Mideast violence - Escalation is in nobody’s interest

UNDER international law reprisal actions are supposed to be commensurate with the initial attack, but Israel’s response to the kidnapping of two of its soldiers in Lebanon has been utterly disproportionate.

Hezbollah undoubtedly started the trouble. While Israel has every right to defend its territory and its citizens, its overreaction should not be ignored, because this could inflame the whole region.

Israel’s response to attacks on Israeli military targets has been indiscriminate.

A convoy of families fleeing from fighting near Tyre was bombed by the Israelis, killing 20 people, most of them children.

If those were Israeli children there would be an outcry on the part of western governments, and there should be just as loud an outcry on the part of all decent people at this spiralling violence.

Escalation of the conflict is in nobody’s interest, except the cliques responsible for the outrages. Killing innocent civilians is only likely to complicate the problems, not resolve them.

The government of Lebanon disclaims any awareness of the Hezbollah’s aggression. It called on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to broker a ceasefire, but Israel insist on the prior return of its two soldiers.

Who has them? Israel’s friends must make meaningful calls for restraint on all sides.

It will be much easier to negotiate a settlement now, than if the current lunacy is allow escalate out of all control.