[Reader-list] Disproportion and the Justification of War

[Tapas Ray]

Thanks to Shuddhabrata for his deeply insightful post.

There is a question that has been troubling me, because I support Lebanon's 
right to exist as a "normal" country with liberal values that is not ravaged 
by either Israel or Syria or Iran, and because I am as concerned about 
Hezbollah's Islamism as I am about Israel's Zionist militarism. Apologies if 
the question already has been discussed on this list ... I must confess that 
I have not read everything that has been written here on Lebanon.

The question is this: Since Hezbollah have been firing rockets at civilian 
areas in northern Israel, does this justify the "collateral damage" 
inflicted by Israel on Lebanon? Are the Hezbollah justified in hitting 
civilian areas in Israel because the Israeli Army is a conscript army and 
the civilian population is, therefore, an army in waiting? Is the difference 
in scale - hence the question of proportion - due solely to technological 
factors? I mean, Israel is killing hundreds of civilians because it has the 
means of delivering explosives on chosen targets with precision and 
Hezbollah have been killing a far fewer number only because it does not have 
those means, being a non-state actor?

I shall really appreciate an anwer to these questions, on-list or off-list.

Once again, apologies if these questions have been raised and answered 
already.

Tapas

> Dear Jamie, Mansour, Iram, Aasim and others
>
> On the eve of the day when a demonstration that I hope will happen as 
> close as possible to the > Israeli Embassy in New Delhi, ...