Aid blockade. posted by Richard Seymour

So, let's get this absolutely straight: Israel has been bombing the canals, thus renewing suspicions "that it covets water from the Litani." Israel bombs the roads, the ports, the airports, all systems of transport, blocks aid as a specific matter of policy, has threatened UNIFIL workers if they attempt to rebuild a vital aid route - and Egeland comes out with this creepy 'even-handed' denunciation of "both Hezbollah and Israel" for not allowing aid access. Aside from the fact that Hezbollah is providing aid abundantly in Lebanon, in line with its usual social services and welfare roles, there is documented evidence of Israel, the stronger power, specifically blocking aid, but I defy anyone to find a single documented instance of Hezbollah doing this. Which goes to show that Egeland is a tool, in several senses of that term. This is what Israel does:

Senior UN officials reacted angrily to the destruction of a temporary causeway over the Litani river overnight. "We must be able to have movement throughout the country to deliver supplies. At this point we can't do that," said David Shearer, the humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon. "The deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law."

International aid groups have blamed Israel for not providing security guarantees, thereby paralysing the delivery of aid to the south. Even when aid reaches Tyre, convoys have to apply on a case by case basis for permission to take it out to the villages. Most applications are refused.

Does Hezbollah have an applications system for aid, I wonder? Does it have blockades? Does it publicly threaten UNIFIL aid workers? Or are UN personnel so whipped that they dare not raise the slightest criticism of Israel's murderous aggression without babbling about "both sides"?

Oh, by the way: the director of Munich is deeply moved by all the suffering at the moment as a result has decided to donate $1 million to the Israelis through his Righteous Persons Fund.