Originally posted by Quarto
You misunderstand me... of course this war wasn't about prisoners. It started because of the cross-border attacks by Palestinian terrorists. But Hezbollah was set up during the war, to liberate Lebanon, not Palestine. And that's already happened, right? Well, this is where the prisoners come in - they're not the reason this war was started, they're the reason it hasn't finished. And no, the prisoners Israel holds were not taken after your soldiers were captured - at least not the last group of soldiers they captured.
I
was talking about the first group of prisoners. I know my History, thank you very much.
Originally posted by Quarto
Well, I don't get it - why don't you believe? You do realise that this wouldn't be the first prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and Israel, don't you? Even if you're right and it wouldn't stop the attacks, it is still the best - indeed, only - chance of getting those soldiers back.
Why? Because even after we withdrew from Lebanon, The Hezbollah looked desperatly for new reasons to attack us - The Shaba'a Farms, which aren't even Lebanese territory. It doesn't matter what we do, they'll always find new reasons to attack us.
They continue to claim it's about terrirtory, so why are you trying to explain that it isn't?
Originally posted by Quarto
Apparently, it doesn't reach Israel either - I don't rely on Australian coverage, I read the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, which I believe is a fairly sizeable newspaper. They have a somewhat left-wing attitude, but I doubt that would affect their coverage of Hezbollah activities.
I don't read Ha'aretz too often, but I do hear these things on the radio every couple days. Also, you'd be surprised how much the rivalry between our 2 biggest newspapers have created a lot of mis-information and lack of any at all as well.
Originally posted by Quarto
Your tactics weren't as brutal, but they were brutal. And the only reason I bring up Britain is to point out the foolishness of your government's policy of not negotiating under fire.
I'm glad to hear you don't support that policy, at least. I don't see how not trusting the Arabs back then justfies Israel's stance, though.
Well, since I do not support this policy, I tend to agree, but I don't think Britain is a very good example anyway. Just look at their continuing conflict with the IRA. I suppose that when it's that close to home - it's different than when it's thousands of miles away.
Not negotiating with the Arabs 30 years ago is one of our biggest mistakes, I agree. There is nothing to 'justify' here. It's a fact that we did not trust the arabs back then, nor do we trust them much today. It's very easy to sit in a country like Australia which hasn't a single border dispute (or a single border at all) with any other country, which doesn't get attacked every decade by another country (or a number of countries), and say that 'trust' or 'lack there of' is not a justifyable reason not to negotiate. Justifyable or not - it's still a reason.
Originally posted by Quarto
If that was a valid reason not to negotiate then, then isn't not trusting Israel an equally valid reason today?
I don't really understand what you're talking about. All of double-negatives have confused the hell out of me.
Originally posted by Quarto
That's why I said 'relative'.
Yes, and that's percisely why this is a moot point. I hope you never experience a single month of 'relative peace', as you put it, in your life.
You know what? I actually urge you to try and spend a month or two here in Israel. Experience the frightening feeling it is to board a bus and not be at all sure whether or not you'll be getting off it with both your arms and legs in the same zip code. Experience the joy of walking into a mall or a super-market or a fast food restaurant and being 'felt' and asked for an ID every time. Experience the thrill of trying to get in contact with family members or friends who were supposed to be hanging around exactly where a suicide bomber chose to detonate himself and not being able to because the rest of Israel is trying to do the exact same thing and the cellular phone companies have collapsed due to too many calls all at once.
When you've experienced that, you may speak of 'relative peace'.