Arabs don’t want to wipe Israel off map, Siniora says
In New York Times editorial Lebanese prime minister urges Jewish state to strive for comprehensive solution based on revived Arab peace initiative; says last summer’s war in Lebanon proved that ‘military action does not give the people of Israel security’
Siniora said the Winograd Commission’s interim report “failed to draw the most essential lesson from the July war and the wars that preceded it: military action does not give the people of Israel security. On the contrary, it compromises it.”
He urged Israel to seek a comprehensive solution to the conflict based on the revived Arab peace initiative, saying “the only way for the people of Israel and the Arab world to achieve stability and security is through a comprehensive peace settlement to the overarching Arab-Israeli conflict. The inevitable alternative is increased extremism, intolerance and destruction.”
'Gateway to reconciliation'
According to the Lebanese leader, the IDF came “dangerously close to achieving the stated goal of its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, which was to turn Lebanon’s clock back 20 years.
“The Winograd report made no mention of the sheer damage inflicted,” Siniora said. “Lebanon’s airports, bridges and power plants were systematically ravaged. Villages were destroyed, and more than an eighth of its population displaced.
Devastation in Beirut following Israel Air Force attack (archive photo: AP)
“The bombardment caused an estimated $7 billion in damage and economic losses while leaving behind 1.2 million cluster bomblets that continue to kill and maim innocent people,” he stated.
Siniora continued to say that, “Most important, the war took the lives of more than 1,200 Lebanese citizens, the vast majority of them civilians. This epitomizes the protracted injustice Arabs feel as a result of Israel’s record of destruction of their lives and livelihood, its oppression of the Palestinian people and its continued illegal occupation of Arab lands.
“Because of its unique role in the world, the United States has a responsibility to display leadership and courage in helping the two sides achieve a just and lasting peace,” he added.
“Leading these peace efforts is not only an American responsibility, it is in the US’s interests: peace in the Middle East would offer a gateway to reconciliation with the Muslim world during these times of increased divisiveness and radicalism.”
