So the story that interested me today concerned border clashes between Israel and Lebanon. The border between these countries has been tense and on high alert ever since Israel invaded Lebanon in the 2006 war. And with the recent events surrounding Israel and the Turkey flotilla incident tensions have become ever more prickly with that of its continents neighbours. Lets just remind ourselves briefly of this flotilla incident. A flotilla of aid and materials was being shipped unofficially from Turkey by a humanitarian group to Gaza in response to the blockade in Gaza. They where there to assist and provide much-needed materials to the closed off city. Israel had not approved this ship to enter Gaza as it would breach their ‘blockade’. So they met this flotilla in International waters *an important point* and through the following confrontation killed 9 people on the flotilla.
Now lets look at the recent clash between Israeli and Lebanese border troops. The Lebanese say that Israeli soldiers crossed their border to uproot a tree and shrubbery that was blocking their view of a town in Lebanon . The Lebanese claimed to have fired warning shots and where met with artillery fire from the Israeli side which sparked the direct clash which resulted in 3 Lebanese officers being killed along with 1 Israeli officer and a Lebanese Journalist. Now the Israelis say that they where on their side of the border and the troops that were fired on where 300 – 400 meters away from the border watching over their fellow troops as they cut away at shrubbery that was falling on their side.
Now regardless of which side is telling the truth *though i doubt with Israelis recent track record of honesty we have much trouble deciding on the truth* Israel would be hard pressed to be able to defend its actions. This is bearing in mind the fact that they don’t believe they did anything unlawful with their handling of the flotilla incident. The flotilla was a distance away from the Israeli waters but was still attacked because Israel believed that they would be infringing on their territorial sovereignty even though they hadn’t reached there shores just yet. So using that argument the Lebanese soldiers could easily argue that regardless of the fact that the Israeli soldiers weren’t at their border as the Israelis claim they where close enough to threaten their territorial sovereignty.
And since when did gardening become such a top Israeli priority. Overgrown shrubs? not in my neighbours backyard if i have anything to do with it. it’s all about the scenery, It’s the little details that make a big difference as any keen gardener will tell you. Who knew Israeli border officials had such green fingers. Aid and much-needed material for the imprisoned Palestinian population in Gaza, not really that necessary. A shrub and a tree infringing on their view or land, Unfathomable. It’s good to see their priorities are in place correctly. Not only that, if it is true that the shrubbery was infringing on their view of a village in Lebanon and which they needed to be able to view for security reasons im pretty sure they could have taken the common courtesy of communicating this to the Lebanese border officials rather than doing what they do best and taking matters into their own hand and lauding about the place as they see fit. Especially with all the recent hoopla over Israelis over-aggressive and i’ll-do-what-i-want-regardless-of-what-anyone-thinks attitude being questioned and criticised in the wake of the flotilla incident.
You’d think they would have wanted to buck the trend this time and maybe take a more diplomatic approach especially considering the tense nature of things in the middle east at present. But no, I guess when a shrub or tree has got to go, its got to go asap. That train ain’t waiting for no one, your either on the green carriage or your left stranded on a shrubbery platform. It’s the kind of can-do attitude people welcome at gardening shows who knew it would blossom so passionately in the Israeli border patrol.
That’s all for now
till next time
