₦airaland Forum

Well, I am eager to read replies that will try to justify the violation of the truce.

I think Israel is providing more and more reasons for the hate game to continue and is placing itself in a greater danger while the US that it carries out its agenda is more or less shielded from the conflict.

I heard UK sold arms worth over $14B to Saudi Arabia and tomorrow we will wonder who is arming the Middle East.

By the way Israel, India and Pakistan are not signatories to the NPT and that means that these countries can develop nuclear weapons as much as they want without anyone doing anything about it.

Maybe with time, a lot of us will realise that the problems in the Middle East are about selfish interests and not religion as is being commonly blamed.

When you hear Bush speak you wonder if any other person in the world spreads religious and racial hatred more than himself with the way he tries to paint either the arabs as a whole, islamic extremists, some countries as evil while the US whose double standards and hypocrisy is fuelling the crisis is the good guy sent to spread democracy everywhere and force its way of life on others.

Let them keep arming them for dollars, maybe the people responsible may become targets tomorrow and the same weapons they sold will be used to kill them.

As for Osama strapping bombs around himself just as he instructs others, Bush and Blair should also wear uniforms and move to Iraq and should their fellow patriots at the war front.

I only hope that we will go back to the days and times when leaders led their men into wars, only then will leaders plunge their nations into wars for a good reason.

There is no point in re-inventing the wheel so any tool that helps to speed up a process is welcome but that is only part of the story.

The other part is that such web authoring tools will limit what you can do unless you understand the scripting language.

This is what separates the programmer from the "programmer", being able to do automagical things that the regual GUI won't allow you to do.

Ever wonder why a web project would cost over $15,000.00 to set up while a similar web project (but with different functionality) will cost less than $150.00?

Like My2cents noted, who would like to buy a car with a sealed hood?

One of the greatest harm we do to the society today is the type of blanket commendation (regardless of obvious mistakes) or blanket condemnation (regardless of any positive actions) we give to persons, groups or countries.

People should be criticized and either blamed or praised based on real actions not "faith" induced approval of unjust and unnecessary killing of the innocent by anyone.

Unfortunately again, those that think they are fighting for God have reduced criticisms against Israel's disproportionate use of force to mean support for Hezbollah as if it is either you support Israel completely or you are against Israel.

However, I do realise that no matter how lond a debate may take to conclude we will always say things based on the scope of our knowledge and understanding which vary from one to another.

If many of us that are Nigerians can pour venoms even to one another I wonder what or how those that are directly affected by the conflict will treat each other.

nontheless there is a universal standard of what is right and what is wrong regardless of any justifications or excuses we may give to cover up the killing of innocent ones in the conflit that just ended.

@Seun,

Stick to what you understand.

How many websites have you tried to access only to get "User exceeded bandwidth?"

There he goes again, trying to impress when nothing concrete is on ground.

My2cents ate his words for what? Do you have any other 900+ website apart from http://www.covenantuniversity.com? If positive then you are grossly inefficient.

Call to require in my post was based on your so called error messages, I am certain you can't understand that.

So far all I can see is the covenant university site and the one you claimed is under going annual construction.

Open your ears and learn, your 900+ static website is unprofessional. I guess you will break down if 2 or 3 web projects like that come close to you.

Your arrogance (even in the face of poor websites or lack of them) won't change a thing as regards what your actual skills are.

Let me know when you ever get to design a second website because the rate you are going you may be stuck with just one for the next 2 years (that is if the owner doesn't change his/her mind anyway).

@Timmy,

I guess you picked on the wrong guy today.

For starters, the site in question is just 55% done and it was clearly stated.

You seem to enjoy trashing other people's work when you do not have a real portfolio to begin with. The 900+ static website project is plain wrong and only someone with very minimal knowledge about web design will do 900+ static web pages.

A little education for you here, call to require in PHP will result in fatal errors and end script execution one time, maybe you have not read that part.

I guess it's time to list websites designed by you. You can find mine at http://www.justwebservices.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=64&Itemid=126.

Maybe you are related to the owner of the 900+ static website but in all honesty the day the owner takes time to view other websites is the day he/she/the person that gave you the job will disengage your services, unless it's a case of the blind leading the blind.

I belong to the school of thought that believes you don't change something that still works, hence my refusal to join the bandwagon of any new technological wave as such decisions may be disastrous.

Form validation? Table? Who cares as long as virtually all the web browsers display the websites and the intended audience get to access the website?

Cut out the sly remarks and prove that you understand even basic html.

And the website (http://www.tech-impact.com/) of the "expert" is under going annual maintenance? Stop kidding me.

Enjoy.

@Naomitj,

Very good response.

Well, where the game is won and lost as regards web hosting is the bandwidth. Even if you pay N10.00 or N500,000.00 a year for any web hosting plan that cannot handle your anticipated or actual bandwidth they your website will become unavailable simple.

