Israel paves way for ground invasion
Hundreds of thousands of people were warned to flee from southern Lebanon today as Israeli military officers indicated that final preparations were being made for a ground invasion.
Israeli planes dropped leaflets telling residents to clear the zone after officials met to decide how big a force to send in, according to senior military officials.
They said Israel would not stop its offensive until Hizbullah was forced behind the Litani river, 20 miles north of the border – creating a new buffer zone in a region that saw Israeli occupation between 1982 and 2000. Reservists in northern Israel were ordered to report for duty later today.
guardian.co.uk
US weapons, know-how fuel Israel’s military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel’s latest military operations reflect a fighting machine bolstered by U.S. weaponry, jet fuel and technology transfers — and more is on its way.
From 1971 through 2005, U.S. aid to Israel has averaged more than $2 billion a year, two-thirds of which has been military assistance, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
U.S. military grants to Israel totaled $2.28 billion in fiscal 2006 ending September 30, according to a new tally in the Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs, a nonpartisan magazine.
The U.S.-supplied arsenal includes F-16 Falcon fighters built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.-built F-15 Eagle fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
Deliveries of Israel’s latest order of 102 F-16Is — a special variant built at a reported cost of $4.2 billion — are to be completed by the end of 2008.
Israeli Professor in Haifa Blasts “Reckless” Assault on Lebanon
ILLAN PAPPE: Well, today was a relative quiet day. There were several sirens, but no rockets fell, unlike tomorrow. But I’m aware that what we are going through pales in comparison to what goes on on the other side of the border, where a large number of civilians have been killed.
And I think I can talk also as a spokesperson for the Israeli Committee Against the War, that the citizens of Haifa, Palestinians and Jews alike, there are quite a large number of them who ask probably the same questions that Ralph Nader asked before. Why doesn’t our government accept the offer of the United Nations to an immediate ceasefire and the beginning of diplomatic negotiations? And why does the United States, in the most immoral position I have ever recalled since the end of the second World War, tells us and the poor citizens of Lebanon that it doesn’t mind the mutual killing of citizens, so that the military operation could go on, where it knows that it has the power to stop today the shelling of both Israelis and Lebanese and to start maybe a more fruitful negotiations, not only over the questions of the prisoners of war, but maybe even over the question of the comprehensive solution.
AMY GOODMAN: How important is the U.S. stance, Professor Pappe?
ILLAN PAPPE: Immensely so. I think that, first of all, it has the power, like it never had before, to stop an escalation, which has already claimed the lives of many innocent people. So that’s a very powerful position. Secondly, it’s the only superpower in the area and in the world, and that’s a very great responsibility. And thirdly, without the U.S. support, the aggressive Israeli policies, not only towards Lebanon, but also towards the Gaza Strip and towards the Occupied Territories, would have changed dramatically. So I would say that in fact the Middle East conflict continues, very much because — not only because, but primarily because — of the American position.
UN sees possible Mideast war crimes
Expressing grave concern at the killing and maiming of civilians in the region, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said international humanitarian law was clear on the need to protect non-combatants.
“This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said in a statement.
“The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control,” she said without pointing the finger at anyone in particular.
I’m nobody. Are you nobody too?
15 killed in Israel incursions in Gaza, West Bank
MAGHAZI REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AFP) – Fifteen Palestinians were killed as Israeli troops moved into a Gaza refugee camp and a West Bank town, pushing a campaign to rescue a teenage soldier and stop rocket fire into a fourth week.
Preoccupied With Fighting, Israelis Put Aside Plans to Withdraw Settlers From West Bank
HAIFA, Israel, July 19 With daily rocket fire coming from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, two places from which Israel has withdrawn in recent years, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert can expect greater resistance in pursuing any plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank, some Israeli analysts and citizens said.
In March, a solid majority of Israelis voted for Mr. Olmert’s Kadima movement and other parties that supported some sort of Israeli pullback in the West Bank. It appeared that the issue would define Israeli politics over the next couple of years.
But with Palestinian attacks out of Gaza and the Hezbollah assault from Lebanon, the West Bank question has been pushed aside for now, and it could be a much harder sell for Mr. Olmert when he revisits it.
‘The West Bank disengagement plan may not be clinically dead, but it is in a prolonged state of suspended animation,’ said Mark Heller, a political analyst at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Too busy.