Let the War of Words Begin
It’s Monday morning, and a fragile cease-fire is in place between Israel and Hizbollah. Few expert commentators expect the cease-fire to last, but maybe it will last long enough for the dialogue between the warring sides to improve. As I’ve noted here before, there currently exists no significant dialogue at all between the various sides in this battle, and linguistic barriers are the least of the problems. Each side clings to different histories, different basic premises, which makes rational discussion impossible.
For perhaps only a few days — maybe more, maybe less, who knows? — the rockets and jet fighters are silenced. Please, let a war of words begin, because that is our best chance for an end to this misery.
Some news items:
1. The son of Israeli novelist David Grossman was killed Saturday on the ground in Lebanon, where he was fighting with a tank unit. David Grossman has represented Israel’s troubled but stubborn anti-war movement with books like The Yellow Wind. Earlier this year, Grossman participated in the PEN World Voices festival in New York City, where he attempted to participate in a one-on-one conersation with Palestinian/Lebanese author Elias Khoury that was sadly cancelled due to political considerations.
2. The great research journalist Seymour Hersh, who’s been raking muck since the Vietnam War, has written a New Yorker article exposing the American-Israeli agreements that led to Israel’s aggressive response to Hizbollah’s incursions.
3. Peace — hah! The regular retinue of war, deprivation, provocation and ridiculous propaganda continues unabated today in Gaza, Iraq, Sri Lanka, The Congo and Sudan. Some world we live in!
Please, let the war of words begin …
August 14th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Are you referring to the same word war as referenced here: http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/ ?
August 14th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
I doubt it, but I’d be happy to talk about the meaning of the word “war” with Ahmadinejad any time …
August 15th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Maybe Ahmadinejad should get a better grasp of English before he goes to war with words against Levi. The deck is stacked against him I’d say.
August 15th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Yeah, darn those non-English speaking people with Internet access.