An eye for an eye will make everyone blind

I struggle for the words to describe how I feel about the war that has broken out between Israel and Hizbullah. I am horrified by the violence. I am horrified by the tactics used by Hizbullah - kidnapping soldiers and firing random missiles into civilian centres in Israel - and I am horrified by the brutal response of the Israeli military/government - firing missiles into civilian centres in Lebanon and purposefully destroying infrastructure, thus creating a humanitarian emergency throughout the conflict.

It brings to mind the old saying:

"An eye for an eye will make everyone blind."

Except, in this case, there are so many more Lebanese civilians being blinded (well, killed actually) and the disproportionate use of force strikes me as brutal and ill considered. The Israeli government has announced that the attacks will not end until Hizbullah is brought to its knees - destroyed. Imagine if England has taken a similar approach against the IRA - decades of attacks and destruction of essential infrastructure would have destroyed the lives of all the civilians in Northern Ireland before it would have destroyed the IRA. In fact, it would have only swelled its numbers, as more people were driven through desperation and a burning sense of injustice to join and fight back. Actually, that really does seem to reflect the situation that has already developed in the Palestinian territories.

What kind of future are they trying to create for the region? Why do innocent civilians have to pay such an enormous price? How did this become acceptable? It is, after-all, in direct violation of the Geneva conventions on war crimes.

Of course, Hizbullah’s action are also in violation and utterly reprehensible. But that is why they have been legitimately labelled a terrorist organisation. How do you differentiate if a democratically elected government is also permitted to behave in the same way?

Image from the Guardian.