At Just Web Services the cheapest hosting plan for static websites is N24,000.00 per year and comes with 150MB disk space, 5 POP email addresses and 10GB bandwidth

The cheapest hosting plan for dynamic websites is N42,000.00 per year and comes with 600MB disk space, 25 POP email addresses and 50GB bandwidth.

Cost effectiveness may really be relative as pririties differ from one business to another.

My2cents,

I don't believe in technical jargons as they don't add much (if any) to the job at hand. Whether it is Ajax or Arsenal, as long as I can build websites that people can access and are easy to use, I am home and dry.

Same reason why CSS vs tables don't make much sense to me.

I am a huge fan of Fireworks, never bothered to learn Photoshop, tried Paintshop Pro sometime ago before settling for Fireworks.

Enjoy and do have a great day.

Excuses here and there.

The bottomline remains that Israel failed to achieve its aim of crippling Hezbollah (at least the Israeli PM admitted war mistakes, so this one is very clear) and rather than Hezbollah be hated by the Lebanese, more people including a catholic priest chose to support Hezbollah based on indiscriminate and sometimes premeditated killing of civilians by Israel.

Funny enough we now hear of excuses even from the US about Iran and Syria. Isn't the US equipping and supplying arms to the Israelis?

After a clearly unnecessary war, over 800 deaths in Lebanon and 140 deaths in Israel, the 2 kidnapped soldiers will still be released in a prisoner exchange deal, which Hezbollah asked for in the first place.

Hi Nunu,

Sorry for the late response, was terribly busy.

Very interesting response. I agree you were sincere in your response hence my would be next question would not matter much again.

If you had answered otherwise I would have asked you what the differences are between what OBJ did in Odi and what Israel did in Lebanon.

Both cases would have been resolved without too many loss of lives but the players chose to do otherwise.

Put differently, only a hypocrite would accuse OBJ of using too much force in Odi and at the same time support the disproportionate force used by Israel in the last Hezbollah - Israeli conflict.

Hmm!!

Photoshop, Fireworks? Any image authoring tool you understand very well will always get the job done. None is perfect and no one is completely useless.

Technology trends? Should we follow? Ajax today, SOA tomorrow.

My dear, if you know what works for you ahead and do it.

Unfortunately, I am not a "good" web designer, I am a good online solution provider and ultimately, businesses go online to solve one problem or the other and that is what matters.

While I agree that a website should be presentable or even attractive, if that is all the website does then it's another failed web project.

Since we have a lot of good designers here, please some of you could just help comment on www.estocknigeria.com - it is still under construction and is basically 55% done.

Those that choose to register as investors will not be able to carry out any transactions until a stock broker is assigned to them. Or, anyone can log on with james as username and jamesesn as password in the Investor section.

@Nutter,

No, on the contrary, I respect your sincere advice but I do have a right to say no to it because I do not believe (as a matter of principle) that one should play the fool for peace to reign.

One thing I will never do is for me to go personal while disagreeing on issues but when abused by any silly thing, I usually and always will respond in kind and that is what I have been doing, nothing more nothing less.

No one has monopoly of violence, abuse etc and it is proper for people to understand that lest they lose their lives over nothing.

Some of us have learnt to love and hate in equal measure and how people come across don't mean much to me. It's unconditional respect for all regardless of race, gender or religion until such a recipient chooses otherwise.

I hope you understand that I do not have anything against you as I would have stated so if there was any issues I have with your post.

Enjoy and stay blessed.

@Nunu,

I do not know your position on the Odi massacre but would like to read a response from you on the following question.

Do you believe that OBJ was right in levelling Odi (as reported in the media) because some militants killed 6 policemen?

Brown-Eyes,

Don't worry yourself too much as some people hear and see selectively.

Even CNN reported the Israeli attack after the cease fire but what do we get as genuine information? Hezbollah firing rockets.

Ultimately, the world will get to where it is headed right now with the high level of hypocrisy and double standards.

Shame, shame, shame to people that would want to turn logic on its head, lie through their teeth and turn around to complain.

Someone sent the following article to me and I think it is worth reading although it will be impossible for people with rigid mindsets to understand.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Five Myths That Sanction Israel's War Crimes

by Jonathan Cook
This week I had the pleasure to appear on American radio, on the Laura Ingraham show, pitted against David Horowitz, who most recently made his name under the banner of Campus Watch, leading McCarthyite witch-hunts against American professors who have the impertinence to suggest that maybe, just maybe, Arabs have minds and feelings like the rest of us.

It was a revealing experience, at least for a British journalist rarely exposed to the depths of ignorance and prejudice in the United States on Middle East matters – well, apart from the regular whackos who fill my e-mail in-tray. But five minutes of listening to Horowitz speak, and the sympathy with which his arguments were greeted by Laura ("The Professors – your book's a great read, David", left me a lot more frightened about the world's future.

