Meanwhile John Bolton in the UN was performing a one-man "take it or leave it" show in the UN Security Council, to give Israel the time to complete its obliteration of southern Lebanon. Condoleeza Rice has been stalling for time too, but over the past few days has shown somewhat more compassion and determination. Tony Blair has finally started negotiating strongly for a ceasefire and international peace troops, as soon as it can be arranged in the UN.

George Bush appears to be in another world – an incurious place akin to George Orwell's 1984 – where "horror is hope" and "death is an opportunity". Bush was quoted as saying that "while the fighting in Lebanon is 'painful and tragic,' it also presents opportunity for change in the Middle East, a region that has 'suffered decades of tyranny and violence'". He seems to be saying that the Israelis may have to break a few inconsequential eggs to make their ghastly omelette...

It has taken an extraordinary amount of civilian deaths – mostly from so-called "smart weapons" – and wide condemnation from the world community, to finally impact this group of pro-Israeli refuseniks. Australian PM John Howard has been little better, marching in rhetorical lockstep with George Bush's Middle East agenda – an agenda that relies upon supporting Israel fully, while it wipes out hundreds of the Lebanese people, both combatants and innocent civilians alike.

Israel says that it "warns" the Lebanese people to flee their target areas, by dropping leaflets into their neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, they have also been dropping bombs onto roads and bridges, making it impossible for some people to escape. Convoys of motorists fleeing north have also been bombed. On top of this, an air strike recently killed 4 unarmed UN monitors in a clearly marked UN building in southern Lebanon, even after 10 phone calls to the Israelis asking them to stop were ignored or not acted on.

Only one thing good has come from this extraordinarily one-sided slaughter. It has revealed, once and for all, that the US is hopelessly attached to the failures – and hence the barbarity and cruelty – of the Israelis. Blaming Hezbollah for the problem is just not good enough, when your retaliation is merely producing another generation of enemies dedicated to your downfall, after you have bombed their innocent wives and children. This is an abject failure for the Israeli government and military and proves that in the Middle East the US is not an unbiased broker for a lasting peace.

Who arms Israel?

Primarily the US. During George Bush's administration the Israelis have received US$10.5 billion in US Foreign Military Financing (the Pentagon's largest military aid program) and US$6.3 billion in US arms deliveries. One of the biggest deals was the sale of 102 F-16s to Israel – worth some US$4.5 billion. The US has also supplied the Israel with their latest stocks of JP-8 aviation fuel (US$210 million) to help them "keep peace and security in the region". As William D. Hartung, author of "Tangled Web 2005: A Profile of the Missile Defense and Space Weapons Lobbies" and a senior research fellow at the New School notes:

"Given the billions of dollars of aid it provides to Israel every year and the central role of U.S.-supplied weaponry in the Israeli arsenal, the United States has considerable leverage that it could use to promote a cease-fire in the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah before more Israeli and Lebanese civilians are killed and displaced. President Bush needs to go beyond vague calls for 'restraint' to demands for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, bringing in other key actors in the region, including Iran and Syria."

Not happy with just supplying the Israelis with arms, the US is also planning to provide weapons and arms to the Arab states, worth another US$5 billion. These arms will go to Saudi Arabia – home of the vast majority of the 9/11 terrorists, a brutal and oppressive dictatorship and a major supplier of oil to the US – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. People often say that the US, in being addicted to foreign oil, is "funding both sides of the war on terror". That may well be, but it goes much further than that. It also sells arms to two of the countries that provide the majority of the support and funding for Al Qaeda; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

It's not clear "who" these countries would use these arms on (other than the Israelis and the Indians – both allies of Washington), yet it is clear that these weapons are escalating a regional arms race, fly in the face of attempts to disarm these dictatorships, and make the Middle East and South-East Asia more dangerous than they already are. I find it hard to imagine that the US actions are totally motivated by money, and the imperial urge to control the area's vast energy resources, but there is little evidence that any of these arms sales are tied to any democratic reforms in either nation.

The way forward

The way forward for Israel – and Palestine and Lebanon – is an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between the three nations. This needs to be brokered by a fair peace broker (not the US); perhaps the Europeans and/or the UK. The UN should be involved, of course, even though John Bolton can probably destroy any peace deal before it starts. I don't believe that ultimately this matters, as his actions will be seen for what they are by the international community – a patently biased response. If the Bush administration wishes to regain some of its credibility in the world community, it could do a lot worse than muzzle John Bolton's rampant, unhelpful unilateralism and help broker a true, lasting peace for the region.

Forgotten during these crimes of war, of course, is Israel's second war with Palestine, pushed off the radar by the rapidly worsening situation in Lebanon. Anne Penketh reports from Gaza City: "As of last night, 29 people had been killed in the most concentrated 48 hours of violence since an Israeli soldier was abducted by Palestinian militants just more than a month ago. The operation is codenamed 'Samson's Pillars,' a collective punishment of the 1.4 million Gazans, subjecting them to a Lebanese-style offensive that has targeted the civilian infrastructure by destroying water mains, the main power station, and bridges. The similarities with Israel's blitz on Lebanon are striking, raising suspicions that the Gaza offensive has been the testing ground for the military strategy now unfolding on the second front in the north."

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