this is a graffiti piece (in Arabic) i found near my house. it was done almost 3 weeks ago.. at the start of all this... it roughly translates to "Beirut will never die." i have been wanting to post it for a while. i think that for tonight, it's finally appropriate. to those who drew it, and i think i know who you are :), thank you so much.
posted by zena at 1:42 AM
43 Comments:
Dear Zena,
just to say that I read your blog several times today. I do not know you, I listened to you on cnn and now I go to your blog two or three times a day. I hope this is going to stop soon... Please tell us how we can help?
G
Dear Zena,
I started reading your blogs for the frist time about a week ago; now I read them and the comments every day after coming home from work.
I'm filled with admiration for you and your people around you! Don't give up! Don't despair and, above all. don't give up your love!!!
I hope so much for you and the innocent Lebanese people that this insane killing and devastation will stop as soon as possible...
Stay safe and alive!!!
With great sympathy from a German guy living in the U.S.
I am an Australian Lebanese who has stumbled on your diary...Please stay hopeful..young people in Australia are also working to end this crisis. We do not know you personally but we pray for you all each day..
Antoinette
I have just read your writings for the first time. I am in awe, your ability to stay in a state of love and not to fall into hate is wonderful.
There are many people here in Australia, sending love energy to your country.
Thank you.
Benjamin
life may ebb out,
time may fly away,
But LoVe will remain,
till there's UR undying SpiRit..
Stay safe, love life...
u are my hero...
with love 4m New Delhi,INDIA
Being an agnostic I do not usually pray. Tonight for you, for Beirut, for all the people caught in this madness, I will make an exception.
Thanks for your blog, Zena.
It is hard for me to be so far away from the country I grew up in while all of this is happening. I was planning to finally return for a visit this September. All I can do is send e-mails with articles to friends, post on my blog, and write letters. I will probably do Women in Black this Friday as well.
I know you do not want to be political on this blog, but I want to do something to help no matter how futile it might be. A combination of reading, letters, donations, and just plain feeling is all I can do from here.
For me, it is politics that caused this and I must use what I know about expressing my opinions within the confines of the political structure (no matter how futile it may seem) to try to stop it.
I admire the various ways you are remaining sane these days through your concern for Lebanon's coastline, your sister's work, your writing, your contact with family and friends. . .
Please know that my thoughts are with you.
How is your friend Maya by the way?
Margaret
http://hrw.org/
Human Rights Watch:
documents serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July 12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana. During this period, the IDF killed an estimated 400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, and that number climbed to over 500 by the time this report went to print. The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Since the start of the conflict, Israeli forces have consistently launched artillery and air attacks with limited or dubious military gain but excessive civilian cost. In dozens of attacks, Israeli forces struck an area with no apparent military target. In some cases, the timing and intensity of the attack, the absence of a military target, as well as return strikes on rescuers, suggest that Israeli forces deliberately targeted civilians.
The Israeli government claims that it targets only Hezbollah, and that fighters from the group are using civilians as human shields, thereby placing them at risk. Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. However, those cases do not justify the IDF’s extensive use of indiscriminate force which has cost so many civilian lives. In none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack.
By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets. The pattern of attacks during the Israeli offensive in Lebanon suggests that the failures cannot be explained or dismissed as mere accidents; the extent of the pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of war crimes.
This report is based on extensive on-the-ground research in Lebanon. Since the start of hostilities, Human Rights Watch has interviewed victims and witnesses of attacks in one-on-one settings, conducted on-site inspections (when security allowed), and collected information from hospitals, humanitarian groups, and government agencies. Human Rights Watch also conducted research in Israel, inspecting the IDF’s use of weapons and discussing the conduct of forces with IDF officials. The research was extensive, but given the ongoing war and the scope of the bombings, Human Rights Watch does not claim that the findings are comprehensive; further investigation is required to document the war’s complete impact on civilians and to assess the full scope of the IDF’s compliance with and disregard for international humanitarian law.
While not the focus of this report, Human Rights Watch has separately and simultaneously documented violations of international humanitarian law by Hezbollah, including a pattern of attacks that amount to war crimes. Between July 12, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight, and July 27, the group launched a reported 1,300 rockets into predominantly civilian areas in Israel, killing 18 civilians and wounding more than 300. Without guidance systems for accurate targeting, the rockets are inherently indiscriminate when directed toward civilian areas, especially cities, and thus are serious violations of the requirement of international humanitarian law that attackers distinguish at all times between combatants and civilians. Some of these rockets, Human Rights Watch found, are packed with thousands of metal ball-bearings, which spray more than 100 meters from the blast and compound the harm to civilians.
This report analyzes a selection of Israeli air and artillery attacks that together claimed at least 153 civilian lives, or over a third of the reported Lebanese deaths in the conflict’s first two weeks. Of the 153 civilian deaths documented in this report by name, sixty-three of the victims were children under the age of eighteen, and thirty-seven of them were under ten. Israeli air strikes also killed many dual nationals who were vacationing in Lebanon when the fighting began, including Brazilian, Canadian, German, Kuwaiti, and U.S. citizens. The full death toll is certainly higher because medical and recovery teams have been unable to retrieve many bodies due to ongoing fighting and the dire security situation in south Lebanon.
The report breaks civilian deaths into two categories: attacks on civilian homes and attacks on civilian vehicles. In both categories, victims and witnesses interviewed independently and repeatedly said that neither Hezbollah fighters nor Hezbollah weapons were present in the area during or just before the Israeli attack took place. While some individuals, out of fear or sympathy, may have been unwilling to speak about Hezbollah’s military activity, others were quite open about it. In totality, the consistency, detail, and credibility of testimony from a broad array of witnesses who did not speak to each other leave no doubt about the validity of the patterns described in this report. In many cases, witness testimony was corroborated by reports from international journalists and aid workers. During site visits conducted in Qana, Srifa, and Tyre, Human Rights Watch saw no evidence that there had been Hezbollah military activity around the areas targeted by the IDF during or just prior to the attack: no spent ammunition, abandoned weapons or military equipment, trenches, or dead or wounded fighters. Moreover, even if Hezbollah had been in a populated area at the time of an attack, Israel would still be legally obliged to take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimize civilian casualties resulting from its targeting of military objects or personnel. In the cases documented in this report, however, the IDF consistently tolerated a high level of civilian casualties for questionable military gain.