Horowitz's response to every question, every development in the Middle East, whether it concerns Lebanon, the Palestinians, Syria, or Iran, is the same: "They want to drive the Jews into the sea." It's as simple as that. Not even a superficial attempt at analysis; just the message that the Arab world is trying to finish off the genocide started by Europe. And if Laura is any yardstick, a lot of Americans buy that stuff.

Horowitz is keen to bang the square peg of the Lebanon story into the round hole of his claims that the Jews are facing an imminent genocide in the Middle East. And to help him, he and the massed ranks of U.S. apologists for Israel – regulars, I suspect, of shows like Laura's – are promoting at least four myths regarding Hezbollah's current rockets strikes on Israel. Unless they are challenged at every turn, the danger is that they will win the ground war against common sense in the U.S.

The first myth is that Israel was forced to pound Lebanon with its military hardware because Hezbollah began "raining down" rockets on the Galilee. Anyone with a short memory can probably recall this was not the first justification we were offered: that had to do with the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah on a border post on July 12.

But presumably Horowitz and his friends realized that 400 Lebanese dead and counting in little more than a week was hard to sell as a "proportionate" response. In any case, Hezbollah kept telling the world how keen it was to return the soldiers in a prisoner swap.

Hundreds of dead in Lebanon, at least 1,000 severely injured, and more than half a million refugees – all because Israel is not ready to sit down at the negotiating table. Even Horowitz could not "advocate for Israel" on that one.

So the chronology of war has been reorganized: now we are being told that Israel was forced to attack Lebanon to defend itself from the barrage of Hezbollah rockets falling on Israeli civilians. The international community is buying the argument hook, line, and sinker. "Israel has the right to defend itself," says every politician who can find a microphone to talk into.

But, if we cast our minds back, that is not how the "Middle East crisis," as TV channels now describe it, started. It is worth recapping those early events (and I won't document the long history of Lebanese suffering at Israel's hands that preceded it) before they become entirely shrouded in the mythology being peddled by Horowitz and others.

Early on July 12, Hezbollah launched a raid against an army border post, in what was in the best interpretation a foolhardy violation of Israeli sovereignty. In the fighting, the Shi'ite militia killed three soldiers and captured two others, while Hezbollah fired a few mortars at border areas in what the Israeli army described at the time as "diversionary tactics." As a result of the shelling, five Israelis were "lightly injured," with most needing treatment for shock, according to the Ha'aretz newspaper.

Israel's immediate response was to send a tank into Lebanon in pursuit of the Hezbollah fighters (its own foolhardy violation of Lebanese sovereignty). The tank ran over a land mine, which exploded, killing four soldiers inside. Another soldier died in further clashes inside Lebanon as his unit tried to retrieve the bodies.

Rather than open diplomatic channels to calm the violence down and start the process of getting its soldiers back, Israel launched bombing raids deep into Lebanese territory the same day. Given Israel's worldview that it alone has a right to project power and fear, that might have been expected.

But the next day Israel continued its rampage across the south and into Beirut, where the airport, roads, bridges, and power stations were pummeled. We now know from reports in the U.S. media that the Israeli army had been planning such a strike against Lebanon for at least a year.

In contrast to the image of Hezbollah frothing at the mouth to destroy Israel, its leader Hassan Nasrallah held off from serious retaliation. For the first day and a half, he limited his strikes to the northern borders areas, which have faced Hezbollah attacks in the past and are well protected.

He waited till late on July 13 before turning his guns on Haifa, even though we now know he could have targeted Israel's third largest city from the outset. A small volley of rockets directed at Haifa caused no injuries and looked more like a warning than an escalation.

It was another three days – days of constant Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, destroying the country and injuring countless civilians – before Nasrallah hit Haifa again, including a shell that killed eight workers in a railway depot.

No one should have been surprised. Nasrallah was doing exactly what he had threatened to do if Israel refused to negotiate and chose the path of war instead. Although the international media quoted his ominous televised message that "Haifa is just the beginning," Nasrallah in fact made his threat conditional on Israel's continuing strikes against Lebanon. In the same speech he warned: "As long as the enemy pursues its aggression without limits and red lines, we will pursue the confrontation without limits and red lines." Well, Israel did, and so now has Nasrallah.

The second myth is that Hezbollah's stockpile of 12,000 rockets – the Israeli army's estimate – poses an existential threat to Israel. According to Horowitz and others, Hezbollah collected its armory with the sole intent of destroying the Jewish state.

If this really was Hezbollah's intention in amassing the weapons, it has a very deluded view of what is required to wipe Israel off the map. More likely, it collected the armory in the hope that it might prove a deterrence – even if a very inadequate one, as Lebanon is now discovering – against a repeat of Israel's invasions of 1978 and 1982, and the occupation that lasted nearly two decades afterwards.

