Now I understand. Now what’s happening makes sense.

Juan Cole cuts through the rhetoric to the heart of the Israeli demands:

1. The return of two captured Israeli soldiers held by Hizbullah

2. A withdrawal of Hizbullah to the Litani River, 30 mi. or so north of the Israeli border deeper into Lebanon.

3. Cessation of rocket attacks on Israel

It is worth noting that if this is what Israel wants, two of the three could have been gotten without reducing the entire country of Lebanon to rubble. They could have traded 3 Hizbullah members in their custody for the 2 Israeli soldiers. And, if they hadn’t gone wild bombing everything in sight it is unlikely Hizbullah would have shelled them on this scale in the first place.

As for the demand that Hizbullah withdraw (presumably this means its paramilitary fighters) to the Litani, that talking point will inspire the profoundest fear in the Lebanese that Israel is essentially attempting to move its border north and make the Litany the new border, thus staking a clear claim on the waters of the river, which Israelis have coveted since 1948. It is a non-starter politically, though whether it can be attained with violence is yet to be seen.

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Melanie & Company at Just a Bump in the Beltway have moved.

Their new address is: www.beltwaybump.com

New host, new URI, new software.

As she explains it is the result of trackback spam causing the old site to exceed its bandwidth, at which point her host just shut down the site, as opposed to contacting someone about the problem [and possibly making making money in bandwidth charges].

It’s a whole new look.

In his post, Blood Discount, Billmon mentions the difference he has noticed the coverage of the conflict by the American media when it comes to casualties in Israel and those in Lebanon.

The BBC reports:

More than 127 Lebanese have died since clashes with Israel began last week. At least were 23 killed in air raids in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

[snip…]

Twelve Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah rockets since fighting began on Wednesday, including the eight killed in Haifa.

[snip…]

At least 16 died in Israeli air strikes on Sunday the city of Tyre, while attacks on a border village killed at least seven, including five with Canadian and Lebanese citizenship.

The strikes came hours after the Haifa rocket attack, which killed eight members of a train repair crew.

Correspondents say the large death-count in a strike on Israel’s third-largest city has rattled the whole country.

Israel’s death toll from the fighting stands at 24 overall.

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