In one case, an Israeli air strike on July 13 destroyed the home of a cleric known to have sympathy for Hezbollah but who was not known to have taken any active part in hostilities. Even if the IDF considered him a legitimate target (and Human Rights Watch has no evidence that he was), the strike killed him, his wife, their ten children, and the family’s Sri Lankan maid.
On July 16, an Israeli airplane fired on a civilian home in the village of Aitaroun, killing eleven members of the al-Akhrass family, among them seven Canadian-Lebanese dual nationals who were vacationing in the village when the war began. Human Rights Watch independently interviewed three villagers who vigorously denied that the family had any connection to Hezbollah. Among the victims were children aged one, three, five, and seven.
Others civilians came under attack in their cars as they attempted to flee the fighting in the South. This report alone documents twenty-seven civilian deaths that resulted from such attacks. The number is surely higher, but at the time the report went to press, ongoing Israeli attacks on the roads made it impossible to retrieve all the bodies.
Starting around July 15, the IDF issued warnings to residents of southern villages to leave, followed by a general warning for all civilians south of the Litani River, which mostly runs about 25 kilometers north of the Israel-Lebanon border, to evacuate immediately. Tens of thousands of Lebanese fled their homes to the city of Tyre (itself south of the Litani and thus within the zone Israel ordered evacuated) or further north to Beirut, many waving white flags. As they left, Israeli forces fired on dozens of vehicles with warplanes and artillery.
Two Israeli air strikes are known to have hit humanitarian aid vehicles. On July 18 the IDF hit a convoy of the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates, destroying a vehicle with medicines, vegetable oil, sugar and rice, and killing the driver. On July 23, Israeli forces hit two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances in the village of Qana.
As of August 1, tens of thousands of civilians remained in villages south of the Litani River, despite the warnings to leave. Some chose to stay, but the vast majority, Human Rights Watch found, was unable to flee due to destroyed roads, a lack of gasoline, high taxi fares, sick relatives, or ongoing Israeli attacks. Many of the civilians who remained were elderly, sick, or poor.
Israel has justified its attacks on roads by citing the need to clear the transport routes of Hezbollah fighters moving arms. Again, none of the evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch, independent media sources, or Israeli official statements indicate that any of the attacks on vehicles documented in this report resulted in Hezbollah casualties or the destruction of weapons. Rather, the attacks killed and wounded civilians who were fleeing their homes, as the IDF had advised them to do.
In addition to strikes from airplanes, helicopters, and traditional artillery, Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions against populated areas, causing civilian casualties. One such attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed a sixty-year-old woman and wounded at least twelve civilians, including seven children. The wide dispersal pattern of cluster munitions and the high dud rate (ranging from 2 to 14 percent, depending on the type of cluster munition) make the weapons exceedingly dangerous for civilians and, when used in populated areas, a violation of international humanitarian law.
Statements from Israeli government officials and military leaders suggest that, at the very least, the IDF has blurred the distinction between civilian and combatant, and is willing to strike at targets it considers even vaguely connected to the latter. At worst, it considers all people in the area of hostilities open to attack.
On July 17, for example, after IDF strikes on Beirut, the commander of the Israeli Air Force, Eliezer Shkedi, said, “in the center of Beirut there is an area which only terrorists enter into.”1 The next day, the IDF deputy chief of staff, Moshe Kaplinski, when talking about the IDF’s destruction of Beirut’s Dahia neighborhood, said, “the hits were devastating, and this area, which was a Hezbollah symbol, became deserted rubble.”2
On July 27, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that the Israeli air force should flatten villages before ground troops move in to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers fighting Hezbollah. Israel had given civilians ample time to leave southern Lebanon, he claimed, and therefore anyone remaining should be considered a supporter of Hezbollah. “All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,” he said.3
International humanitarian law requires effective advance warnings to the civilian population prior to an attack, when conditions permit. But those warnings do not way relieve Israel from its obligation at all times to distinguish between combatants and civilians and to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from harm. In other words, issuing warnings in no way entitles the Israeli military to treat those civilians who remain in southern Lebanon as combatants who are fair game for attack.
In addition to recommendations to the Israeli government and Hezbollah that they respect international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch calls on the U.S. government immediately to suspend transfer of all arms that have been documented or credibly alleged to have been used in violation of international humanitarian law in Lebanon, as well as funding or support for such materiel, pending an end to the violations. Human Rights Watch calls upon the Iranian and Syrian governments to do the same with regards to military assistance to Hezbollah.
This report does not address Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s infrastructure or Beirut’s southern suburbs, which is the subject of ongoing Human Rights Watch research. It also does not address Hezbollah’s indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel, which have been reported on and denounced separately and continues to be the subject of ongoing Human Rights Watch investigations. In addition, Human Rights Watch continues to investigate allegations that Hezbollah is shielding its military personnel and materiel by locating them in civilian homes or areas, and it is deeply concerned by Hezbollah’s placement of certain troops and materiel near civilians, which endangers them and violates the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch uses the occasion of this report to reiterate Hezbollah’s legal duty never to deliberately use civilians to shield military objects and never to needlessly endanger civilians by conducting military operations, maintaining troops, or storing weapons in their vicinity.
The armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is governed by international treaties, as well as the rules of customary international humanitarian law. Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 sets forth minimum standards for all parties to a conflict between a state party such as Israel and a non-state party such as Hezbollah. Israel has also asserted that it considers itself to be responding to the actions of the sovereign state of Lebanon, not just to those of Hezbollah. Any hostilities between Israeli forces and the forces of Lebanon would fall within the full Geneva Conventions to which both Lebanon and Israel are parties. In either case, the rules governing bombing, shelling, and rocket attacks are effectively the same.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Amir Buchbut and Itamar Inbari, “IDF: Hezbollah Did Not Intercept an Israeli Aircraft,” available in Hebrew at http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/450/601.html, as of July 28, 2006.
