Beggars ride...
... at least for two days.
Israel has called a temporary ceasefire in southern Lebanon to investigate the deaths of over fifty civilians.
Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians.
The announcement came after intensive talks between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli officials.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's Qana attack - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli soldiers were seized.
*blink* Condi Rice actually persuaded the Israelis to do something? And that something was to stop killing people? I'll be...
Israel says it's also giving the Lebanese these two days to evacuate. That's big of them, considering people were understandably afraid to leave for fear of getting blown up as they fled. (Also considering that the forceful relocation of civilian populations under threat of death is, I hear, a war crime, too.)
Correspondents say Qana holds bitter memories for the Lebanese.
It was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah.
Anything I could say about futility and working against one's own interests would be redundant at this point.
This comes after Kofi Annan said there's evidence both sides have committed war crimes (a phrase I didn't expect to hear outside the blogosphere, apt as it is), and after Blair and German Chancellor Merkel issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire. Besides Blair being Bush's poodle boy, Merkel is, if I recall correctly, an overtly Christian right-winger.... in other words, a politician in Bush's mode. It's significant, I think, that Blair and Merkel not only called for a ceasefire, but did so jointly, when they have little ideological common ground.
ETA (via Juan Cole): Pope Benedict XVI has also called for an immediate ceasefire.
World to Israel: we're beyond WTF, now seriously, cut that shit out.
Israel has called a temporary ceasefire in southern Lebanon to investigate the deaths of over fifty civilians.
Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians.
The announcement came after intensive talks between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli officials.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's Qana attack - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli soldiers were seized.
*blink* Condi Rice actually persuaded the Israelis to do something? And that something was to stop killing people? I'll be...
Israel says it's also giving the Lebanese these two days to evacuate. That's big of them, considering people were understandably afraid to leave for fear of getting blown up as they fled. (Also considering that the forceful relocation of civilian populations under threat of death is, I hear, a war crime, too.)
Correspondents say Qana holds bitter memories for the Lebanese.
It was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah.
Anything I could say about futility and working against one's own interests would be redundant at this point.
This comes after Kofi Annan said there's evidence both sides have committed war crimes (a phrase I didn't expect to hear outside the blogosphere, apt as it is), and after Blair and German Chancellor Merkel issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire. Besides Blair being Bush's poodle boy, Merkel is, if I recall correctly, an overtly Christian right-winger.... in other words, a politician in Bush's mode. It's significant, I think, that Blair and Merkel not only called for a ceasefire, but did so jointly, when they have little ideological common ground.
ETA (via Juan Cole): Pope Benedict XVI has also called for an immediate ceasefire.
World to Israel: we're beyond WTF, now seriously, cut that shit out.