In fact, according to other figures supplied by the Israeli army, at least 2,000 Hezbollah rockets have already been fired into Israel while the army's bombardments have so far destroyed a further 2,000 rockets. In other words, northern Israel has already received a fifth of Hezbollah's arsenal. As someone living in the north, and within range of the rockets, I have to say Israel does not look close to being expunged. The Galilee may be emptier, as up to a third of Israeli Jews seek temporary refuge in the south, but Israel's existence is in no doubt at all.

The third myth is that, while Israel is trying to fight a clean war by targeting only terrorists, Hezbollah prefers to bring death and destruction on innocents by firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

It is amazing that this myth even needs exploding, but after the efforts of Horowitz and co. it most certainly does. As the civilian death toll in Lebanon has rocketed, international criticism of Israel has remained at the mealy-mouthed level of diplomatic requests for "restraint" and "proportionate responses."

One need only cast a quick eye over the casualty figures from this conflict to see that if Israel is targeting only Hezbollah fighters it has been making disastrous miscalculations. So far some 400 Lebanese civilians are reported dead – unfortunately for Horowitz's story, at least a third of them are children. From the images coming out of Lebanon's hospitals, many more children have survived but with terrible burns or disabling injuries.

The best estimates, though no one knows for sure, are that Hezbollah deaths are not yet close to the three-figures range.

In the latest emerging news from Lebanon, human rights groups are accusing Israel of violating international law and using cluster grenades, which kill indiscriminately. There are reports too, so far unconfirmed, that Israel has been firing illegal incendiary bombs.

Conversely, the breakdown of the smaller number of deaths of Israelis at the hands of Hezbollah – 42 at the time of writing – show that more soldiers have been killed than civilians.

In fact, although no one is making the point, Hezbollah's rockets have been targeted overwhelming at strategic locations: the northern economic hub of Haifa, its satellite towns, and the array of military sites across the Galilee.

Nasrallah seems fully aware that Israel has an impressive civil defense program of shelters that keep most civilians out of harm's way. Unlike Horowitz, I won't presume to read Nasrallah's mind: whether he wants to kill large numbers of Israeli civilians or not cannot be known, given his inability to do so.

But we can see from the choice of the sites he is striking that his primary goal is to give Israelis a small taste of the disruption of normal life that is being endured by the Lebanese. He has effectively closed Haifa for more than a week, shutting its port and financial centers. Israeli TV is speaking increasingly of the damage being inflicted on the country's economy.

Because of Israel's press censorship laws, it is impossible to discuss the locations of Israel's military installations. But Hezbollah's rockets are accurate enough to show that many are intended for the army's sites in the Galilee, even if they are rarely precise enough to hit them.

It is obvious to everyone in Nazareth, for example, that the rockets landing close by, and once on, the city over the past week are searching out, and some have fallen extremely close to, the weapons factory sited near us.

Hezbollah seems to have as little concern for the collateral damage of civilian deaths as Israel – each wants the balance of terror in its favor – but it is nonsense to suggest that Hezbollah's goals are any more ignoble than Israel's. It is trying to dent the economy of northern Israel in retaliation for Israel's total destruction of the Lebanese economy. Equally, it is trying to show Israel that it knows where its military installations are to be found. Both strategies appear to be having an impact, even if a minor one, on weakening Israeli resolve.

The fourth myth is a continuation of the third: Hezbollah has been endangering the lives of ordinary Lebanese by hiding among noncombatants.

We have seen this kind of dissembling by Israel and Horowitz before, though not repeated so enthusiastically by Western officials. The UN head of humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, who is in the region, accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending" among the civilian population, and a similar accusation was leveled by the British Foreign Minister Kim Howells when he arrived in Israel.

In 2002, Israel made the same charge: that Palestinians resisting its army's rampage through the refugee camps of the West Bank were hiding among civilians. The claim grew louder as more Palestinian civilians showed the irritating habit of getting in the way of Israeli strikes against population centers. The complaints reached a crescendo when at least two dozen civilians were killed in Jenin as Israel razed the camp with Apache helicopters and Caterpillar bulldozers.

The implication of Egeland's cowardly statement seems to be that any Lebanese fighter, or Palestinian one, resisting Israel and its powerful military should stand in an open field, his rifle raised to the sky, waiting to see who fares worse in a shoot-out with an Apache helicopter or F-16 fighter jet. Hezbollah's reluctance to conduct the war in this manner, we are supposed to infer, is proof that they are terrorists.

Egeland and Howells need reminding that Hezbollah's fighters are not aliens recently arrived from training camps in Iran, whatever Horowitz claims. They belong to and are strongly supported by the Shi'ite community, nearly half the country's population, and many other Lebanese. They have families, friends, and neighbors living alongside them in the country's south and the neighborhoods of Beirut who believe Hezbollah is the best hope of defending their country from Israel's regular onslaughts.

Given the indigenous nature of Hezbollah's resistance, we should not be surprised at the lengths the Shi'ite militia is going to ensure their loved ones, and the Lebanese people more generally, are not put directly in danger by their combat.

