How newspapers have editorialized the Mid East Conflict

[Midnight Mike]

How newspapers have editorialized on the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah.

Updated: 2:17 p.m. PT July 14, 2006

July 14, 2006 - "Hezbollah and its backers have instigated the current fighting and should be held responsible for the consequences."
—The Washington Post

"An act of war. This is how Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has correctly described the Wednesday morning attacks on soldiers defending Israel's sovereign border in the North."
—Jerusalem Post, Israel

"We argued earlier this year that Hamas must recognize the state of Israel and renounce terrorism, and that Israel must also recognize the Palestinian right to a viable state. Brutalizing each other and negotiating through sheer force of terror, on both sides, is not the way forward to that recognition."
—The Age, Australia

"The clashes across Israel’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon will continue unless there is an honorable peace. The fundamentals of this peace are that Israel should withdraw from the occupied territories so that a sovereign Palestinian state could come into being."
-The Dawn, Pakistan

"Israel has reacted hysterically to the Palestinian operation at Kafr Salem in which three Israeli soldiers were killed, four wounded and one captured. The reason it did so is that this operation exposed how fragile Israel's security plans are."
—Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt

"Every country has a right to self-defense. But after all these years of strife, Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, should recognize that force alone cannot win peace ... The US and European Union, who have great leverage over Israel, need to prevail upon Israel to accept a diplomatic solution."
—The Standard, Kenya

"While [G8 leaders] must urge Israel to show restraint in the face of terrorist provocations to draw it into war, it is imperative that they also flex their enormous economic and political muscle to persuade the Lebanese government to clamp down on radical militias, and the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to renounce terrorism and accept Israel's right to exist."
—The Toronto Star, Canada

"Israel's reprisals this time are disproportionate, illegitimate under international rules that outlaw the collective punishment of entire populations and have already resulted in heavy loss of civilian life, especially of children."
—The Financial Times, Britain

"What else could Israel have done after the Hezbollah attack? It is insupportable for Lebanon's theoretical independence to provide a smokescreen and safe haven for Syrian-backed Palestinian militias."
—The [Montreal] Gazette, Canada

"Both the US and their Western allies are keen to cover up the blatant Israeli aggression carried out under false pretexts such as self-defense and fighting terrorism. ?"
—Syria Times, Syria

"The bullying reaction of Israel in Lebanon in retaliation to a brazen operation by the Hezbollah fighters shows the Hebrew state still thinks in the same old way: flexing its mighty muscles to spread more destruction and casualties to squash resistance."
—Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

[USAF Pilot 07]

It's no surprise that just about every "Western" paper on there shows some type of support towards Israel, and recognizes their military action as just, and that just about every "Non-Western" paper regards Israel as a bully who had no right launching a military attack.

That's fundamentally where the problem lies: Two totally different societies, with completely opposing views on the situation. One on side you have a society who believes Israel is a nation who has the right to defend herself, and on the other side you have a society who really doesn't recognize Israel as a nation and views any movement by her (other than withdrawal or relinquishment) as "bullying" or unacceptable.
This is a much larger issue than just "Israel v. Lebanon and Palestine", it's really a "West vs. Middle East" conflict, which makes the whole situation that more important to the whole world. If things don't start to settle down quickly, in a short period of time it's very possible that fighting in that region could become much more intense and widespread with multi-national backing on both sides....