[2] Hanan Greenberg, “Three Reserve Battalions Called Up," available in Hebrew at http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3277527,00.html, as of July 28, 2006.
[3] BBC News Online, “Israel says world backs offensive” July 27, 2006
I have been trying to understand the inhumane events happing in Lebanon and the occupied land.
I look up any of these vicious people who are ordering massacre of innocent defenseless children and women, and I see that they do not belong to the occupied land of Palestinians. Could you or someone make a library of this and post it. I looked up the following.
Amir Peretz was born as Armand Peretz in the town of Boujad, Morocco. His father was head of the Jewish community in Boujad and owned a petrol station. The family emigrated to Israel in 1956.
solution: send Amir Peretz to his real home Morocco
She is the daughter of Eitan Livni, a Polish-born former ETZEL member and himself a Likud member of parliament.
solution: send Livnee zipi back to Poland
if we solve the root of the problem (occupation of land) then peace will be achieved.
Amir Peretz was born as Armand Peretz in the town of Boujad, Morocco. His father was head of the Jewish community in Boujad and owned a petrol station. The family emigrated to Israel in 1956.
send Amir Peretz to his real home Morocco
She is the daughter of Eitan Livni, a Polish-born former ETZEL member and himself a Likud member of parliament.
send Livnee zipi to Poland
Olmert's father Mordechai, considered a pioneer of Israel's land settlement and a former member of the Second and Third Knessets, grew up in the Chinese city of Harbin where he led the local Betar youth movement. Olmert's grandfather, J.J. Olmert settled in Harbin after fleeing post World War-I Russia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Olmert
solution: send Ehud Olmert back to Russia
Noam Chomsky: U.S.-Backed Israeli Policies Pursuing "End of Palestine"; Hezbollah Capture of Israeli Soldiers "Very Irresponsible Act" That Could Lead To "Extreme Disaster"
Friday, July 14th, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/
article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258
Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon as warplanes launched fresh strikes on Beirut airport, communication networks, Lebanese roads and a power plant. Meanwhile, the US has vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution condemning Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip. MIT professor Noam Chomsky says the US and Israel are punishing Palestinians for electing Hamas, and says Hezbollah's capture of Israeli soldiers subjects Lebanese "to terror and possible extreme disaster" from Israeli strikes. We also get comments from Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani in Jerusalem. ----------------------------------
Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon as warplanes launched fresh strikes on Beirut airport, communication networks, Lebanese roads and a power plant.
More than 60 Lebanese civilians have been killed in the offensive which follows the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.
Israeli jets bombed the main highway linking Beirut to Damascus, tightening an air, sea and land blockade of Lebanon.
The Israeli army said Hezbollah fighters fired more than 100 rockets on northern Israel on Thursday, killing two people, wounding 92 others and hitting Haifa, Israel's third largest city. Hezbollah denied firing into Haifa, but Israel described the incident as a "major escalation" of the crisis. The Lebanese army also responded to the offensive with anti-aircraft fire.
Israel has warned that the south of Beirut could be targeted. Israeli jets dropped leaflets on Thursday warning people to stay away from Hezbollah offices. Some areas of the city are now without electricity following an attack on a power station. Israeli jets also struck a pro-Syrian Palestinian group in eastern Lebanon. No casualties were reported.
The escalation has sparked international calls for restraint. The European Union and Russia have criticized Israel's strikes in Lebanon as disproportionate. President Bush said Israel has the right to defend itself, but should not weaken the Lebanese government.
The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting later on Friday. Lebanon has urged it to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire. The US has already vetoed a council resolution demanding Israel end its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Eight of the last nine vetoes have been cast by the United States. Seven of those were to do with the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author of dozens of books, including his latest "Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy." In May he traveled to Beirut where he met, among others, Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah. He joins us on the line from Massachusetts.
Mouin Rabbani, senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group and a contributing editor of Middle East report. He joins us on the line from Jerusalem.
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TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: We're joined on the phone right now by Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of dozens of books. His latest is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. In May, he traveled to Beirut, where he met, among others, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. He joins us on the phone from Masachusetts. We welcome you to Democracy Now!
NOAM CHOMSKY: Hi, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, can you talk about what is happening now, both in Lebanon and Gaza?
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, of course, I have no inside information, other than what's available to you and listeners. What's happening in Gaza, to start with that -- well, basically the current stage of what's going on -- there's a lot more -- begins with the Hamas election, back the end of January. Israel and the United States at once announced that they were going to punish the people of Palestine for voting the wrong way in a free election. And the punishment has been severe.
At the same time, it's partly in Gaza, and sort of hidden in a way, but even more extreme in the West Bank, where Olmert announced his annexation program, what’s euphemistically called “convergence” and described here often as a “withdrawal,” but in fact it’s a formalization of the program of annexing the valuable lands, most of the resources, including water, of the West Bank and cantonizing the rest and imprisoning it, since he also announced that Israel would take over the Jordan Valley. Well, that proceeds without extreme violence or nothing much said about it.
Gaza, itself, the latest phase, began on June 24. It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don’t know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border. That’s Corporal Gilad Shalit. And that's well known; first abduction is not. Then followed the escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which I don’t have to repeat. It’s reported on adequately.
The next stage was Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers, they say on the border. Their official reason for this is that they are aiming for prisoner release. There are a few, nobody knows how many. Officially, there are three Lebanese prisoners in Israel. There's allegedly a couple hundred people missing. Who knows where they are?
But the real reason, I think it's generally agreed by analysts, is that -- I’ll read from the Financial Times, which happens to be right in front of me. “The timing and scale of its attack suggest it was partly intended to reduce the pressure on Palestinians by forcing Israel to fight on two fronts simultaneously.” David Hearst, who knows this area well, describes it, I think this morning, as a display of solidarity with suffering people, the clinching impulse.
