Isreali attacks kill 75 in south Lebanon

Friday, April 19, 1996

Local leaders call for immediate end to recent violenceBy John
Digrado

Daily Bruin Staff

After nine days of fighting, Israeli forces continued their
offensive against Hezbollah militia factions in southern Lebanon
Thursday as the region exploded in renewed violence.

An Israeli artillery barrage slammed into a U.N. base yesterday,
and a U.N. spokesman declared that at least 75 Lebanese refugees
who had sought sanctuary from the Israeli military offensive were
killed.

The shelling sharply escalated the violence in Lebanon and was a
new shock to broader hopes of peace in the Middle East ­ both
in the region and across the world here in the Los Angeles
area.

President Clinton called for a cease-fire by all parties in the
conflict and directed Secretary of State Warren Christopher to
travel to the region to help mediate.

"An end to the fighting is essential in order for our diplomatic
efforts to move forward," Clinton said in a news conference late
Thursday.

In southern California, the region’s Arab and Jewish communities
reacted with sadness, anger and grim understanding to the worsening
situation.

"Obviously, (the Jewish community) has expressed loss and sorrow
because of the loss of innocent lives in Lebanon," said Ido Aharoni
of the Israeli Consulate office. "But at the same time, they
absolutely understand why we’re there and they understand that
we’re there reluctantly.

"The bottom line is that it’s a sorrow combined with
understanding," he added.

Outraged at the Clinton Administration’s relative silence up to
this point, Arab community leaders called the Israeli offensive a
blatant act of terrorism.

"Of course it is a shocking development of events," said Maher
Hathout, senior adviser of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

"We consider this as a blatant, brutal act of terrorism against
civilians and we are very disturbed by the silence of the Clinton
Administration. It shows a clear double standard ­ when there
were civilians killed in Israel, Clinton lined up 30 nations in a
conference in Egypt. And when this brutality takes place against
refugees, they say nothing," he maintained.

Jewish community leaders defended the Israeli action, pointing
to repeated Israeli warnings of an impending attack.

"In warfare, its hard to make distinctions when people’s lives
are lost. Nevertheless, the Israelis usually, if not always, issue
a warning before they attack," explained Rabbi Chaim
Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA’s Hillel.

"They don’t target civilians. Civilians are hit only as a result
of fire that’s directed at what is gauged to be a military target,
whereas the goal of the Hezbollah is indeed to terrorize and kill
civilians ­ they say so boldly and openly," Seidler-Feller
claimed. "And those who attempt to equate the Israeli action with
the action of terrorists are merely trying to justify Arab
extremism."

Arab community leaders, however, purported that the Israeli
offensive is an attempt to break down the Lebanese government and
force them to the negotiating table.

"I think that idea of the Israeli government to beat people to
the negotiating table is stupid, to be honest," Hathout said. "It’s
not about fighting against the Hezbollah, it’s about breaking the
spirit of the civilian people of Palestine and Lebanon."

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, claimed that it is actually the Hezbollah who are
responsible for the attacks.

"The attack today on the U.N. post was a terrible tragedy and an
unnecessary loss of life," Hier said in a press statement. "But the
ultimate horror is that the Hezbollah terrorists deliberately use
populated refugee sites to launch their Katyusha attacks on Israel
using women and children targets to hide behind their war of
terror."

Nonetheless, members of the Arab community claimed that Israel’s
vested interests in water reserves in southern Lebanon provided an
ulterior motive for the attacks.

"I think that the attack of the UN safe haven by Israel is a
form of high- tech terrorism," said Salam Marayati, director of the
Muslim Public Affairs Council. "What is happening clearly is that
Israel wants to destroy (the Lebanese opposition) and continue to
use the water that it takes from the occupied zone. And (Israel)
will use terrorism to achieve these political goals."

Stating that water is more of a political objective than a
military goal, Jewish community leaders asserted that such claims
only serve to highlight Arab criticism of the Israeli action.

"That is the excessive nature of the criticism from the Arab
side in order to interpret the Israeli action," countered
Seidler-Feller. "In spite of the need of water, that will not be
accomplished through military conquest."

Moreover, Marayati pointed at the upcoming Israeli presidential
elections as another potential political reason for Israeli Prime
Minister Shimon Peres’ action against Lebanon.

"Peres is trying to raise his popularity numbers" for the
upcoming election, Marayati claimed.

Despite his support for Israel, Seidler-Feller said that
"Operation Grapes of Wrath" must come to an end even though it had
not finished its objective of destroying Hezbollah.

"In light of what happened (Thursday) morning, it’s clear to me
that the operation has gotten out of hand, and as with all military
campaigns, rational minds must rein in the attack forces,"
Seidler-Feller said. "There’s only so much self-control when
fighting power is amassed."

Members of the Muslim community expressed similar views, saying
that any and all acts of violence should be condemned regardless of
their perpetrators.

"If anything, I think it should just be a wake-up call," said
Omar Ezzeldine, a third-year physiological sciences student.

"Its particularly upsetting when you have the world sensing that
there is peace over there when there really isn’t," Ezzeldine said.
"I’m not in support of any acts of violence, but that’s my belief
system, that all acts of violence should be condemned."

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