Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Translations that don't match

Translations that don't match

"Implementing our promise to free Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, our strugglers have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon," a statement by Hezbollah said. 'The two soldiers have already been moved to a safe place,' it added. - Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers

"Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the (Arab) prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance ... captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine," Hezbollah said in a statement, adding that the "two captives were transferred to a safe place." - Hezbollah seizes Israel soldiers

It would be good to know who got it right. The original statement would shed light on this and I had been saying to others who had made up their minds that I had not made a definitive conclusion on what it means. And that was before I found the second translation I listed here. The second translation sounds better worded and based on that and Jonathan Cook's reporting, I would think the second one is the accurate translation. And it is the one that Chomsky refers to. He probably read it in the BBC or Haaretz.

The second one does jive with what Jonathan Cook reported in his July 25th article, Five myths that help Israel’s war crimes:"Early on July 12 Hizbullah launched a raid against an army border post, in what was in the best interpretation a foolhardy violation of Israeli sovereignty. In the fighting the Shiite militia killed three soldiers and captured two others, while Hizbullah fired a few mortars at border areas in what the Israeli army described at the time as "diversionary tactics". As a result of the shelling, five Israelis were "lightly injured", with most needing treatment for shock, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

Israel's immediate response was to send a tank into Lebanon in pursuit of the Hizbullah fighters (its own foolhardy violation of Lebanese sovereignty). The tank ran over a landmine, which exploded killing four soldiers inside. Another soldier died in further clashes inside Lebanon as his unit tried to retrieve the bodies.

Rather than open diplomatic channels to calm the violence down and start the process of getting its soldiers back, Israel launched bombing raids deep into Lebanese territory the same day."

Could the first translation be what Associated Press Writer Joseph Panossian based his initial report on?

UPDATE: Chomsky emailed me back saying, "The second one is surely the right one."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am an Arab. Going back to the transcript in arabic I assure you that the second translation is the accurate one. Also I would like to mention that Hisbullah did not use the word "abduct".

Mattt Enss said...

According to Hisbullah, where is the "border with occupied Palestine" that they refer to in the second translation? Are they refering to the border between Israel and the West Bank? Or are they refering to the Israel-Lebanon border?

Tom said...

Matt, They are refering to the Israel-Lebanon border.

Tom said...

Anonymous,

Chomsky agrees that the second one is the correct one. I just go an emial back from him in which he writes, "The second one is surely the right one."

Demidog said...

The second one doesn't jive with either early reports or witnesses on the ground.

Anonymous said...

Tom,

I read your piece. It's interesting. Why would Chomsky add a 'surely' to his response. Is it that he's not that positive either?

It appears that your responses to Matt and Anon. contradict each other.

And I'm curious about the witness reports that Rick refers to. Are you familiar with them? Where are they?

Anonymous said...

i guess this justifies rockets fired from civilian lebanese areas into civilian israeli areas? why can't arabs let israel live in peace? i know many muslims and they are great people, get rid of these fundamentalists they are ruining the whole world.

Tom said...

"let israel live in peace?!?" Anonymous, that is an extremely ignorant comment.
Israel has not been letting Palestinians live in peace for decades. They are constantly taking more land, constantly killing Palestinians.
and please read this: Israel's Provocations

"Since its withdrawal of occupation forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Israel has violated the United Nations-monitored "blue line" on an almost daily basis, according to UN reports. Hizbullah's military doctrine, articulated in the early 1990s, states that it will fire Katyusha rockets into Israel only in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians or Hizbullah's leadership; this indeed has been the pattern.

In the process of its violations, Israel has terrorized the general population, destroyed private property, and killed numerous civilians.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, that is an extremely ignorant comment.
Israel has not been letting Palestinians live in peace for decades.

so moving out of territories to try to promote freedom yet idiotic muslims decide to fire rockets daily into israel is a road to peace. these muslim idiots have brought this war to themselves and i hope that they will learn the lesson the six day war seemed to not teach them carries over for 6 months.

i am sick and tired of muslim radicals and fundamentalists on this planet and i hope we and israel iradicate as many as we can, including those damn funeral groupings. napalm their asses, it wouldn't be worse than 9/11, that is what those muslim cowards deserve.

Tom said...

Anonymous, did you even read what I wrote? what "freedom?" you are not getting the whole story. Israel refuses to get over the Shabaa Farms, Israel refuses to hadn over the maps to the land mines planted in South Lebanon. Israel refuses to free the hostages they still hold. try watching this video and try reading over the other posts on this blog.