It's a very -- mind you -- very irresponsible act. It subjects Lebanese to possible -- certainly to plenty of terror and possible extreme disaster. Whether it can achieve any result, either in the secondary question of freeing prisoners or the primary question of some form of solidarity with the people of Gaza, I hope so, but I wouldn't rank the probabilities very high.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, in the commercial press here the last day, a lot of the focus has been pointing toward Iran and Syria as basically the ones engineering much of what's going on now in terms of the upsurge of fighting in Lebanon. Your thoughts on these analyses that seem to sort of downplay the actual resistance movement going on there and trying to reduce this once again to pointing toward Iran?
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, the fact is that we have no information about that, and I doubt very much that the people who are writing it have any information. And frankly, I doubt that U.S. intelligence has any information. It's certainly plausible. I mean, there's no doubt that there are connections, probably strong connections, between Hezbollah and Syria and Iran, but whether those connections were instrumental in motivating these latest actions, I don't think we have the slightest idea. You can guess anything you’d like. It's a possibility. In fact, even a probability. But on the other hand, there's every reason to believe that Hezbollah has its own motivations, maybe the ones that Hearst and the Financial Times and others are pointing to. That seems plausible, too. Much more plausible, in fact.
AMY GOODMAN: There was even some reports yesterday that said that Hezbollah might try to send the Israeli soldiers that it had captured to Iran.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Israel actually claims that it has concrete evidence that that's what was going to happen. That's why it's attempting to blockade both the sea and bomb the airport.
NOAM CHOMSKY: They are claiming that. That's true. But I repeat, we don't have any evidence. Claims by a state that's carrying out the military attacks don't really amount to very much, in terms of credibility. If they have evidence, it would be interesting to see it. And in fact, it might happen. Even if it does happen, it won't prove much. If Hezbollah, wherever they have the prisoners, the soldiers, if they decide that they can't keep them in Lebanon because of the scale of Israeli attacks, they might send them somewhere else. I’m skeptical that Syria or Iran would accept them at this point, or even if they can get them there, but they might want to.
AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky , we have to break. When we come back, we'll ask you about the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations comments about Lebanon. We'll also be joined by Mouin Rabbani, speaking to us from Jerusalem, Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group. Then Ron Suskind joins us, author of The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of its Enemies Since 9/11. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Our guest on the phone is Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His latest book is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. I wanted to ask you about the comment of the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. He defended Israel's actions as a justified response. This is Dan Gillerman.
DAN GILLERMAN: As we sit here during these very difficult days, I urge you and I urge my colleagues to ask yourselves this question: What would do you if your countries found themselves under such attacks, if your neighbors infiltrated your borders to kidnap your people, and if hundreds of rockets were launched at your towns and villages? Would you just sit back and take it, or would you do exactly what Israel is doing at this very minute?
AMY GOODMAN: That was Dan Gillerman, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Noam Chomsky, your response?
NOAM CHOMSKY: He was referring to Lebanon, rather than Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: He was.
NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. Well, he's correct that hundreds of rockets have been fired, and naturally that has to be stopped. But he didn't mention, or maybe at least in this comment, that the rockets were fired after the heavy Israeli attacks against Lebanon, which killed -- well, latest reports, maybe 60 or so people and destroyed a lot of infrastructure. As always, things have precedence, and you have to decide which was the inciting event. In my view, the inciting event in the present case, events, are those that I mentioned -- the constant intense repression; plenty of abductions; plenty of atrocities in Gaza; the steady takeover of the West Bank, which, in effect, if it continues, is just the murder of a nation, the end of Palestine; the abduction on June 24 of the two Gaza civilians; and then the reaction to the abduction of Corporal Shalit. And there's a difference, incidentally, between abduction of civilians and abduction of soldiers. Even international humanitarian law makes that distinction.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what that distinction is?
NOAM CHOMSKY: If there's a conflict going on, aside physical war, not in a military conflict going on, abduction -- if soldiers are captured, they are to be treated humanely. But it is not a crime at the level of capture of civilians and bringing them across the border into your own country. That's a serious crime. And that's the one that's not reported. And, in fact, remember that -- I mean, I don’t have to tell you that there are constant attacks going on in Gaza, which is basically a prison, huge prison, under constant attack all the time: economic strangulation, military attack, assassinations, and so on. In comparison with that, abduction of a soldier, whatever one thinks about it, doesn't rank high in the scale of atrocities.
JUAN GONZALEZ: We're also joined on the line by Mouin Rabbani, a senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group and a contributing editor of Middle East Report. He joins us on the line from Jerusalem. Welcome to Democracy Now!
MOUIN RABBANI: Hi.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Could you tell us your perspective on this latest escalation of the conflict there and the possibility that Israel is going to be mired once again in war in Lebanon?
MOUIN RABBANI: Well, it's difficult to say. I couldn't hear Professor Chomsky's comments. I could just make out every sixth word. But I think that Israel is now basically, if you will, trying to rewrite the rules of the game and set new terms for its adversaries, basically saying, you know, that no attacks of any sort on Israeli forces or otherwise will be permitted, and any such attack will invite a severe response that basically puts the entire civilian infrastructure of the entire country or territory from which that attack emanates at risk. Judging by what we've seen so far, it more or less enjoys tacit to explicit international sanction. And I think the possibilities that this conflict could further expand into a regional one, perhaps involving Syria, is at this point quite real.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about the UN resolution, a vote in the draft resolution, 10-to-1, on Gaza with the U.S. voting no and for countries abstaining -- Britain, Denmark, Peru and Slovakia?
MOUIN RABBANI: Well, I think it would have been news if that resolution had actually passed. I think, you know, for the last decade, if not for much longer, it’s basically become a reality in the United Nations that it's an organization incapable of discharging any of its duties or responsibilities towards maintaining or restoring peace and security in the Middle East, primarily because of the U.S. power of veto on the Security Council. And I think we've now reached the point where even a rhetorical condemnation of Israeli action, such as we’ve seen in Gaza over the past several weeks, even a rhetorical condemnation without practical consequence has become largely unthinkable, again, primarily because of the U.S. veto within the Security Council.
