Fragile Peace

For me, an on-looker from China, words like Zionist, Islam, heretics or ideologies may seem to be meaningless. Peace, the ultimate theme of human society is most important. And yet, even here in China, we have seen buildings in rubbles, smoke, as well as the wounded and dead shown on the TV screen everyday. What is our perspective?

	Xinhua News Agency

We know that demanding the freedom of hostages is just an excuse. What the Israeli government aims at is none other than Hezbollah, one of the thorns in its flesh and most long-standing enemies. It is believed that with a high hand they could force the can’t-stand-a-single-blow Arabs to disarm themselves, and under this guideline, the Israeli army turned Beirut and the south border of Lebanon into a battlefield.

Hezbollah’s answer was NO. Taking an intransigent attitude, they never succumbed to the military threats, especially from the Israeli “regime”. Launching missiles towards the north is their way fighting against the so-called invasion.

And thus, as we see, an unbalanced war leads the Middle East again into chaos. With air-bombing as a prelude, the Israeli troops crossed the border in search of any suspicious Hezbollah bases. Meanwhile Israel also suffered from headache, as Hezbollah’s projections landed on its northern cities.

Now, at least with the appeal and meditation of the UN, both sides have aagreed on conditional cease fire. There is no winner—neither did Jerusalem succeeded in eliminating Hezbollah’s headquarter nor did the latter obstruct the raids. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons that Hezbollah consented to end the missile attack is because Lebanon wasn’t able to afford the continual severe loss or the disorder of social life. It is impossible to estimate the loss of lives and destruction of cities in Lebanon under such unbridled actions.

One of my friends visited Beirut early this year; she was impressed deeply by its unique beauty. What are left on the east coast of the Mediterranean after the cease fire? Ruined cities, homeless people and nevertheless, sorrow and hostility. The military conflict finally came to an end, but how long will this fragile peace last? At least 5 to 10 years will be needed for the reconstruction, but time seems too long for the next hot war to break out. To establish prolonged peace in the Middle East is always a paradox, especially for those who believe in utilizing military forces.

War is the ultimate option for solving problems, and maybe, the worst. For the cost of involving in a war is too high to be foreseen, nor the consequence to be controlled. I tried to remain neutral, but can’t deny the fact that Lebanese people deserve more sympathy. Many of the words and policies spoken don’t mean much over here in Beijing. Looking at the horrible scene of the ruins, no one would say war is an effective solution. Unfortunately, peace in the Middle East is always too fragile to be maintained.