Flirting with danger

Hanin Ghaddar
NOW Lebanon
26 June '10

(Ignoring the not unusual anti-Israel rhetoric, you can find a goldmine of interesting and sarcastic thoughts here. I highlighted the one of the first ones, and leave the rest to you.Y.)

Regional dynamics are so fragile that any slight incident or clash might lead to war, in Lebanon or the region. Israel has been more vocal with its threats in the past few days, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring on Thursday that any plans by the Iranians or the Lebanese to send aid ships to Gaza were unjustified, as both Iran and Hezbollah, which holds posts in the Lebanese government, were sending missiles and weapons to the territory.

This warning prompted Iran to immediately scrap plans to send an aid ship to Gaza, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA on Friday. IRNA quoted Secretary General of the International Conference for Supporting the Palestinian Intifada Hussein Sheikh al-Islam as saying that the ship was canceled to prevent giving Israel a pretext to attack it. The aid would now be sent to Gaza via another route, he said.

Iran may have heeded the warnings, but it appears Lebanon didn’t. Its ship is still due to sail, despite the threats. “It’s ready to go,” said organizer Samar al-Hajj to Lebanon’s National News Agency. “We are just waiting for the arrival of some foreign women [activists].”

Israel sent a letter to the United Nations earlier this week saying that any ship coming from Lebanon or Iran would be seen as an act of war. Now let us cast our minds back to June 25, 2006, when Hamas kidnapped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in Gaza. The act led to military reprisal in Gaza. Just over two weeks later, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed five more. And the party was surprised when Israel launched a war the very next day.

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