There is darkness all around. It is filled with the moans and cries of children, with piercing wails of women. I see faces of children pock-marked with shrapnel, charred with incendiary bombs. Pictures of amputees, of dead bodies that are never shown. And yet I can fish out no word that fits these every day scenes in Lebanon and Palestine. I take out my Pocket Thesaurus. Look up the synonyms of Brutal: animal, barbarous, bearish, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty, boorish, brute, brutish, callous, coarse, crude, cruel, ferocious, harsh, heartless, impolite, inhuman, insensitive, merciless, pitiless, remorseless, rough, rude, ruthless, savage, severe, uncivil, uncivilized, unfeeling, unmannerly, unsympathetic, vicious. Perhaps these words may combine to give a meaning that fits. Or not enough still.

There is nothing to be said. Nothing I can say that haven’t been said. And if I say it, would it matter?

Lebanese, Palestinians have been crushed, are being crushed, till they are bombed into servility and no one will stop it. No one can. No one at least in this “international community”. How can it when the one who flouts UN Laws and Geneva Conventions is identified as the victim and the one who is resisting as the terrorist.

Condoleezza Rice describes this as the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” An Israeli official says they are doing Lebanese a favour.

I used to wonder what went on in their minds. In the minds of people who advocate racism in the name of justice. What did they actually think inside? How can they ever justify all of it to their conscience? To their humanity?

Unless … unless … they think the others (the Arabs, the Muslims and anyone who dares to oppose) to be somehow inferior, less of a human than they are, fit to be bombed, mutilated, burned. So they can die and leave space for Israel and Rice’s New Middle East. Stop resisting. Abandon their homes, gather in a vast ground and allow Israel to bomb them out of existence. To let Israel fulfill its dream.

So I don't wonder any more.

I just wish I could let them know they are wrong. They are so wrong.

P.S. While the world is focused on Lebanon, Palestine is going unnoticed. Check the link out for the massive "Operation Summer Rain" as they have named it, going on.

Every single Israeli action is legitimate, no matter what. It cannot be held accountable because everything Israel does is legitimate.

The bombardments, the illegal weaponry, the demolition of a building, housing refugees; all of it is legitimate. Some people just don’t choose to understand. Don’t choose to understand at all that it’s the terrorists they are dealing with, not normal individuals but the most vicious, the most brutal terrorists ever to grace this planet. Who will pose an "existential threat" to Israel if not instantly removed. Yes, the civilians are dying but that’s not Israel’s fault. In their vast conspiracy to mar Israel’s unstained reputation, the terrorists are using these people as human shields, so unfortunately Israel ends up taking all the blame. This of course is another testament to Hezbollah's unbounded cruelty. Some people just stubbornly refuse to understand. And though the Lebanese are full of rage at the moment, they will appreciate Israel’s sincere effort to root out terrorism once this war is over. They will eventually be grateful to Israel for then these "birth pangs" will seem to them like an insignificant ant sting compared to the ecstatic joy of seeing a New Middle East unfold before their eyes.