If only the same could be said of the Israeli army and air force. One need only look at the images of the victims of its strikes against residential neighborhoods, cars, ambulances, and factories to see why most of the dead being extracted from the rubble are civilians.

And finally, there is a fifth myth I almost forgot to mention. That people like David Horowitz only want to tell us the truth…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==

Suddenly, I'm an 'Islamic Fascist'

by Jonathan Cook

It occurred to me as I watched the story unfolding on my TV of a suspected plot by a group of at least 20 British Muslims to blow up planes between the UK and America that the course of my life and that of the alleged "terrorists" may have run in parallel in more ways than one.

Continued here: http://www.jkcook.net/Articles2/0273.htm

To-chi,

Thanks fo your kind words. They say religion requires faith so whether someone believes in the right thing or the wrong thing it doesn't make any difference to someone that believes in it.

If you pick up a stone today and choose to worship it, many people will follow suit because they do not even know what they want to believe in or they may be in an endless search for what is even around and within them.

Nutter,

With all due respect, I object seriously to your post about me and the swine who thinks he is so wise that the only way he could engage others with different point of views is to abuse them.

That we advocate for peace does not mean we cannot fight wars. I will not abuse anyone for having a different opinion here but I will always respond in kind to people that cannot finish a sentence without abusing other people simply because they do not agree on issues.

The site is cool and loads pretty ok even for a dial up internet access.

@Nilla,

I think things are these bad because people simply send others to die while they protect their own.

The Israeli PM admitted some deficiencies in the military campaign that was not properly handled from day 1.

See the article below

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Olmert acknowledges war's 'deficiencies'

JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers killed six Hezbollah fighters in four skirmishes in Lebanon after the U.N.-imposed cease-fire took effect Monday, the army said. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he took sole responsibility for the offensive, and acknowledged "deficiencies" in the way the war was conducted.

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The developments came as Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas.

In an address to parliament, Olmert said the cease-fire agreement eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south. And Defense minister Amir Peretz said the war opened a window for negotiations with Lebanon and renewed talks with Palestinians.

But many Israelis were upset by the high casualties during 34 days of fighting, and Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the opposition Likud Party, told lawmakers there were many failures in the war.

Olmert said: "We will have to review ourselves in all the battles," Olmert said. "We won't sweep things under the carpet."

Anticipating that another war with Hezbollah may come in the future, he said Israel will learn the lessons of this war and "do better."

For the first time in a month, no rockets were fired into northern Israel, but few Israelis who fled the war were seen returning, and Israel's government advised them to stay away for now to see whether the truce held.

Officials said four Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in two clashes near the town of Hadatha when armed men approached Israeli troops three hours after the cease-fire began, at 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. EDT). Later clashes occurred near the towns of Farun and Shama, with one guerrilla killed in each, officials said.

"They were very close, they were armed, and they did pose a danger to the troops," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, a military spokesman. "We're going to shoot anybody who poses an imminent threat to the troops."

Dallal said the Israeli army was urging Lebanese civilians to stay out of the south until Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers moved in to oversee the cease-fire.

"There are lots of Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. For their own safety, we advise them (civilians) not to go," Dallal said.

But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said at midafternoon that aside from the isolated skirmishes with Hezbollah, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors.

Lebanese, Israeli and U.N. officers met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the region, U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar said.

The meeting, the first involving a Lebanese army officer and a counterpart from the Israeli army since Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, marks the first step in the process of military disengagement as demanded by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

The next step in the peace effort — sending in a peacekeeping mission — appeared days away. The head of the existing U.N. force in Lebanon said Monday he wants reinforcements "as soon as possible," and warned that situation remains fragile.

French Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, who leads the 2,000-member UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the region is "not safe from a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything."

The fighting persisted until the last minutes before the cease-fire took effect Monday morning, with Israel destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's TV station and Hezbollah guerrillas clashing with Israeli forces near the southern city of Tyre and the border village of Kfar Kila.

Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people, and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.

After the cease-fire took effect, lines of cars — some loaded with mattresses and luggage — snaked slowly around bomb craters and ruined bridges as residents began heading south to find out what is left of their homes and businesses.

Israel has not lifted its threat to destroy any vehicle on the roads of most of south Lebanon. But Peretz said Monday afternoon that aside from isolated skirmishes with Hezbollah, the cease-fire was holding and could have implications for future relations with Israel's neighbors.

In some places in the south, the rubble was still smoldering from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes just before the cease-fire took effect at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT).

"I just want to find my home," said Ahmad Maana, who went back to Kafra, about five miles from the Israeli border, where whole sections of the town were flattened.

In Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, people wrapped their faces with scarves as wind kicked up dust from the wreckage left by Israeli bombardments. Ahmed al-Zein poked through the ruins of his shop.

"This was the most beautiful street in the neighborhood," he said. "Now it's like an earthquake zone."