AMY GOODMAN: Mouin, what do you think is going to happen right now, both in Gaza and in Lebanon?
MOUIN RABBANI: Well, I think it's probably going to get significantly worse. I mean, in Lebanon, it seems to be a case where Hezbollah has a more restricted agenda of compelling Israel to conduct prisoner exchange, whereas Israel has a broader agenda of seeking to compel the disarmament of Hezbollah or at least to push it back several dozen kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border. You know, the Israeli and Hezbollah perspectives on this are entirely incompatible, and that means that this conflict is probably going to continue escalating, until some kind of mediation begins.
In Gaza, it’s somewhat different. I think there Hamas has a broader agenda, of which effecting a prisoner exchange with Israel is only one, and I would argue, even a secondary part. I think there Hamas's main objective is to compel Israel to accept a mutual cessation of hostilities, Israeli-Palestinian, and I think, even more important, of ensuring their right to govern. And I think, at least as far as the Israeli-Palestinian part of this is concerned, Hamas's main objective has been to send a very clear message, not only to Israel, but to all its adversaries, whether Israeli, Palestinian or foreign, to remind the world that political integration and democratic politics for them are an experiment, that they have alternatives, and if they're not allowed to exercise their democratic mandate, that they will not hesitate, if necessary, to exercise those alternatives.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Noam Chomsky, right now industrial world leaders gathered in St. Petersburg for the G8 meeting. What role does the U.S. have in this?
NOAM CHOMSKY: In the G8 meeting?
AMY GOODMAN: No. What role -- they're just gathered together -- in this, certainly the issue of Lebanon, Gaza, the Middle East is going to dominate that discussion. But how significant is the U.S. in this?
NOAM CHOMSKY: I think it will probably be very much like the UN resolution that you mentioned, which is -- I’m sorry, I couldn't hear what Mouin Rabbani was saying. But the UN resolution was -- the veto of the UN resolution is standard. That goes back decades. The U.S. has virtually alone been blocking the possibility of diplomatic settlement, censure of Israeli crimes and atrocities. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the UN vetoed several resolutions right away, calling for an end to the fighting and so on, and that was a hideous invasion. And this continues through every administration. So I presume it will continue at the G8 meetings.
The United States regards Israel as virtually a militarized offshoot, and it protects it from criticism or actions and supports passively and, in fact, overtly supports its expansion, its attacks on Palestinians, its progressive takeover of what remains of Palestinian territory, and its acts to, well, actually realize a comment that Moshe Dayan made back in the early ’70s when he was responsible for the Occupied Territories. He said to his cabinet colleagues that we should tell the Palestinians that we have no solution for you, that you will live like dogs, and whoever will leave will leave, and we'll see where that leads. That's basically the policy. And I presume the U.S. will continue to advance that policy in one or another fashion.
AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky , I want to thank you for being with us. His latest book is Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. And Mouin Rabbani, senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group, joining us from Jerusalem. Thank you both.
www.democracynow.org
OIC mulls Muslim peace-keepers, 'war crimes' trial for Israel
03 Aug 2006
Source: Reuters
By Jalil Hamid
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The Organisation of Islamic Conference is weighing the creation of a Muslim peace-keeping force for south Lebanon and demanding Israel be investigated for "war crimes" against civilians, OIC diplomats said on Thursday.
Delegates to an emergency special session of the OIC, hosted by chair Malaysia, say a draft communique now circulating would seek to place Muslim "Blue Helmets" under U.N. control.
It would also call for an inquiry into possible Israeli war crimes in its bombing campaign, now in its fourth week, against targets in southern Lebanon and Gaza.
At least 643 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 56 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
In addition, the OIC draft demands an immediate ceasefire, adding to the pressure on Israel and its superpower ally the United States to reverse course and agree to end the fighting first and then deploy peacekeepers.
"We want a ceasefire and only then we can talk about other things," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters outside the closed-door OIC session.
Delegates who have seen the draft say other elements now under review include demands that Israel pay compensation to Lebanon and Gaza for their ravaged infrastructure and for the West to help rebuild the country.
The OIC, comprising 57 predominantly Muslim countries, finds itself under mounting domestic pressure to end the fighting.
Among others attending were the presidents of Iran and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, the prime minister of Muslim powerhouse Turkey, and representatives of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinians.
although i do not suppoert this guy, there is a lot of truth here
Wednesday 2 August 2006
Iranian President Ahmadinejad
Iranian President Ahmadinejad Addresses Rally & Warns the U.S. & England: The Fire of the Wrath of the Peoples is About to Erupt & Overflow & the People Will Soon Rage; Today the Iranian People is the Owner of Nuclear Technology
The following are excerpts from a rally with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian News Channel (IRINN) on August 1, 2006.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "Look, they are destroying homes with the people inside. They are burning fields. Neither children nor adults are safe from them. With laser-guided bombs, they attack shelters of defenseless women and children, leaving them in a pool of their blood."
Crowd: "Death to Israel."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "They have no boundaries, limits, or taboos when it comes to killing human beings. Who are they? Where did they come from? Are they human beings? ’They are like cattle, nay, more misguided.’ A bunch of bloodthirsty barbarians. Next to them, all the criminals of the world seem righteous."
"They are a bunch of Zionists. Where have they come from? As you know, the rule of hegemony and the web of colonialism strived to establish a base in the heart of the Middle East. A hundred years ago, they began to devise conspiracies on the basis of a diabolical plan. Bit by bit they arrived, and backed by the devious, deceiving England, they sneaked people in, and placed them in control over the people of Palestine. Sixty years ago, by means of a highly complex plan involving psychology, politics, and propaganda, and by means of weapons, they managed to establish a false regime in the heart of the Middle East. At first they claimed: ’Since some of those [Jews] lost their families in World War II, and were killed by the German government, we must give them a land.’ They established a regime, and placed them here. Afterwards, we saw that they did not make do with [the Jews] who presumably were harmed in the war. They gathered people from all over the world, brought them here! , and turned them into the landlords. They expelled more than five million Palestinians from their homes with weapons and with oppression. They gathered people from all over the world, and imposed them here. Our question was: ’If these people were harmed in Europe, why do you want to compensate them out of the pockets of the people of Palestine, and with their honor and their land?’ Then they claimed that these are people whose forefathers had lived in this land 2,500 years ago, and that they should therefore be the rulers of this land. We say to them that if we were to accept this principle, and were to apply it throughout the world, all the political borders in today’s world would change.
