On Monday, Lebanon marked the ninth anniversary of Israel's bombing the town of Qana during Operation Grapes of Wrath. The Israeli bombardment of the southern Lebanese town, situated to the south of Sidon, resulted in the deaths of more than 100 when a stray artillery shell fell on a United Nations emergency encampment.
As Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper put it: "On April 11, 1996, Israel launched an all-out 15-day attack on South Lebanon in an attempt to eradicate the resistance group Hizbullah and end missile attacks against its settlements in the north of the Occupied Territories." As the Hizbullah targets were towns in pre-1967 northern Israel, the reference to "occupied territories" is either a revelation of the newspaper's definition of any Jewish town in any part of Israel, or it is the English-language newspaper's means to mislead uninformed readers about the Lebanese terrorist group's aims.
In a speech delivered for the occasion, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said that "there are lessons to be learned from this tragic event and the resulting developments that led to the resistance's victory over Israel in 2000 [a reference to Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, carried out despite continued Hizbullah presence in Southern Lebanon - ed.]," according to the Daily Star. Such a commemoration, Lahoud said contributed to revealing what he called "the true face of Israel," whose very existence, he said, is based on expansion, violence and conspiracies. Israel, Lahoud said, ignored the legitimate rights of peoples of the region and the justness of Arab causes.
The wife of Lebanese Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, Randa, called for "protecting the world from Israel's wickedness by shedding light on its crimes through the media."
The attitude towards Israel, and the United States, of at least one central opposition figure is no better. Druze opposition leader Walid Junblatt issued a press release Monday in which he warned against "American schemes" in the Middle East "under slogans of freedom and democracy." There is, he explained, an American-Israeli agenda to destroy the region.
Junblatt, who had just returned from meetings in France, including one with Saudi crown prince Abdullah, said, "We do not want to ride any ship coming to us from the West."
Like the government spokesmen, Junblatt also emphasized that he is in favor of good relations with Syria - after the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon - and of protecting the Islamist Hizbullah.
As Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper put it: "On April 11, 1996, Israel launched an all-out 15-day attack on South Lebanon in an attempt to eradicate the resistance group Hizbullah and end missile attacks against its settlements in the north of the Occupied Territories." As the Hizbullah targets were towns in pre-1967 northern Israel, the reference to "occupied territories" is either a revelation of the newspaper's definition of any Jewish town in any part of Israel, or it is the English-language newspaper's means to mislead uninformed readers about the Lebanese terrorist group's aims.
In a speech delivered for the occasion, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said that "there are lessons to be learned from this tragic event and the resulting developments that led to the resistance's victory over Israel in 2000 [a reference to Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, carried out despite continued Hizbullah presence in Southern Lebanon - ed.]," according to the Daily Star. Such a commemoration, Lahoud said contributed to revealing what he called "the true face of Israel," whose very existence, he said, is based on expansion, violence and conspiracies. Israel, Lahoud said, ignored the legitimate rights of peoples of the region and the justness of Arab causes.
The wife of Lebanese Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, Randa, called for "protecting the world from Israel's wickedness by shedding light on its crimes through the media."
The attitude towards Israel, and the United States, of at least one central opposition figure is no better. Druze opposition leader Walid Junblatt issued a press release Monday in which he warned against "American schemes" in the Middle East "under slogans of freedom and democracy." There is, he explained, an American-Israeli agenda to destroy the region.
Junblatt, who had just returned from meetings in France, including one with Saudi crown prince Abdullah, said, "We do not want to ride any ship coming to us from the West."
Like the government spokesmen, Junblatt also emphasized that he is in favor of good relations with Syria - after the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon - and of protecting the Islamist Hizbullah.