受け取ってもらえない？　イスラエルからレバノンへの人道支援

【メトゥラＡＦＰ＝時事】ある人にとっては善意の印でも、他の人にはまったくの偽善ととられることがある──大爆発により打撃を受けたレバノンに対するイスラエルからの人道支援の申し出は、どうやら受け入れられそうもない。（写真は連携を示すためレバノンの国旗がライトアップされたイスラエル・テルアビブの市庁舎）
　イスラエルとレバノンは、厳密には今でも戦闘状態にあり、外交関係もなく、お互いに対する疑念、さらには敵意が両国の関係を形作っている。
　レバノンの首都ベイルートは４日に港で発生した大爆発によって、壊滅的な状態に陥った。この事故をめぐっては当初、多くの人がイスラエルに疑惑の目を向けたが、イスラエル政府筋は「イスラエルは今回の事故に関係ない」と明言している。
　イスラエル政府は事故の数時間後、レバノンに人道援助を申し出た。同政府は声明を発表し、「イスラエルは、国際的な安全保障および政治的なコネクションを通じ、レバノン政府に人道および医療援助を提供する」と述べたが、これに対してレバノン政府はコメントを控えたままだ。
　イスラエル政府筋および外交筋によると、４日以降、国連（ＵＮ）を通じてレバノンに医療物資を送ろうとしているが、現時点では実現できていないという。
　イスラエル軍情報部のアモス・ヤドリン元部長は、支援について「人道的な行動」で「両国をまとめる可能性がある」との見方を報道陣に対し述べている。

■７月には国境地帯で緊張高まる
　ベイルート市民の多くは、１９８２年のイスラエルのレバノン侵攻に苦い思い出を持っている。イスラエルは２０００年までレバノン南部を占領し、またイスラエルとレバノンのイスラム教シーア派組織ヒズボラの最後の大規模衝突である２００６年の戦闘は１か月に及び、レバノン側では民間人を中心に１２００人、イスラエル側で兵士を中心に１６０人が死亡した。
　またイスラエルは先月２７日、北部の国境でヒズボラが越境攻撃を試みたと発表したが、ヒズボラは関与を否定した。両者はお互いを激しく非難し合い、ここ数か月比較的落ち着いていた国連が画定したブルーライン（停戦ライン）沿いで緊張が高まった。
　この１週間前の７月２０日にはシリアの首都ダマスカス南部で、イスラエルによるとみられる攻撃によりヒズボラ戦闘員を含む５人が死亡した。
　だがこの時の攻撃について専門家らは、双方とも新型コロナウイルスで打撃を受けており、新たな軍事衝突は望んでおらず、事態の激化を回避すると予測していた。
　４日の大爆発が起きる前、レバノンは既に新型コロナのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）と、１９７５～１９９０年の内戦以来最悪となる経済危機に見舞われていた。
　ベルギー王立高等国防研究所のヒズボラの専門家、ディディエ・リロイ氏は、レバノンでは汚職がまん延し、機能不全に陥っている政治制度に対する抗議活動が昨年から行われており、ヒズボラは主にレバノンの混乱の収拾に集中していたと指摘する。
　一方のイスラエルでも、経済危機はそこまで深刻ではないが、景気悪化や新型コロナの感染拡大抑制に苦慮するベンヤミン・ネタニヤフ首相に対する抗議活動が週ごとに拡大している。
　イスラエルのヘブライ語日刊紙イディオト・アハロノトの著名コラムニスト、ナフム・バルネア氏は、「政策決定者らは２００６年から難局に直面している。彼らは第３次レバノン戦争には突入したくないのだ」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/08/12-13:15）

For some it's a gesture of goodwill, to others sheer hypocrisy: Israel's offer of humanitarian aid to Lebanon after the massive Beirut blast is unlikely to be taken up.
The two neighbours are still technically at war, have no diplomatic ties and mutual suspicion, even animosity, defines their relations.
As Beirut reeled Tuesday after the monster blast at the port ripped across the city, many eyes were on Israel.
The military initially offered a traditional no comment to queries about the possible source of the explosion, until later a government source added: Israel has nothing to do with this incident.
Hours later the government offered humanitarian aid to Lebanon.
Israel has turned to Lebanon through international security and political contacts to offer humanitarian and medical aid to the Lebanese government, a statement said.
As Beirut hospitals became overwhelmed by the influx of thousands of injured, Lebanon's government did not comment.
Aid has been streaming in from elsewhere, including from former power France and Iran, an ally of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and key Israeli rival.
Israel and Hezbollah last fought a 33-day war in the summer of 2006 that devastated parts of the Lebanese capital and killed hundreds.
Government and diplomatic sources in Jerusalem say Israel has tried unsuccessfully since Tuesday to send medical equipment to Lebanon via the United Nations, which monitors a buffer zone between the two countries.
Israel even sought to dispatch medical personnel to Cyprus, where Beirut victims could be treated, according to the sources.
It is a very human gesture, Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, told reporters. It is a gesture that can bring the two nations together.
- Bitter war memories -
Yadlin blamed Hezbollah's backers in Tehran for the continuing air of hostility between Israel and Lebanon, insisting there was no real dispute between the neighbours.
The only reason that there is no peace between Israel and Lebanon is the fact that Iran took over this small country through its proxy Hezbollah and they are inventing excuses to keep the conflict going, he claimed.
In Beirut, many have bitter memories of Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, its occupation of the country's south until 2000 and the 2006 war that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
The fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees stuck in Lebanon for decades after fleeing or being driven out of their homes in waves following Israel's creation in 1948 is another thorny issue.
Longstanding demands for their return has remained a sticking point.
Traumatised by the blast that devastated their capital killing more than 150 people, injuring at least 5,000 and leaving some 300,000 homeless, the Lebanese paid little attention to Israel's offer, other than to ridicule it.
Israel should stop exploiting this catastrophe to whitewash its crimes against Lebanon, one tweeted in English.
- 'Humanity before conflict' -
Tension between the two countries spiked after Israel fired artillery across the border last month in what it said was a response to a Hezbollah incursion into its territory.
Israel has fought terrorism from Lebanon for decades, but we have nothing against the Lebanese people, said Israeli businessman Erel Margalit.
He said he asked French President Emmanuel Macron to reiterate the Israeli offer during his snap visit to Beirut on Thursday to discuss an aid plan.
With Lebanon facing its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, Israeli officials have backed an international aid plan for Beirut conditional on changes that diminish Hezbollah's influence.
While Israel's offer of aid failed to win approval in Beirut, a rare gesture by Tel Aviv to light up its city hall in the colours of the Lebanese flag was also not applauded by many in Israel where some consider that Lebanon, not just Hezbollah, is the enemy.
It is possible and necessary to provide humanitarian aid to civilians who were hurt in Lebanon, but waving an enemy flag in the heart of Tel Aviv is moral confusion, tweeted Raffi Peretz, minister for Jerusalem affairs and member of the far-right Jewish Home party.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair, a strident right-wing user of social media, went further.
It is insane. Lebanon is formally an enemy country and it is a crime to fly the enemy flag, he commented.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai defended his initiative.
Humanity comes before any conflict and our hearts are with the Lebanese people following the terrible disaster that struck them, he tweeted.
Veteran commentator Gideon Levy, of the left-wing Haaretz daily, said given Israel's history in Lebanon such sentiment was a sickening show of hypocrisy.