Letter: Lebanon: blighted peace in Beirut; peril for Israel; drought in Galilee; double standards in the West
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Contrary to the way in which the world treats it, Lebanon is hardly a sovereign state. One of the qualities of state sovereignty is the control of territory. The Lebanese government does not exercise control over all of the territory within its borders; whether this is through weakness or by agreement is a moot point.
At issue is that the Lebanese government is either unable or unwilling to control Hizbollah. To portray Hizbollah operations solely as resistance to Israel's "occupation" in a narrow strip of southern Lebanon is to pull a veil of untruth across the real situation. Hizbollah operations are directed exclusively against Israel, and indiscriminately. Katyusha rockets are not known for their accuracy.
If the Lebanese government is, as it claims, sovereign, but will not or cannot control attacks on Israel from its territory, then Hizbollah's actions are as Lebanon's, this is war, and Israel is justified in attempting to do what it can in order to protect Israeli citizens in Israeli territory. Failure to do this would ensure that the rockets would be fired from the border itself, putting many more Israelis at risk.
The temporary suffering of Lebanese citizens is to be decried no less than that of Israeli citizens. I have little doubt that Israel's military presence in southern Lebanon (and this is a military presence, there are no civilians and no settlements) could be ended tomorrow, if Lebanon's government were to exercise the sovereign authority that the world seems to think it has.
Of course, if one starts from the viewpoint that Israel should not be there in the first place, then I suppose that anything one government does, or another does not do can be considered "fair and just."
Professor Stanley Waterman
Department of Geography
University of Haifa Israel
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments