Mid East, July 23

Today is July 23, 2006:
On July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I.

As Christians we believe war is not inevitable. If we can choose war, we can choose peace.
(Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church)

(Church in America)

Troops ready, but Israel bets on air power (NYT). Israel fights to secure key region in Lebanon (WPost). US plan seeks to wedge Syria from Iran, as Americans consider Damascus as central to any efforts to resolve Mid East crisis (NYT). In Iran many wary about the commitments abroad: We Iranians have a saying. We should save our own house first and then save the mosque. A lot of people think this way. The government should help its people first, and then help the people in Lebanon (Ali Reza Moradi, 35, a portrait artist in Tehran, quoted in today's NYT).

Prayers for peace in Lebanon (Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Archdiocese in Washington, DC): a Mass for peace was offered at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Washington. The Mass was concelebrated by Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, the Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the retired Archbishop Cardinal McCarrick, and the Maronite Catholic Bishop of Washington, Gregory Mansour. Today I stand before you as a disciple of the Lord as we rededicate ourselves to the truth and to the One who gave us life, said the Maronite Patriarch, and he added, as Christians we believe war is not inevitable. If we can choose war, we can choose peace.

(Church in America)

Today again, Israel believes that it is improving its long-term security by attacking Lebanon. And once again, I believe, that will prove counterproductive (the op-ed of Nicholas D. Kristof in today's NYT: Spanish Lessons for Israel). Neocon incrementalists have kept our democratic dreams, but we’ve slowed our gait to a cautious walk (the op-ed of David Brooks in today's NYT: Onward Cautious Soldiers). It's not World War 3 (Rossner's Blog).