There were no reports of Israeli strikes on cars Monday — a sign Israel did not want to risk rekindling the conflict. But at least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded by ordnance that detonated as they returned to their homes in the south, security officials said.

The rush to return came despite a standoff that threatened to keep the cease-fire from taking root. Israeli forces remain in Lebanon, and Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said the militia would consider them legitimate targets until they leave.

A Lebanese Cabinet minister told Europe-1 radio in France that Lebanese soldiers could move into the southern part of the country as early as Wednesday. The U.N. plan calls for a joint Lebanese-international force to move south of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border, and stand as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah militia.

"The Lebanese army is readying itself along the Litani to cross the river in 48 to 72 hours," said Lebanese Communications Minister Marwan Hamade.

A United Nations force that now has 2,000 troops in south Lebanon is due to be boosted to 15,000 soldiers, and together with a 15,000-man Lebanese army contingent is to take control of the border area.

France and Italy, along with predominantly Muslim Turkey and Malaysia, signaled willingness to contribute troops to the peacekeeping force, but consultations are needed to hammer out the force's makeup and mandate.

Officials said Israeli troops would begin pulling out as soon as the Lebanese and international troops start deploying to the area. But it appeared Israeli forces were staying put for now. Some exhausted soldiers left Lebanon early Monday and were being replaced by fresh troops.

Israel also would maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli army officials said.

Olmert gave the order Sunday to halt firing as of Monday morning, his spokesman Asaf Shariv said. However, "if someone fires at us we will fire back," he added.

Isaac Herzog, a senior minister in the Israeli Cabinet, said it was unlikely all fighting would be silenced immediately. "Experience teaches us that after that a process begins of phased relaxation," in the fighting, he said.

Just three hours after the cease-fire, Israeli troops fired on a group of Hezbollah militiamen approaching "in a threatening way," the army said. One Hezbollah fighter was hit, but it was not known if he was killed or wounded.

Israeli troops later shot a Hezbollah fighter aiming his rifle at them near the village of Ghanduriya. The army did not say if the man was killed.

No fighting was reported elsewhere.

In Bint Jbail, a border town that was the scene of heavy ground battles between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers, an entire swath of the town center was flattened and rows of cars sat incinerated in the streets. An Israeli tank was parked on the road outside the town.

In Beirut, street life cautiously returned. Traffic was heavier and some stores reopened.

Thousands of vehicles, meanwhile, crept south along bomb-blasted highways. At a key intersection, traffic was backed up for more than a half mile as police tried to direct vehicles around bomb craters.

Many parts of southern Lebanon have been virtually deserted for weeks after a wave of refugees headed north to escape the fighting.

Similar scenes took place in northern Israel, which had been hit by more than 4,000 Hezbollah rockets that forced people to flee or huddle in bomb shelters. Some Israelis cautiously tried to sample small bits of normal life: shopping for groceries or taking a stroll in the sun after weeks in shelters.

In Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and a frequent Hezbollah target, stores that had been closed for weeks began to reopen, and a few people returned to the beaches.

However, in Kiryat Shemona, where more than half the 22,000 residents fled some 700 Hezbollah rocket attacks, the streets were mostly empty. Residents stirred from their bomb shelters, but there was no influx of returning refugees.

"People are still scared," said Haim Biton, 42, predicting that things would not get back to normal soon. "You don't know what's going to happen."

"The city is still in a coma," said Shoshi Bar-Sheshet, the deputy manager of a mortgage bank. Getting back to normal, she said, "doesn't happen overnight."

Both Hezbollah and Israel claimed they had come out ahead in the conflict.

Hezbollah distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its "big victory" and thanking citizens for their patience during the fighting, which began July 12 when guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Hezbollah's "state within a state" had been destroyed, along with its ability to fire at Israeli soldiers across the border.

Peretz said that as a result of the war Islamic extremists have been weakened, opening a window for negotiations with Lebanon and for renewing talks with Palestinians.

Lebanon said nearly 791 people were killed since the fighting began. Israel said 116 soldiers and 39 civilians were killed in fighting or from Hezbollah rockets.

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon in Bint Jbail, Lebanon; Arthur Max in Jerusalem; and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

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@Swine,

Are you ashamed of your name or what? I use my real name on over 10 disucssion forums because I am real. Why are you going defensive? i thought you adviced me to learn english language when you don't even know the basics. You are just a waste.

After seeing your picture I had the feeling that I have been wasting time on a complete nonentity, take that picture off the web before everyone sees the 1st class student that thinks that swine is the plural of "pigs".

Don't ever mention the name of the school you attended in Nigeria because it may make people to start avoiding the school.

Wonderful, 1st class, na wah, little wonder our certificates are disrespected the world over.

Scholarship from oil company? Which oil company? Based on what? Academic performance or state of origin? [[your name]] sounds like a Yoruba name probably from Ogun State so tell us how you got the scholarship, maybe we will get closer to how you bought someone else's slot.

