War Crimes, or, Who is a Civilian?

According to the newspaper today, Israel is being accused by Amnesty Intl of war crimes. This is for

"...Deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure"

They complain that Israel attacked villages:

"In some cases, cluster bomb impacts were identified. Houses were singled out for precision-guided missile attack and were destroyed, totally or partially, as a result.

Business premises such as supermarkets or food stores and auto service stations and petrol stations were targeted, often with precision-guided munitions and artillery that started fires and destroyed their contents."


Now see this article in the nations and this one.

In South Lebanon the local population IS HIZBOLLA. There are no civilians! They are all the army of Hizbolla, and their supporters.

When the world criticise Israel for attacking civilians, we have to understand that the Hizbolla are both military and civilian front. Like Hamas in Gaza and elsewhere, they do an enormous amount of education, working with the poor, welfare, and municipal work. This is precisely their strength. They understand that if you help someone when they are needy they will be indebted to you for eternity.

And so, what choice do Israel have if they wish to destroy Hizbolla? I saw a piece on Israeli TV a week ago where they went through a Hizbolla village in S. Lebanon and showed the stockpiles of katyushas in every second house.

In the (London) Times I read this:

"Instead of stockpiling its munitions in a handful of arsenals, Hezbollah dispersed them in private homes, garages, basements, bunkers and caves, giving ready access to small Hezbollah units. The group is also thought to have night-vision goggles and a stash of Israeli military fatigues for ambushes."

Who is a civilian?

In war, what is the aim? To get the enemy to surrender. In ancient times, when there was no difference - just like in S. Lebanon, and Gaza - between soldier and civilian, they simply engaged in a siege war and everyone suffered. The aim was to break the enemy.

Just like the 9/11 terrorists were "civilians" and the terrorists arrested in London were good citizens, so are these people in South Lebanon.

One of the reasons why Israel suffered such casualties in Lebanon was precisely because Hizbolla operates under a civilian cover. As many newspapers reported , a man will go out into his garden for 10 minutes, and fire a rocket and go back to his living room to watch TV or have dinner!

What is a civilian?

No! I believe that the demarcation between civilian and soldier in contemporary warfare is slowly being erased.

And one last point.

Against whom did Nasralla release over 3000 missiles? - Civilian or Military?