World must act before Zionists bury peace

Israeli attacks in the bloody last two days that killed more than 50 civilians in Lebanon and scores in the Palestinian territories raise fears that the region may well be slipping towards all-out war.

That is shocking, but what beggars belief is that the international community, especially the US, will only watch this callous killing and wanton destruction with disbelief – doing nothing to stop it. The moderate tone towards Israel, evident in US President Bush’s comments in Berlin yesterday even as the Zionists bombed Beirut airport and blockaded Lebanese ports, may not be helpful to avert a doom not just for the region but the wider world.

The abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah on Wednesday could not have come at a more disastrous time than the present days of chaos caused as much by the Zionists’ bombings of Palestinian government offices as their inhuman shelling of homes of civilians in the Palestinian territories over the June 25 kidnapping of soldier Gilad Shalit. With the armed wing of Hamas now talking about co-ordination with Hezbollah over the Israeli soldiers being held hostage, moderates among Palestinian political leaders have been reduced to the background, and this is a severe blow to the peace process.

All this death and destruction has been unleashed by the Zionists over just three soldiers, the abduction of whom the world has been condemning these past few days, but what about 8,000 or so Palestinians being held in Israeli jails for months, some without even charges and trial a la Guantanamo Bay? Most of these more than 8,000 are plain innocents who, at worst, may have thrown a stone or two at the trigger-happy Zionists.

Amid this mayhem is Olmert, pleased as punch. He has been busy implementing the land-grab plan outlined by his predecessor Sharon to the letter. Sharon was aware of a population bloom in the Palestinian territories, especially the West Bank, which was why he wanted to unilaterally fix the borders before the Jews could be reduced to minority between the river and the sea. Just when the Zionists’ plan for speeding up grabbing the choicest morsels, leaving scraps for the Palestinians, on the pretext that they have no peace partners was all but collapsed as President Abbas and Hamas agreed on a reconciliation plan that implicitly recognised the Israeli right to exist as a state, the Zionists found the perfect excuse to make sure there never will be partners for peace.

The international community should act with responsibility than merely watching with disbelief or mouthing some mumbo-jumbo about the need to show restraint before the Zionists hammer the last nails on the coffin of a just peace.