Mark Garnier, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Wyre Forest today visited scenes of heavy fighting earlier this year. On a fact finding trip to Israel, Mark visited the northernmost border with Lebanon, seeing first hand areas affected by the controversial conflict fought between Israel and Hezbollah in the southern part of Lebanon.
The conflict started as a result of a raiding party of Hezbollah terrorist entering Israel territory on the 12th July this year. During the raid, Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two more. In retaliation, the Israeli Defence Force launched an attack on Lebanon, whose Government protects Hezbollah, that saw fierce fighting until the ceasefire on the 17th August.
Needless to say, the conflict saw dire consequences to civilians caught up in the battle. The whole of the south of Lebanon became a battle zone, with Hezbollah fighters launching over 4,000 rocket attacks on the north of Israel. Not only were these rocket attacks launched on civilian targets, they were also launched from civilian properties. Whilst the effect on Lebanese civilians was well publicised during the war, 750,000 Israeli civilians had to be evacuated from north Israel.
Mark Garnier, speaking from Tel-Aviv commented:
"The Middle East situation is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most important threat to our society in the world today. With Muslim fundamentalists launching suicide terrorist attacks in Great Britain, never before has it been so important for politicians to fully understand the nature of what is going on. All he Middle Eastern problems have, within them somewhere, the issue of Israel. I am here to learn more about what is going on.
"We were very privileged to be allowed to visit the northernmost observation point and to look out over the border with Lebanon, within the shadow of the Golan Heights. From here we could look down to Maroun al-Ras, where some of the fiercest fighting took place. I am also very grateful to the young men and women of the 605 Unit of the Israeli Defence Force who showed us around their frontier base at Avi Vim. Their unit took casualties during the conflict and they are on the front line should hostilities - as expected - break out again.
"Of the twenty two Arab and Muslim states in the region, just two of them - Jordan and Egypt - have signed any form of peace accord with Israel. And with the whole of the Middle East being a hot bed of conflicting interests, I am very grateful to the Israeli Government for the opportunity to be able to see first hand what the issues are here that affect us all in the UK."
Mark Garnier will be visiting Jerusalem and meeting with representatives of the Palestinian Territories as part of his trip.