"We ask you: Who lived on the land of America 250 or 300 years ago? Don’t the rulers of America today rule because of the massacre of the native Americans? If we accept the principle that anybody whose forefathers ever lived on any land 2,000 or 3,000 years ago should rule today, then America should be ruled by the native Americans who are there today. There is proof that they existed. There are films, photos, documents, maps, and their descendants."
Crowd: "Death to America
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "They established a regime, aimed at threatening, trespassing, murdering, and pillaging. They established this regime so that the peoples of the region would never be tranquil. They threaten everybody. Even if a country wants to make scientific progress, they have the nerve to prevent its scientific progress under the pretext that the safety of the regime that occupied Jerusalem would be threatened by this scientific progress."
"They established that regime so that it would constitute a constant threat, and would prepare the ground for the control of the rule of hegemony, and so that they would be able to impose agreements on the people. As you know, some of the countries in our region made armament deals worth more than 150 billion dollars with America and England, under the pretext of the regime that occupied Jerusalem. Since they are under America’s control, they never used these weapons against the regime that occupied Jerusalem."
"It is totally obvious from what is going on that this plan was made a long time ago. The Americans failed to implement their Greater Middle East policy. They thought that by attacking and occupying Lebanon, they would be able to revive the dead plan to establish a Greater Middle East. That is why they attacked. As you can see, their crimes know no limits.
"I hereby declare: The world must know that America and England are accomplices to each and every one of the crimes of the regime that has occupied Jerusalem. They must be held accountable."
"Look at the international organizations. We used to say that these organizations are a tool in the hands of some of the great powers, and we were told we were being pessimistic. Look at the Security Council. It was established to bring about security. But as you can see, whenever the proposal for a ceasefire is raised, the Security Council - which is responsible for security, and which should welcome the cease-fire proposal - is, unfortunately, opposed to the cease-fire proposal and to preventing the killing of women and children. I hereby declare: This behavior of the Security Council is a mark of eternal shame on the forehead of the U.N. and those who control it."
"Everybody knows that this regime [Israel] can do nothing without the orders and backing of America and its intimate friend, England. That’s why we have declared these two regimes are responsible for all the crimes of the insubordinate Zionist regime."
"It is inconceivable that they allow themselves to make decisions to attack and totally destroy a certain country, and then, on the basis of a few agreements, they bring groups from the countries supporting this corrupt regime [Israel], and deploy them along the borders, in order to oppress the people of the region even more. They must know that those days are over. The peoples have awoken.
"The Lebanese scene is like a mirror. It displays the criminal essence of the rule of hegemony and the false claims of the great powers to support human rights, freedom, and democracy. At the same time, it exhibits the oppression of the Lebanese people.
"Today, Hizbullah in Lebanon is the standard-bearer of the resistance of all the monotheistic peoples, of the seekers of justice, and of the free people. Hassan Nasrallah is shouting the loud cry of the vigilant human consciences. Today, Hizbullah stands tall as the representative of all the peoples, all the vigilant consciences, all the monotheistic people, all the seekers of justice, and all free people of the world, against the rule of hegemony. Until now, with the help of Allah, [Hizbullah] is winning, and, Allah willing, it will reach the ultimate victory in the near future."
[...]
"I hereby demand that all the peoples declare their position regarding these crimes. It is inconceivable for people to play a double game in the Middle East and Lebanon. On the one hand, they maintain cooperation and economic and political ties with the Zionist criminals, and on the other hand, they wish to appear as supporters of human rights, of the oppressed, and of peace. They all must declare their position. I call upon all the governments to remove the restrictions upon their peoples. The peoples have become vigilant today, and are studying the scene with precision and awareness. The peoples are keeping record of the behavior of all the governments, the officials, and the groups. All these crimes are engraved on the hearts of the peoples. Soon, the people will begin to move, and, Allah willing, they will drag these criminals to the defendant’s bench."
[...]
"I declare, before all the dear people of Bojnourd, that in light of America and England’s behavior, it has become clear that they don’t have what it takes to participate in international forums. They don’t have what it takes to sit in the Security Council, and to have a right of veto. They themselves are guilty and criminal, and they must be placed on trial."
[...]
"When I see the behavior of America, England, and their other accomplices in recent days, I get the impression that they are preparing even greater crimes. I warn them: Know that the fire of the wrath of the peoples is about to erupt and overflow. If you do not put an end to your crimes, know that the ocean of the peoples will soon rage. When the peoples begin to move, they will drag everybody to the defendant’s bench, and will remove them from the throne of power."
[...]
"Today, the Iranian people is the owner of nuclear technology. Those who want to talk with our people should know what people they are talking to. If some believe they can keep talking to the Iranian people in the language of threats and aggressiveness, they should know that they are making a bitter mistake. If they have not realized this by now, they soon will, but then it will be too late. Then they will realize that they are facing a vigilant, proud people."
From far away, under the radar and beyond the sanitized news reports, your blog is a blessing to us. We are out here and watching, feeling and choking at what is happening. All around me is quiet but it is black and empty knowing that you and your people are struggling.
Never Forget.
I really hope that.
-From Korea.
what can we do?
BOYCOTT ISRAEL CAMPAIGN
http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html
http://www.inminds.co.uk/
boycott-starbucks.html
http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules11748.php
http://www.boikottisrael.no/
liste/index.html
boikott israel
Don’t you see what is going on?
Lebanon was left all alone!
Nobody cares about Lebanon any more.
