Saturday, March 25, 2006

Hassan Fattah (who rehearsed for the New York Times at the New Republic where he earned his "good Arab" credentials from Marti Peretz) should go back writing about and promoting the US occupation of Iraq. He has this article on Lebanon. And Hassan Fattah does not know (or knows but does not dare mention) that Israel holds Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, and that Israel has held more Lebanese prisoners (and killed more Lebanese) than the Syrian regime has. Of course, I don't mind opening the books on the bloody record of Syrian oppression in Lebanon (provided that we also open the files of Syria's allies during the bloody years: Jumblat, Hariri, Birri, Murr, etc) but we should also open the files on the long decades of Israeli oppression in Lebanon. I am also of the view that we should not forget and forgive the massacres in the Lebanese civil war: I am in favor of trials for all war criminals, from all sects. (thanks Jenny)