Qana 1996, an "Israeli" stigma to be continued

Source: Al-Manar, 17-04-2007
In April 1996, small children were telling each other how they missed their color books at school, older ones were just happy to be in a UN safe haven away from the new "Israeli" offensive against Lebanon dubbed "Grapes of Wrath." They fled from several southern towns to the UNIFIL post in Qana believing they will be safe.
However, their yearning to color another blue sky started to vanish at five past twelve on the 18th of April 1996, when an "Israeli" shell targeted the UN post`s courtyard. The panicked families went into hangars for shelter . It was not long before rounds of "Israeli" phosphoric shells put an end to the fright and astonishment of more than a hundred men, women and children. That was "Israel`s" notorious Qana massacre that stunned the world. Yet it was not the only one on this black day. Earlier that same day, a nine-member family was sleeping in a house in the southern town of Nabatiyeh. Ten "Israeli" missiles were enough to put the whole family including a three-day old baby girl to an eternal sleep.
These two "Israeli" massacres were the latest in the aggression that began eight days earlier and intensified as "Israel" realized it had failed in its campaign to crush Hizbullah and needed to pressure Lebanon and its allies to make a ceasefire understanding.
"Israel" needed to get rid of the July 1993 understanding that put the conflict between occupation forces and the resistance in its absolute military form, excluding the civilians from military operations. Moreover, then "Israeli" Prime Minister Shimon Perez was accused by the Likud and his own Labor parties of helplessness in dealing with the Lebanese resistance attacks. Perez was facing election before the summer of 1996. With an American blessing, he exploited the international sympathy with "Israel" in the wake of the Palestinian resistance attacks. This sympathy was highlighted by the political conclusion of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit on the 13th of March 1996, which gave "Israel" full rein to crush resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon; a plan was set.
The beginning of the war
"Israeli" occupation forces opened artillery fire at the southern village of Yater and killed several people. It was the first fruit of the "Israeli" plot, Grapes of Wrath. Bit by bit, yet in a fast pace, "Israeli" artillery fire and air raids expanded to reach the Bekaa region and southern populated areas. The "Israeli" fire was accompanied by a psychological warfare assumed by the (Voice of the South) radio, controlled by the pro-"Israeli" militias of chief collaborator Antoine Lahed. Beirut`s southern suburbs were targeted with four laser-guided missiles near Hizbullah`s Shoura council announcing the beginning of a fierce war. The party`s Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah announced that Hizbullah will retaliate to the "Israeli" aggression by bombing settlements in northern occupied Palestine.
And so it happened. Rounds of Katyusha missiles fell on the settlements of Keryat Shmonah, Nahariya and Metula.
The aggression continued and "Israeli" forces bombed electricity utilities to further pressure the Lebanese government to put an end to Hizbullah`s activities. However, Katyusha missiles kept on rocking "Israeli" settlements. On the fifth day of the aggression, it became clear that the initiative was in the hands of the resistance.
The "Israeli" command realized that "Grapes of Wrath" had an opposite impact. To escape this situation, It intensified military assaults, while the resistance raised its tone and threatened to attack more settlements. In the meantime, Damascus, Tehran and Beirut were confronting the "Israeli"-American axis, while Paris and Moscow which intervened for calm down had their initiatives hindered by the American demand that concerned parties sign a document calling in one of its article for the deletion of resolution 425, the UN resolution that demanded "Israel`s" withdrawal from Lebanon. Washington was also protecting "Israel" at the Security Council by vetoing any resolution that condemned "Israeli" aggressions against Lebanon, including the massacres in Qana, Nabatiyeh and elsewhere. The Americans made their own initiative. Then US Ambassador to Lebanon Richard Jones told the Lebanese government of martyr Rafik Hariri that to end "Israeli" operations in Lebanon, the resistance had to stop attacking "Israeli" forces in the south, whereas "Israeli" forces preserved the right to attack Hizbullah positions if they attacked "northern `Israel`."
Lebanon seemed to be fighting this war alone, amid Arab silence.
Official and popular Lebanon backed the resistance and Lebanon`s allies were working on a cease fire. The Americans acknowledged that Sayyed Nasrallah had become a major player in any attempt to reach a cease fire. "Israel`s" target to crush and disarm Hizbullah was transformed into a request to stop firing Katyusha missiles at settlements in return for a stop of "Israel`s" military campaign.
Then US Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, failed to press for "Israel`s" demands. After seven days of political wrangling, Christopher called up Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri for a meeting in Damascus. The April understanding, as it was later known, announced the end of the 16-day "Israeli" aggression. The signed understanding stated that "Israel" and its collaborators would not fire at civilian targets and the resistance would not attack "northern `Israel`" with Katyusha missiles or any other kind of weapons. The understanding included an article to form a monitoring group made up of observers from the US, France, Syria, Lebanon and "Israel" to oversee the implementation of the understanding.
Operation Grapes of Wrath ended and the "Israeli" military assessment concluded it was a failed operation while the political aftermath saw Shimon Peres defeated in "Israeli" elections.
Ten years later, "Israel" launched an unprecedented war against Lebanon, in an attempt to crush Hizbullah.
They also failed.