Quote, unquote
"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbullah to stop doing this shit, and it's over. I felt like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming Israel. We're not blaming the Lebanese government." Bush to Blair during the G8 Summit, unaware that the microphone was on
"We do get the impression that the aims of Israel go beyond just recovering their kidnapped soldiers." President Vladimir Putin of Russia, G8 host, to reporters
"There has been a hesitation in putting the real truth of the situation out to people, and the fact is that there are people out in the region -- notably Iran and Syria -- who do not want this process of democratisation, peace and negotiation to succeed." Tony Blair
"These acts will pull the whole region back years and years; we cannot simply accept them." Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal to the Arab League
"How can we come here to discuss the burning situation in Lebanon while others are making statements criticising the resistance?" Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem
"Israel has the right to defend itself. We would expect nothing less." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an interview to ABC News
"The fundamental blame falls again on the US empire. It's the empire that armed and supported the abuses of the Israeli elite, which has invaded, abused and defied the United Nations for a long time. I'll seize this opportunity to condemn categorically and fully the aggression that the Israeli elite is carrying out against innocents over there in the Middle East." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a military act in Caracas
"Hizbullah should withdraw to the northern Litani and deliver the rocket depot to the Lebanese army. And the Lebanese army should take up a position with Israel along the border. Otherwise, we cannot recognise any ceasefire." Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon
"Hizbullah is not fighting a battle for Hizbullah nor even for Lebanon. We are fighting a battle for the [Islamic] nation." Hassan Nasrallah after the Haifa attacks
"You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war. Our homes will not be the only ones to be destroyed, our children will not be the only ones to die." Nasrallah after the Haifa attack, promising that destruction will spread beyond Haifa
"One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon -- its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?... I find honestly -- as all Europeans do -- that the current reactions are totally disproportionate. In the Middle East we are currently in a situation of great fragility and instability. We are in a dangerous situation, a very dangerous situation. We must be very, very careful." French President Jacques Chirac
"It now appears clear that the Hizbullah leadership -- Nasrallah used to be the organisation's military commander in southern Lebanon -- thought carefully through the effects of their border crossing, relying on the cruelty of Israel's response to quell any criticism of their action within Lebanon. They were right in their planning. The Israeli retaliation was even crueller than some Hizbullah leaders imagined, and the Lebanese quickly silenced all criticism of the guerrilla movement." Robert Fisk
"The Israelis were yesterday trumpeting the fact that the missile was made in Iran as proof of Iran's involvement in the Lebanon war. This was odd reasoning. Since almost all the missiles used to kill the civilians of Lebanon over the past four days were made in Seattle, Duluth and Miami in the United States, their use already suggests to millions of Lebanese that America is behind the bombardment of their country." Fisk on Israel's accusation that Iran is involved in the war
"Israel's right to self-defence does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations... In particular the Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation." The Vatican
"Citizens of Israel, there are moments in the life of a nation, when it is compelled to look directly into the face of reality and say: no more. And I say to everyone: no more. Israel will not be held hostage -- not by terror gangs or by a terrorist authority or by any sovereign state. There is nothing we want more than peace on all of our borders. Israel will not agree to live with rockets fired on its citizens... Only a nation that can protect its freedom deserves it." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Monday evening
"We call for an immediate ceasefire backed by the United Nations. I hereby declare that Lebanon is an afflicted zone in need of a comprehensive and speedy Arab plan... and [Lebanon] pleads with its friends in the world to rush to its aid." Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora
"A package of actions, not exhortations, a package that is action-oriented, that is practical, that requires the parties to release their abductees, stop the katushas going in, Israel to stop its retaliatory actions and to pursue this idea of a stabilisation force." UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Security Council members
"The Middle East peace process has failed. The whole process should now be sent back to the Security Council for a complete overhaul. We are going to the Security Council -- this is a unanimous position -- to start discussing the whole situation from scratch. If the Security Council fails, nobody knows what will happen next." Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa
"Firing phosphorus incendiary bombs is a blatant violation of international laws... against the Lebanese. Israel must be stopped from using destructive weapons which violate human rights and the United Nations charter." Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Sunday
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/804/re81.htm