What does the world leaders do? They talk and talk. That’s all they can do.
Look at them; Hassan Nasrallah promised to defend Lebanon? Where is he? In which bunker does he hide? Do you feel any safer now?
Bashir Asad? Where is the great friend of Lebanon?
Ahmadinejad? All he can do is bitch about Israel like a disturbed 5 years old.
Mubarak? Give me a break.
And this is the Arab world.
The UN? Couldn’t care or do less.
Europe? The US?
The world could do so much more. So why don’t they?
Good Luck
Dear Zena, Beirut can never die. I was born there. I will not allow it. Trying to be humorous, but my heart is very heavy. Still, I pray and pray...
Love, Colette
Beirut was destroyed over 9 times now and this time won't kill it neither....like a phoenix, she will rise from its ashes to live again.
BEIRUT (AP) - Hezbollah's leader on Thursday threatened to send rockets into Tel Aviv if Beirut proper was attacked, but offered a ceasefire in the air war, pledging to halt rocket attacks if Israel stops air strikes.
"You attack our cities, villages, civilians and our capital. We will react. Anytime you decide to stop your campaign against our cities, villages, civilians and infrastructure, we will not fire rockets on any Israeli settlement or city," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a taped television speech
Dear Zena,
Your words are touching the hearts of many many people; I tell my friends and family to read your beautiful words - it´s the least I can do...
Take care
Love from Berlin
I live on the other side of the World and I do assure you: you all are in our hearts and in our actions.
We are doing everything possible to stop this.
Be well.
Dear Zena, I write to you from New Jersey. My heart aches over what is going on in Lebanon. My tears kept coming down as I read your blog. We are writing to our government. We are forwarding emails to everyone to do something to stop this madness. We pray that this will all stop. But we feel helpless. Don't give up hope. You will survive. Lebanon will survive.
Rania
from
http://www.ippnw.org/
"Promoting Peace
IPPNW strongly supports United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an immediate Middle East ceasefire
Appeal to Kofi Annan
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
The ongoing deadly conflict between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and a serious humanitarian crisis.
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War fully supports your call for an immediate cease-fire on humanitarian grounds, and believes that the cease-fire will need to be maintained by a United Nations international force, deployed in a buffer zone between Lebanon and Israel.
The longer a cease-fire is delayed, the greater the loss of life and more massive the destruction of human habitation and infrastructure. Continued fighting also increases the danger of escalation into a wider war in a volatile region where nuclear arms exist. It is a wake-up call for the revival of nuclear disarmament and the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
Only peaceful negotiations, based on a genuine desire for peace and justice, will resolve this humanitarian crisis and the underlying Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Negotiations can only begin after a cease-fire is in force.
Yours sincerely,
Ron McCoy and Gunnar Westberg Co-Presidents, IPPNW"
from http://www.jpost.com
Auschwitz council: Stop the war
By JPOST.COM STAFF WARSAW
Survivors of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz appealed Thursday for peace in the Middle East, saying the fighting creates hate and "threatens humanity."
The International Auschwitz Council, which includes Holocaust survivors, scholars and religious leaders, appealed to international leaders to launch peace initiatives, "insignificant though they may appear to be, with the view to overcome the hateful antagonisms while promoting dialogue and cooperation."
The IAF began bombing Lebanon on July 12 after Hizbullah guerillas crossed over the border and killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others.
"The war in the Middle East kills people, destroys their homes, roads and bridges, as well as their hopes for normal life and development," the council said in a statement. "It awakens despair and hate ... and threatens humanity."
...........
http://www.jpost.com
well said
QUEEN NOOR: I also believe that previous administrations, because of their direct engagement with and many of them attempted to be far more balanced in their approach to both sides of the story, because both sides have stories of tragedy, of fear, of generations that have built up a great deal of distrust and anger, and I think there is one example, which is, because I keep going back, as so many others do, to believing that the heart of this problem is the Arab, the larger Arab-Israeli conflict which started in 1948 with the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, as the state of Israel was created. Those refugees have never been addressed properly, nor the ones that were forced from their homes over the next several decades, '67. There are now six million outside. So the annexation of, the occupation and annexation of Arab lands by Israel, the refugee issue and the prisoners that are held in contravention of international law --
KING: You're therefore blaming Israel for this?
QUEEN NOOR: I'm saying that those are issues that lay, are the root cause and what the militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, who also have political roles, were elected in legitimate elections in their communities, in Palestinian territories and in Lebanon, what drives the militancy and what would sap all the energy and justification for this militancy, would be a resolution of those core issues, that are a driving force of the militants.
Dear Zena,
I have been reading your blog every day, it feels as if I am in Beirut, seeing it through your eyes. I lived in Beirut shortly, ten years ago, helped building it up. I visited it last Christmas, I saw how beautiful it had become, once again. My boyfriend, who was there for the first time, was amazed by the positive athmosphere all around us. I told him it was because of the war. How people that have survived tend to have enormous strength in life. But now, war again. I am so upset, I am feeling it with you. Also a 30 year old female, but in the safety of an office in Amsterdam. Please keep blogging. It is great to see how strong you are, but do keep safe. And strong. And let all of us around the world know if there is anything that we can do!
Love, Alet in Amsterdam
we miss you zena.
sean and rania.
You words touch my heart. Unfortunately the world leaders decide when it's time for a war, when it's time to kill civilians. No matter of what nationally or religious we are.
My deep sorrow for another generation without future and peace.
From and Italian mother.
I just came across your blog and I wanted to say thank you for writing, thank you for sharing your thoughts and your fears with the world. Thank you for opening my eyes and my heart.
I hope you can continue reaching out to the world with your words, your art, and your hope. I am an American living in Istanbul and I send you love, hope, and support from Turkey. Keep writing. You're doing more than you know.
Dear Zena,
Beirut ist in Schutt und Asche
Beirut wird nicht sterben
Thank you for your wonderful blog and words. Since the madness began, I am deeply saddened and cry a lot. When I woke up this morning, I right away thought about you and the Lebanese people.
Please let me know, how I can help.
