expecting,....WHAT?
Fairness? Impartiality? Reasonableness?
From whom? And why now, at this point in history?


4 posted on 05/27/2007 7:33:31 AM PDT by Gideon Reader (DEMOCRATS: Not quite American, and proud of it! REPUBLICANS: Testosterone challenged.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

5 posted on 05/27/2007 7:34:33 AM PDT by SJackson (Be careful -- with quotations, you can damn anything, Andre Malraux)
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To: SJackson

Green Helmet Guy is taking a pass on this photo op...


6 posted on 05/27/2007 7:41:41 AM PDT by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: Stepan12
It is a little annoying. When Israel was tagentially involved (not directly involved) in the killing of Sabra and Shatila, there was a hue and cry even though Zahal didn't do any of the killing.

Very tangentially, the charge against Sharon and the Chief of Staff (name forgotten) being their inability to recognize the occasionally murderous nature of Arab character. Six of eight months later an Arab militia rolled through and killed about double the number of civilians, nary a word said about it. Arabs killing Arabs, that's what they do.

7 posted on 05/27/2007 7:46:42 AM PDT by SJackson (Be careful -- with quotations, you can damn anything, Andre Malraux)
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To: Publius6961
I remember on 9/11 thinking about the scenarios of US and world action against Muslim terror. One scenario I considered was that the Muslim world from Marocco thru Pakistan would be quarantined. NATO could move into the Gulf, occupy the oilfields and turn off the money flow to Muslim governments. The rest of the Muslim world would be quarantined. No exit. Create a productive society or die.

I didn't think we'd continue and increase foreign aid to these people or even start foreign aid to the Palestinians.

8 posted on 05/27/2007 7:58:06 AM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (Jabba the Hutt's bigger, meaner, uglier brother.)
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To: SJackson

I’ve noticed the same phenomenon in the black community...


9 posted on 05/27/2007 8:05:25 AM PDT by mozarky2 (Ya never stand so tall as when ya stoop to stomp a statist!)
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To: SJackson
A more concise explanation of begging the question is where the premise assumes directly or indirectly that the conclusion is true. It's also known as circular reasoning.

The Nizkor project has a link on begging the question.

10 posted on 05/27/2007 8:13:35 AM PDT by Stepan12 ( "We are all girlymen now." Conservative reaction to Ann Coulter's anti PC joke)
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To: SJackson

.


11 posted on 05/27/2007 8:19:13 AM PDT by prognostigaator
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To: SJackson

come on USA...keep supplying the lebanese.....let them kill all the terrorsits hiding within the arab population....the world is silent and no outcry...

when the Israelis defended themselves doing exactly the same thing last summer..they were condemned!!!


12 posted on 05/27/2007 8:24:43 AM PDT by nyyankeefan
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To: SJackson

You know PravdABDNC is anti-Israel/America and pro-Mooselip. This will never be reported as evil.

Pray for W and Our Troops


13 posted on 05/27/2007 8:27:21 AM PDT by bray (The co-clintons freed more terrorists than they killed)
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To: DTogo

14 posted on 05/27/2007 8:30:48 AM PDT by Bratch (“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”)
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To: Jabba the Nutt
The rest of the Muslim world would be quarantined. No exit.

I wonder if this has ever been tried before...

Create a productive society or die.

I like "work makes you free," or as the original German goes "Arbeit Macht Frei."
15 posted on 05/27/2007 9:44:33 AM PDT by Mr. Know It All (Term Limits: Stop us before we vote again!)
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To: bray
You know PravdABDNC is anti-Israel/America and pro-Mooselip. This will never be reported as evil

Can't anyone here use Google? This is being reported my the MSM.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1930227.htm
16 posted on 05/27/2007 9:46:37 AM PDT by Mr. Know It All (Term Limits: Stop us before we vote again!)
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To: Mr. Know It All

You don’t notice the matter of fact reporting v the outrage if the Israelis kill one “innocent”?

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters


17 posted on 05/27/2007 9:49:31 AM PDT by bray (The co-clintons freed more terrorists than they killed)
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To: bray
You don’t notice the matter of fact reporting v the outrage if the Israelis kill one “innocent”?

How many innocents does somebody get to kill before outrage is appropriate?
18 posted on 05/27/2007 10:04:47 AM PDT by Mr. Know It All (Term Limits: Stop us before we vote again!)
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To: SJackson
When did the press ever cover ‘massacres’ committed by the PLO, Hezballah or al-Qaida terrorists in Lebanon .
19 posted on 05/27/2007 10:09:22 AM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: Mr. Know It All
Hamas launches hundreds of rockets. Israel launches one missile. Headline "Five dead from Israeli missile strikes".

And that's how it is all to be known -- if the old media is your main source.

20 posted on 05/27/2007 10:10:31 AM PDT by bvw
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