Well, for me it’s Monday morning

Did my blog rounds and thought i’d post a few links.

ISF gets tough on Hezbollah?

A follow up to the incident we discussed here not too long ago. A report of Hezbollah abducting 3 members of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces. The report is courtesy of Beirut Spring and is somewhat encouraging. Looks like, for once, the legitimate state institutions are determined to do their job, no matter who’s feathers get ruffled. Now I realize, to most of you, living in the West, or in Israel, this might seem like a given. But until very recently, this kind of thing was unheard of in Lebanon. Hezbollah operates its own security in its own almost-sovereign areas (the whole state within a state thing) and could arrest people (as they did with the 3 ISF guys) and do as they pleased.

Link to the story

Shadowy Group Claims Responsibility for Rocket attack

From today’s Naharnet:

A previously unknown militant Islamic group claimed responsibility on Monday for a rocket attack on north Israel as the Lebanese Army and U.N. Peacekeepers went on full alert in search of the assailants.

The self-proclaimed group, “the Jihadi Badr Brigades – Lebanon branch,” vowed in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Beirut to continue attacks on Israel.

“We had promised our people Jihad (holy war). Here, we again strike the Zionists when a group from the Jihadi Badr Brigades struck the Zionists in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the statement said.

Two rockets fired from Lebanon landed Sunday in northern Israel, causing damage but no casualties, in the first such incident since last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbullah.

Authenticity of the group’s claim could not be immediately confirmed.

(Naharnet story here)

Well, gee. What a surprise! Yet another random shadowy group. I love how these groups pop out of nowhere every time so conveniently. I don’t think they’re fooling anyone anymore though. We all know who these actions benefit, and it’s not that hard to guess who’s really behind these groups (if they even do exist).

This stuff always reminds me of the 1980s, back at the height of the kidnapping of westerners in Beirut. Every time someone was kidnapped, or a car bomb went off, some fax always showed up at the AFP bureau claiming responsibility and signed by some esoteric groups with names like “The organization for the defense of the oppressed” or “The islamic martyrs for the liberation of arab lands” or somesuch.

And guess what, in the end, all the hostages turned out to be in the same hands. We all know these groups were fictitious. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad, that some people still refuse to believe the same hands are behind ALL of the current events (at least all such events that flow towards the same goal of destabilization). And some people still want to ask questions and wonder “Who funded Fath Al Islam?” (that one cracks me up!) or want to fall for the smoke screen of Al-Qaeda or “random terrorism”.

There is nothing random here, people…

A visit to Ramallah

Lisa Goldman writes a fantastic piece on her visit to Ramallah, on the day after Hamas took over Gaza. Reactions from the Palestinian “street” are extremely interesting, and the piece goes to show that what we see in the West (and in Israel) through a lot of the media is not always a reflection of the true sentiment, nor of actual facts.

I’ve been harping on this specific subject for a long time now, but I can’t help but smile when someone like Lisa reminds me (and hopefully others) that these generalizations like “The Palestinians want to wipe out Israel” are to be taken with some grain of salt. We all know SOME do think that way, but in the end, a good number of “civilians” on all sides simply wish to have a normal life and have no problem making friends with jews, muslims, christians, or whatever.

(Link to the story here)

Update:

I simply had to add a link to this story, reported by Mustapha on Beirut Spring. The picture alone is priceless: