Living in a Parallel Universe

 

Anyone interested in a short trip to a reality other than the one that we all inhabit would do well to read this letter from a Mr. Sammy Bishtawi of Pembroke, published in today's Sunday Times. In Mr. Bishtawi's world, Lebanon is a stable country and Hezbollah a charitable organization that enjoys support from all Lebanese factions, including the Christians. In 1978 and1982 Israel invaded Lebanon just for the pure enjoyment of it (there was no Hezbollah but apparently, in Mr. Bishtawi's universe, there were no PLO bases either and no artillery attacks on Northern Israel). Throughout the recent conflict 'Israel [insisted] on targeting defenceless civilians first and foremost' whereas the gallant Hezbollah apparently did not fire all that many katyushas at random civilian targets but limited its activities to fighting Israeli troops. In Mr. Bishtawi's world, the Israelis, whose true homeland is the sea, have been brutally occupying the land that the rest of the world calls 'Israel' for the past 58 years.

In the meantime, in the real world, the Associated Press has reported on the reactions of non-Shi'a communities in the South of Lebanon to the cynical use that Hezbollah has just made of them in the interests of a foreign power.