My pledge: I will donate every month to ICRC in Beirut (Mr. Hicham Hassan). Together we will build a new beautiful city which I visited from Germany in 1965.
Love and peace.
ingrid in nyc
(70 y old German)
THE MADNESS MUST STOP NOW!
Hi Zena,
I'm an Israeli student, about your age.
I too believe in love.
I too believe in peace.
I too have been recently married and hope for a better future for my children.
And yours, too.
But you must try and understand a few points.
Contrary to popular belief, the aim of Israel is not to destroy Lebanon.
Our aim is to enable a normal and safe life for our citizens. 500,000 Israelis have been displaced since the beginning of hostilities. We just don't call them "refugees" here in Israel. Us Jews are used to being persecuted. 100 Israelis have been killed during the weeks of fighting.
Only 60 years ago, a genocide of Jews was planned and exectued in Europe.
And during the past years - we're seeing the same nightmare materialize reight before our eyes.
Iran and Hizballah don't ever want peace with me, and have said so many times - they say they will only use ceasefires as times for building up weapons until my ultimate destruction.
How would you feel if a leader of a huge country with 70 million people would openly, again and again, call for your COMPLETE ANNIHILATION.
Yes, I'm talking about Iran.
And their most potent weapon - Hizballah - sits right on the border of our country.
Israel copmletely left every inch of Lebanese country, six years ago. UN decision 1559 states so clearly.
But that was not enough for Hizballah and Iran - who of course used the ceasefire to build up their arms, as they openly stated. They used a bunch of lame excuses (Lebanese "prisoners"? These are people who were convited of cold-blooded murder of children and women! We have every right to keep them in jail. Sheba farms? The UN clearly stated that they are not part of Lebanon)
Zena, I am deeply saddened by reading your blog.
I am genuinely pained by civilian causalties on both sides, Lebanese and Israeli.
I too wish and strive for peace.
Unfortunately, the peddlers of hate (Iran and Hizballah) in our region has gotten to all of us.
Israel as the one and only country of the Jewish people has no choice but to defend itself.
When the hating will stop, peace can be achieved.
Hi Zena,
The other day I saw a guy here in New York posting I heart (the symbol) Beirut stickers all over the place. I asked him for some. He said he had seen others around New York and just decided to make them himself. Of course it doesn't help the concrete situation, but at the same time it gave me a weird sense of hope. There are people here who are speaking out & fighting for an end to the violence & aggression...it is hard to maintain hope (I'm speaking for myself here) living in the U.S. but i guess it is essential. Been reading you since you started writing, and am in awe of your ability to communicate & maintain some sense of sanity in this madness.
With respect & deep thanks,
j
Now Zena, tell these people about the evil truth of the hezbollah terrorist. Guess you can't you support evil. Really Zena, I feel sorry for you and the likes of you. One day the truth will prevail. Hopefully it won't be too late for you and your kind. Take care...adios
i listen and watch T.V on the war in beirut every day. It's terrible.
Oh, Lewis,
How can be such a hypocrite? You're quoting only half a truth of all this outrage that's going on now in the Middle East. You're simply missing the point. The kernel of the whole thing is elsewhere. Maybe you are, quite understandably, biased or simply have no real will to take a deeper look inside. You must have a much better insight in this matter than merely having the capacity of citing commonplaces instead of trying to understand this particularly complicated story. Good grief, Lewis. You must be kidding! Please, mail me in private if you don't intend to make your REAL point in public.
Warm regards,
Laszlo (a hungarian outsider)
Laci,
I'm not sure I understand what you're insinuating.
I don't need "inside information" to know that Iran plans to annihilate Israel. Plain and simple. Their leader publicly and repeatedly claims so.
Iran is proud of their sponsorship of Hizballah, who were formed with the sole intention of "exporting the shi'ite revolution".
These are not "secret" claims. If you research the history of the Islamist revolution in Iran in the late 1970's and the formation of Hizballah in 1982 you will see these facts are true.
I don't see why stating this makes me a hypocrite.
Yours,
lewis.
Dear Lewis,
The root of this problem is the Arab-Israeli conflict which began in 1948 with the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from THEIR HOMES, to create the state of Israel.
Those refugees have led to formation of Hamas, Hezbollah and others.
Those who were forced from their homes over the next several decades after occupation have formed resistance against Israel.
There are millions of Palestinian refugees.
You need to address the occupation of Arab lands by Israel, the refugee issue and free the prisoners that are held in Israel in contradiction of international law.
Where are your grandparents from If I may ask.
you made me cry with your writings...you made m ecry for your beirut which ı've not seen before.... there should be smt. to do...there must be someway to help you... tell me how so we'll do whatever we can
be sure we are praying for you guys here in turkey.... stay strong and faithfull...
with love...
Dear Lewis,
You know just as well as I do that killing innocent people is NOT a "mistake". With the technology you have in Israel one could hit the bottle of wine on the table from the farthest corner of the Earth without even touching the cups. C'mon, Lewis! Don't pretend to be naive. Go and kill the Hizbullah or the Iranian army. You could do it. But, please, don't even try to suggest that if someone in my neighbourhood is waving with a dagger I'm supposed to slaughter the entire family regardless of age and sex. Don't even say that Qana was an "accident". Your intelligense know exactly where Hizbullah depos and strongholds are. It's not a "mistake" that your army has killed almost 1000 innocent civilians so far. How can you explain the massacres in Gaza? Are these people are natural born terrorists? I don't think you cannot see the cause. Have you ever been to Beirut? I was there many times. I was in your country too. I was always welcome to Lebanon. However, oddly enough, there were two words I never heard in Israel: "please" and "thanks." What is it you are fighting for? Who is it you are fighting against? Is it in the Constitution of your country that to maintain the apartheid is the only way to secure "democracy"?
I'm shocked. Sorry.
Warm regards,
Laci
http://ecosyn.us/Bush-Hitler/
I just watched some videos posted on http://www.youtube.com
If you write Beirut or Lebanon you will find several videos documenting the crimes of Israel
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