Israel and America have proudly announced a ceasefire between Lebanon and the Zionist state. It’s not like any ceasefire you would see anywhere else.
While a ceasefire typically holds two sides accountable for violations of the agreement, President Biden, Israel’s weapons supplier and diplomatic benefactor during its genocidal operations, clearly said any so-called violation of the agreement would give Israel the green light to respond.
Well, Israel has already responded. And in the face of U.S. lies, and diplomatic gaslighting much of Lebanon lies in ruins. Thousands are dead, thousands are displaced and suffering persists.
Lebanon has a population of 5.8 million people, including some 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinians. The Hezbollah movement has included staunch fighters against Israel and Zionist slaughter and oppression. Iran supports Hezbollah.
A cessation of “hostilities,” if the one-sided, deadly match against Hezbollah can even be called that, is supposed to ease suffering and death in Lebanon.
It follows Israeli assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, her terror campaign using booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies to kill and maim Hezbollah personnel and civilians, and Israel’s military zone inside Lebanon’s borders.
While UN and Lebanese forces are supposed to take over and control this area, is that really likely? Israel has essentially never lived up to any agreement she has made to “promote” peace.
And despite world condemnation of war crimes and International Criminal Court warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel has nothing to worry about. U.S. weapons, tax dollars, political protection and threats neutralize any attempts to hold the illegal settler state accountable.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed hope Nov. 26 that the agreement “can put an end to the violence, destruction and suffering the people of both countries have been experiencing.”
“The Secretary-General urges the parties to fully respect and swiftly implement all of their commitments made under this agreement,” his UN statement noted. He also urged both parties to fully implement Security Council Resolution 1701, passed in 2006.
“The Security Council resolution, adopted in the aftermath of the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for a cessation of hostilities as well as respect for the ‘Blue Line’ of separation between Israeli and Lebanese armed forces,” UN News reported.
“The ceasefire agreement comes after more than a year of heightened tensions along the Blue Line. Civilians on both sides have borne the brunt of the violence, with thousands killed and tens of thousands displaced.”
If the resolution has languished for almost two decades is there good reason to think it will spring to life now? Emphatically not.
The ceasefire agreement calls for Hezbollah to withdraw forces north of the Blue Line and scuttle its military operations in Southern Lebanon. Israel is supposed to have a phased pullout of its forces south of the Blue Line.
Over a 60-day period, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers are supposed to come into Southern Lebanon. They are supposed to provide a kind of buffer.
Will Israel respect these forces or the agreement itself? As Al Jazeera reported Nov. 30, Israel again launched military strikes into Lebanon, with which the Zionist state shares a border. Israeli settlers live along that northern border.
Many Israelis want to expand and take more land. They see 13 months of Israeli Defense Forces warring against Hezbollah and Hamas, following attacks inside Israel Oct. 7, 2023, as the perfect time to strike. Destruction and murder inside Lebanon are a companion to the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Israeli forces carried out several air attacks on towns in southern Lebanon, killing two people and injuring six others, although the ceasefire agreed with Hezbollah has largely continued to hold,” said Al Jazeera.
Israel said the strikes were aimed at military targets. In Lebanon, the word is the strikes hit civilians.
“Since October 2023, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,961 people, wounded more than 16,500 others, and displaced more than one million people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry,” said Al Jazeera.
If Israel is still bombing and civilians still dying, how can that be a ceasefire?
Naba’a Muhammad is editor-in-chief of The Final Call newspaper. He can be reached via www.finalcall.com and [email protected]. Find him on Facebook. Follow
@RMfinalcall on X and Instagram.