And the swine suddenly realises issues should be discussed after disgracing himself while trying to correct someone on the use of English language, a langauge he finds very difficult to understand?

I will rather argue with a child on toys than discuss with this egg head. Face your studies and work hard to pass, even if na ordinary pass, try, paying your way through won't help you at the end of the day because in the real work environment, you will be on your own.

davidylan:
@ Afam,
No point insulting you anymore, i will henceforth address only issues, you are free to say whatever you like!
Dear, you need to go and practice grammer, unless you refer to me as several people swine would not be the right word to use here, unless you were not listening in english class swine refers to the plural for pigs!

First, it is grammar not grammer.

Please, pigs is already in the plural and refers to the plural of pig.

Again, swine is an offensive term used to insult somebody's manners or principles (see this link, it may help you - http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/swine.html)

This scholarship thing, is it on merit in terms of academics or is it a charity based one?

I am finding it supremely difficult to understand how on earth you got a scholarship, did you really displace someone or did you pay for someone else's offer?

You boast in another man's language even when you do not understand the very basics of the language, no idea of grammar and you think "pigs" is in the singular while educating us about the plural of "pigs" being swine.

What a wasted opportunity. As you can see, it makes no sense joining issues with you as you are making yourself look stupid on a public forum like this.

@Otokx,

No wahala.

The cease fire is difficult to implement (I hope they get around it anyway) because we have 3 distinct positions held by 3 distinct groups.

1. Israel says it will not withdraw from Southern Lebanon until the Lebanese and/or the International force comes in

2. Hezbollah says it will continue to fight as long as a single Israeli soldier remained on Lebanese soil (remember the invasion in 1982 gave birth to Hezbollah in the first place).

3. The international force certainly will not deploy to Southern Lebanon unless there is a cease fire (practical one, not based on saying yes to 1701).

I honestly would want the players to sincerely seek for peace as nobody gains anything from wars, the world has moved on and it is no longer fashionable for a country to be feared or respected based on the number of countries it conquers.

Hi Kaecy5,

To begin with, I hope its very clear that I am neither an Israeli or an Arab so naturally I do not have any need or reson to side with either of them on this issue.

How can one say that Palestine never existed before Israel, are you aware that 2 states were supposed to have been created but only Israel ended up being created?

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http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008_8/Israel_(country).html

Page 8 of 17
Israel (country)
Encyclopedia Article
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Israel: People and PlacesIsrael: People and Places
27 items
Article Outline
Introduction; Land and Resources; Population; Economy; Government; History
A
The Period Before Independence

The number of Jews in Palestine was small in the early 20th century; it increased from 12,000 in 1845 to nearly 85,000 by 1914. Most people in Palestine were Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians. Support for the Zionist movement, whose leaders included Chaim Weizmann and Herzl, came largely from Diaspora Jews in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in the world.
A 1
The Balfour Declaration

By World War I the extremely active Zionist movement had won backing from the government of the United Kingdom, which wanted support from world Jewry for its struggle against Germany. The British government therefore issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, in the form of a letter to Edmund James Rothschild, one of the British Zionist leaders, from the Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” The document in effect violated promises made by the British government to the Arabs in return for their support in the Allied war effort, as it had undertaken to “recognize and support” Arab independence in the Arabian Peninsula, Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, and Iraq.
A 2
The Jewish Community Under the Mandate

After World War I the terms of the Balfour Declaration were included in the mandate for Palestine approved by the League of Nations in 1922. The mandate entrusted the United Kingdom with administering Palestine and with assisting the Jewish people in “reconstituting their national home in that country”.

Large-scale Jewish settlement and development of extensive Zionist agricultural and industrial enterprises in Palestine began during the British mandatory period, which lasted until 1948. The Jewish community, or Yishuv, increased tenfold during this era, especially during the 1930s, when large numbers of Jews fled Europe to escape German National Socialist persecution. Tel Aviv became the country’s largest all-Jewish city, dozens of other towns and villages were founded, and hundreds of Jewish agricultural collectives (kibbutzim) and co-operatives were established.
A 3
Growth of Zionism

Many Jewish political parties founded in Eastern Europe as part of the world Zionist movement developed bases in mandatory Palestine. They included labour, orthodox religious, and nationalist groups whose leaders emigrated from Europe and after 1948 became political leaders and officials in the new Jewish state.

The Yishuv extended its democratic, representative institutions after World War I. Among these institutions was an elected assembly with a National Council that managed the community’s day-to-day affairs in education, health, social welfare, and other services. Jewish religious life was supervised by a Rabbinical Council that controlled marriage, divorce, and other family matters.

