Israel to lift Lebanon sea and air blockade: The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday and Wednesday morning that the multinational force in Lebanon is ready to take over monitoring of the country's sea and air ports.
Pursuant to the announcement, it was decided that Israel would lift the aerial and naval blockade on Lebanon, which have lasted for eight weeks, since the onset of the fighting in the north.
Thursday at 6 p.m., Israel will leave observation posts in the ports. International forces will station themselves there simultaneously. Wednesday night, German security forces are anticipated to arrive at the Beirut airport, with their equipment.
Additionally, the Lebanese government and the UN agreed that German naval forces would deploy along Lebanon's coast. Germany has been waiting for a formal Lebanese request before deploying its naval forces. The Germans will be responsible for enforcing the arms embargo across Lebanese borders.
I swear pigs must be flying when Germany is set to watch the Israeli back. But Ynet News reports that this news has not been welcome for some.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Thursday in Tel Aviv with the families of kidnapped soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, and try to provide answers for the tough questions raised by the troops' parents following Israel's decision to lift the blockade on Lebanon.
Since the decision to lift the blockade was first published Wednesday evening, anger has been building up among the families, who are infuriated over the government's conduct. They claim that they were given a promise by the PM that the blockade will not be lifted until a sign of life is received from their sons.
The Regev and Goldwasser families initially hoped that the decision to withdraw IDF forces from Lebanon was in some way linked to new information on their sons' fate, but after no word was received from government representatives, they realized that Israel has given up its last means to pressure Lebanon and Hizbullah on the matter.
Shlomo Goldwasser, Ehud's father, said Wednesday night: "We want answers. We want to understand what's going on here. The prime minister said several weeks ago that he regards the kidnap affairs as though these were his own sons. We are not really sure that this is how he acts, or feels."
"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said last week that the blockade will not be lifted until we get a sign of life from the sons. So what happened? We are not aware of any sign received. As far as we know, the government has received no such sign, and the State's representative in the negotiations has been avoiding us," he added.
The family members have requested a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next Sunday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is also set to arrive in Jerusalem on the same day, and the families said that while they have already succeeded in setting up an appointment with the UK leader, Olmert has yet to respond to their request.
Following this criticism, the Prime Minister's Office contacted the parents and invited them to meet with Olmert on Thursday. The PM will try and explain to the families what changes brought about the lifting of the blockade.
Olmert’s one very lucky slimeball that I am not one of the mothers he has to face on the morrow and attempt to justify why it’s a good thing that the Government of Israel would holds the life of her sons so cheaply.
If insulting the dignity of a public official is a criminal offence in Israel, a captial crime should be anyone that consigns the safety of an Israeli citizen to auspicious intentions of a UN official. But the bigger question should be - why isn’t this man impeached already?
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