Nouvel Observateur: quotes:
1- La Croix, August 3rd:
All through its military history, Israel has kept being victorious. Until now, though, the country was feeling insecure.
2- Le Monde, August 3rd:
The whole of Lebanon is bombed. Civil infrastructures are destroyed. Children are killed in greater number than armed men. A million of refugees have to flock away. Anyone in Southern Lebanon may be held as a partisan of the Hezbollah and, consequently, may be doomed to die. Jerusalem stirs up hate in Lebanon, and in the whole Arab-Muslim world… After September 11th trauma, after the fighting had resumed again between Israel and Palestine, after the American fiasco in Iraq and the intensification of the Djihad struggle, the war in Lebanon makes people angry at the Jewish State, its American ally and the Western world in general. Israel strengthens more and more its air flight raids and land attacks. The international community is not enough united in order to demand a cease – fire. Consequently, the war is deemed to last. Future will tell who is victorious in the military field even if, during this three weeks conflict, one may deem that no one is.
Le Figaro, August 5th - Israel has been living the most dreadful day since the beginning of the war.
On Sunday, more than a hundred Katioushas fell down on the northern region. At least 15 people died, among them 12 reservists. 160 were wounded. Bombing in Lebanon killed 19. Tsahal has captured a member of the Hezbollah commando that abducted two Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory on July 12th : and triggered the Israeli offensive into Lebanon….
Haaretz, August 3rd - editorial - “A home front without backing”
…The lack of preparedness was reflected in all areas: public buildings were not fortified; bomb shelters were not prepared in advance and proved to be unsuitable for people to live in for more than a few hours; and the food and water supply system, public transportation and support systems for families whose homes were destroyed are all collapsing under the strains of events. The army leadership now claims that they knew all along that Hezbollah had been accumulating long-range weapons that could strike large population centers, but despite the warnings of a few diehards, not even minimal investments were made in fortifying and preparing bomb shelters.
Moreover, even on the eve of the decision to embark on a military operation, the prime minister refused to declare a state of emergency and did not set up an emergency ministerial panel to expedite assistance for civilians and make it efficient. The result: an overwhelming feeling that the leadership has abandoned the public.
The population that is paying the war’s heavy price is divided into two: the weaker section, stuck unprotected or in inhuman conditions, and those who moved to the center of the country and are forced to manage on their own…
It is now too late to declare a state of emergency... The citizens are sitting in airless bomb shelters; the employees of community centers and local municipalities, hundreds of whom are still owed months of unpaid government wages; the staff of the Ministry of Education’s psychological services; and even youth movement counselors- all of these are now on the front lines, and none are receiving backing from the state.