Local government institutions were also developed to run the city of Tel Aviv and many smaller Jewish settlements. The educational system, cultivating Hebrew language and culture, expanded, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was founded. The World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Palestine assisted the Yishuv by raising funds abroad, recruiting Jewish immigrants, and seeking political support from Western governments.
A 4
Arab and Jewish Revolts

British officials, under the High Commissioner for Palestine appointed by the government in London, were responsible for defence and security, immigration, postal services, transport, and port facilities, and for balancing Arab and Jewish interests. They were the highest authorities, ultimately responsible for governing the country.

The British attempted to maintain the delicate balance between the interests and demands of the Yishuv and those of the country’s predominantly Arab (70 per cent) population. As Jewish immigration to Palestine increased and as Jewish settlement spread, Arab opposition to British rule and to Zionism grew. Serious rioting by Arabs against Jewish settlement occurred in 1921 and 1929. British attempts to restrict Jewish immigration in response to this precipitated Jewish-sponsored riots in 1933.

The rise of Jewish immigration from the mid-1930s in response to the persecution in Germany intensified the unrest in Palestine. The British response was, in 1937, to propose the establishment of separate Jewish and Arab states within the mandate area. The proposal was accepted by most of the Zionists, but rejected by the Arabs. At the end of 1937 the conflict between the two communities had developed into open warfare, which continued through 1938. A British offer of eventual independence for a bi-communal Palestinian state, made in 1939, led to further violence. The scheme was shelved on the outbreak of World War II.

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I do hope that many people stop looking at this issue as a religious war because it is not. You have arabs and moslems in Israel just as you have christiens in Lebanon.

Was Arafat not married to a christian? Did Saddam not have a christian as his deputy even when christians constituted about 3% of the Iraqi population?

We must not allow politicians and religious bigots destroy the lives of innocent people in their quest to push their own selfish and misguided agendas.

Do have a good day.

Otokx,

Cease fire with who? The swine that knows nothing but insults other people even when he is yet to get out of school?

But for other members of this forum especially those reading this thread, I would have longed disregarded every single nonsense he puts down here.

Take care, let him continue in his game, shifting issues to personalities as against issues.

Since the UN brokered cease fire have you read any meaningful thing from him? No, because all he is interested in is the killing of Arabs because he feels whatever Israel does is right. How can one be so brainwashed into seeing issues like that?

They needed to put a warning (kind of pop up) that only broadband users are welcome and that is if you have some time to burn while waiting for the page to load.

Unfortunately, projects like these tend to make people believe that going online may not make sense afterall.

Did the egg head reference my son? That shows what people that are incapable of fighting their fights do, extend the fights to other people since they cannot face the person they should be facing.

I will not reply in kind as it is obvious that things will be clearer when he graduates (if he ever will).

Wrong again, I am not in my 40s at all, that goes to show yet again what empty brains are made of, they make false and incorrect statements and wish them to be facts.

Nilla,

Thanks for your kind words, we shall continue to stand by the truth regardless of how religious bigots feel.

Today there is a cease fire, after over 800 killed in Lebanon and 143 in Israel yet they have come back to square one - release the 2 kidnapped soldiers.

I wish we will go back to the time when leaders led their armies into wars, not people sitting in well protected fortresses and asking their young ones to die for the country when their own kids will never be part of those that need to die for the country.

Mariory,

I may be a hypocrite, at least you know what I am. Can I say the same about you? Certainly no, because you don't even know what to believe let alone people understanding you.

Now that your wish never came to pass about blowing everyone in Lebanon away what are you going to do? Hide your head in shame or continue to make one sentence remarks since you don't have a mind of your own?

Hi Nairamar,

Thanks for your post but I have never had issues with any websites I host even though my servers are in the US.

About location based servers in Nigeria, it will be difficult to do so because everyone seems to an expert and people find it difficult to accept responsibility of their actions whether right or wrong.

Technically speaking, only the issue of bandwidth is what I see because the power issue seems not to be a major problem even with the PHCN erratic power supply as inverter/battery bank systems seems to have helped in that regard.

I can run my office for a whole week without regular electricity and generator, so once bandwidth issues are sorted out, a business process that works regardless of those participating in the project unless one chooses to go solo outlined, the rest would be easy.

Hmm, it seems the only way for this swine to remain relevant is to play games with issues, twisting and lying without shame.

I hope to read from you when you are a bit mature, especially when you are done with your free education.

Some people still enjoy free education but never allow the free offer becloud their sense of judgement.

How old are you? How the hell did someone offer you free education when its of no use? That is assuming you are actually in school sha because for internet anyone fit claim anything.

L & G,

While I will not reply directly to this egghead I will try as much as I can to correct any misinformation he tries to sell.

His warped mind tells him that nothing concerned Oil, US etc with Israel vs Lebanon but he believes that deporting all arabs to their home lands concerns Israel vs Lebanon. What a shame?

Only in a world where the likes of this egghead will be both the judge and the jury will such nonsense hold.

Egghead, for your information I don't work for anyone, not anymore, I quit paid employment some years ago. So, do not imagine that you are dealing with someone that thinks and reasons like you, far from it.