August 07, 2006

Hezbollah refuse ceasefire

Since Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers prevoking the current conflict, it's previously having fired rockets into Isreal for years not having had the proper effect forcing an Israeli response, there have been many calling for a ceasefire. Here is the google definition of a ceasefire:
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war, or any armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions.
And here from The American HeritageĀ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
cease-fire or ceaseĀ·fire (ssfr)
n.

1. An order to stop firing.
2. Suspension of active hostilities; a truce.
Seems quite strait forward, and this is exactly what the current UN resolution proposes
The draft calls for a full cessation of hostilities, telling Hezbollah to end attacks immediately and saying Israel should stop all offensive military operations - although Israel is permitted to defend itself.
Israel seems happy with stopping hosilities, but wants to remain in place until an international force can be assembled to police the truce. This is quite understandable considering that they have been under rocket attack from Hezbollah for years and when they unilaterally pulled out of Gaza the rockets started flying from there as well the very day after. The problem with a ceasefire is not Israel, it is Hezbollah.
"Lebanon, all of Lebanon, rejects any talks and any draft resolution" that do not address these demands, said Nabih Berri of Hezbollah, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament.
What Hezbollah wants is not a ceasefire, they want something a bit different
Hezbollah ministers in the Lebanese Government say that their party's fighters will not stop firing until every Israeli soldier has left Lebanese soil.
That is not a ceasefire. What Hezbollah wants is for the international community to give it a victory in a fight that it started when it knew that it had no hope of victory otherwise. Hence Hezbollah's use of tactics designed to maximise civilian causalties (itself a war crime) with the results stage managed to maximum effect, or simply made up by sympathetic reporters.

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