Will violence lead to peace?
Aggression increases in the region, while the likelihood of peace grows dim.
When violence occurs in the Middle East, it also carries a mixed baggage of opinions and hardens animosities among already sensitive populations all over the world.
Just when the world thought that the death of nearly 60 people, mostly children and women in Lebanon would lead to a long-term ceasefire, Israel's Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, nullified any chances.
"It is forbidden to agree to an immediate ceasefire...Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against Hezbollah," he said, according to a CBC report.
The Canadian government has had no military involvement in the conflict so far, since no UN deployment has been decided upon, but Canada like other countries has voiced its opinion over the conflict.
"Canada remains concerned about the far-reaching impact on civilians with the ongoing conflict in Lebanon and Israel, with many reported civilian causalities, displaced civilian populations and significant damage to civilian infrastructure," said Rodney Moore, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
"It is both countries that are suffering. We are concerned about civilian casualties wherever they take place and significant damage to civilian infrastructure is occurring on both sides," he said.
But many in the Arab community have voiced the view that Canada's foreign policy towards the Middle East has become pro-Israeli, and discriminatory towards Arabs, rather than balanced and fair.
While spokesperson, Rodney Moore, chose not to comment on these assertions by the concerned Arab community, the Canadian Arab Federation had much to say about the Canadian government's standpoint in this conflict and Canada's general foreign policy in the Middle East.
"U.S., Canada, U.K., are all what I call the Anglo-Saxon mafia," said Khaled Mouammar, the national president of the Canadian Arab Federation. "For this mafia, Israel has the right to defend itself by destroying all of Lebanon. All these countries have their own agenda and any country that does not go along, they will destroy," he said.
While animosities harden on both ends, the hope for the brief 48-hour ceasefire to extend into a long-term ceasefire was crushed after both Peretz's and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement of no ceasefire were made public. Instead, the death of the 60 only led to a far more aggressive and expanded campaign of violence on both sides of the border.
Israel has expanded its reach in Lebanon, sending an additional 8,000 soldiers into northeastern Lebanon, while Hezbollah has responded with a record high of 160 rockets, the highest amount of rockets Hezbollah has shot since the beginning of this war.
Mouammar said he agreed with Hezbollah's position, a southern Lebanese Shi'a organization that has been declared a terrorist organization by many western countries, including Canada. But Mouammar's support for Hezbollah is an opinion not so uncommon among the Lebanese people, especially given the current war situation in the country. Even the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, stated in a CBC interview that he supported Hezbollah in its defense against Israeli aggression in Lebanon.
Mouammar, a Lebanese Christian himself, views Hezbollah as anything but a terrorist organization.
"Hezbollah has an intelligent and wise leadership and they recognize the religious diversity of Lebanon and they know they cannot impose any type of religion on a country that is made up of all these different sects," said Mouammar, countering the position by Hezbollah opponents who believe its political agenda is to have an Islamic state established in Lebanon.
"Israel is the terrorist, and they aren't only terrorists, they are war criminals. They are breaking all the rules of the 4th Geneva Convention; they are breaking the rules of engagement," he said.
Mouammar cited a Lebanese poll that stated 86 per cent of Lebanese people support Hezbollah regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds-a poll that has also been cited by Lebanese President Lahoud himself.
But Joseph Daniel, spokesperson for the Canadian Lebanese Society in Halifax, who is also a Lebanese Christian, had a much different point of view regarding the current conflict.
"The 86 per cent support for Hezbollah, I cannot believe those numbers, they cannot be true. There are so many diverse communities in Lebanon that do not support Hezbollah and a number of Shi'a's do not support Hezbollah either. Hezbollah does not speak for Lebanon, so how can anyone support them?" he asked.
Daniel identified the main root of the problem as Hezbollah, since they, in his view, were the ones that aggressed against Israel in the first place.
"Israel does not want to be in Lebanon. We need to look at the root cause of the problem here. If Hezbollah said today they will lay down their arms and become a full political force and they will no longer have an armed presence anywhere in Lebanon, this conflict will be over," he said.
Daniel, unlike Mouammar, views Hezbollah as a terrorist organization with the aim of establishing an Islamic state in Lebanon.
"Israel is not engaged in state terrorism as many have said, Israel is engaged in a war and Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. This group has an Islamic agenda which is separate from the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government," he said.
Like Daniel, Alicia Richler, the associate director of communications at the Canada-Israeli Committee, said if Hezbollah stopped its rocket attacks, Israel would leave Lebanon immediately.
"Israel's long-term goal is peace ultimately. Israel would love to see a world where they can live in peace with their neighbors but that is only possible if groups like Hezbollah laid down their arms and said we accept you as our neighbour," she said.
Richler said this peace was not possible only because of the presence of groups like Hezbollah who have vowed not to recognize the state of Israel. She said it was Hezbollah who aggressed against Israel first, not Israel.
"Everyone seems to have already forgotten that Hezbollah attacked Israel on July 12, went into Israel, kidnapped two soldiers and killed eight others," she said. "Israel recognizes that with groups like Hezbollah, there cannot be peace, so Israel has to get rid of Hezbollah and hopefully liberate the people of Lebanon from Hezbollah. Israel regrets all the civilian deaths in the process, but Israel also does not want their own civilians killed."
But Abbie Bakan, a Jewish activist who is also a member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) cited the fact that Hezbollah emerged for a reason and Hezbollah, she said, was actually the Lebanese peoples' response to Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 till 2000.
Bakan said that people would suggest that Hezbollah was the one who targeted Israel first on July 12, with the kidnappings and the killing of eight Israeli soldiers, but she questioned this proposed assertion by many Israeli supporters.
"The question is, when did Hezbollah begin? Hezbollah formed after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 1982. Hezbollah is actually an extremely small organization and Israel is one of the largest military powers that has the full-backing of the U.S. and Canada; all the major western countries have backed and armed Israel and Hezbollah is a people's movement," she said.
Bakan said that it made no sense to label Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, especially since Hezbollah formed only due to occupation on Lebanese land and also because Hezbollah was a politicy party that has two elected representatives in the current Lebanese government.
"Israel is not the victim, Israel is the victimizer and the notion that this is a war against Hezbollah makes no sense," she said.
Bakan said the current interpretation of the word terror has been completely manipulated and distorted and if things were re-analyzed from a different perspective then sovereign states like the U.S., Canada (its role in Afghanistan) and Israel could all be considered terrorist states.
"The current conception is that you are a terrorist if you are not a government, but if you are a government, you can kill civilians, you can violate international law. Hezbollah has mass support in Lebanon, not because it is a terrorist organization but because it is defending the population against Israel's aggression."
