The Middle-East Crisis

I was talking to my Israeli friend I met during my exchange in Denmark over MSN earlier this afternoon, and was given a short summary of why a war is happening over in the Middle East. Below is an except which I edited slightly for better readability.

@BEL says:
hey Guy! Sorry I was not at my com the last time you messaged...anyway how're you doing?

Guy Zinman says:
Hey
I'm ok
How are you?

@BEL says:
Good so far, another 2 weeks before school starts then maybe won't be so free...haha

Guy Zinman says:
It’s amazing that you start school so early
Why is that?

@BEL says:
cos singapore is a stressful society
haha
where are you now? back in Israel or Denmark?

Guy Zinman says:
No I’m in Haifa, Israel
I won’t be back in DK before Sept
So what are you doing right now?
How was your big trip?

@BEL says:
how is it at home now with war stuff going on, are you affected?

Guy Zinman says:
of course

@BEL says:
no shit

Guy Zinman says:
we have sirens here several times a day
My father is the head department of orthopedic in the biggest hospital in north Israel
so he is handful right now

@BEL says:
you're my first Israeli fren (other than Tanya) that I can actually talk to to hear first hand accounts of the situation

Guy Zinman says:
Yesterday 3 missiles fell in the neighborhood near the hospital

@BEL says:
are you scared or are you just used to it?

Guy Zinman says:
I’m used to it already but mother wants me to move to a safer place in the house

@BEL says:
i suppose that's in the basement

Guy Zinman says:
I’m going to stair case

@BEL says:
k

Guy Zinman says:
didn’t fall here
fell much northern this time
I’m interested what does the media in Singapore say about all this

@BEL says:
a lot of the reports are adapted from the international papers, so it's a lot of second hand-accounts from Reuters etc

Guy Zinman says:
I see….so we are presented even worse in Singapore
It is easier to show pictures of suffer than present the dilemma and ask what would you do in a similar situation

@BEL says:
if you're interested, you can check out our local news at www.channelnewsasia.com

Guy Zinman says:
I’m in your website now…interesting
It’s interesting that the headlines are about the Chinese UN worker.
I didn’t even know that there was one until now.

@BEL says:
I must admit I'm quite ignorant of politics and news of things happening in the middle east until now, when I know I have 2 frens there

Guy Zinman says:
yeah well makes sense

@BEL says:
but I still don't have an idea of what the hell is the problem actually i only keep hearing bombings of Beirut etc

Guy Zinman says:
Well briefly, Hezbollah attack on the 12th of July (my birthday) killing 8 soldiers kidnapping 2 and bombing villages in the north of Israel. Hezbollah is a terror organization that is a proxy of Iran and Syria and in the last 6 years they were building quite an army south of Lebanon. So we’ve decided that we can not allow this situation to continue any longer. Their headquarters are (hopefully were) located in the neighborhood in the south Beirut and they have 2 ministers in the Lebanese government. So we are trying to fight only the Hezbollah fighters and to prevent them to shoot missiles at Israel and bring new ones from the north to the south.

@BEL says:
by saying "Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation", is it like saying they' similar to the Taliban?

Guy Zinman says:
Exactly, like El Qaida.
The population in Lebanon is very divided.
But I think (and hope) that most of the people understand that Hezbollah cause only damage and we want to dismantle them. So we want to push the Hezbollah fighter until after the Litanin River, so they won’t sit just next to our border. And then give the area to International forces or the Lebanese army.

@BEL says:
thanks, it's nice to hear a first hand account of what's going on...are you involved in the fighting for your country in any way?

Guy Zinman says:
No not at all
But in a war where Israeli civilians are targets
I’m probably a front line soldier

@BEL says:
well I'll pray for your safety everyday man...as well as your parents, especially your dad so he can help the injured

Guy Zinman says:
Thanks
I need to jump to the post now
but talk with me later

@BEL says:
okay take lots of care, I'll catch you when the sirens go off

Guy Zinman says:
cool
bye