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Press under fire as Israeli offensive continues

1 August 2006


As Israel steps up its military offensive into Lebanon, journalists covering the conflict continue to come under fire. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says crews from four Arab television stations told the organisation that on 22 July 2006, Israeli aircraft fired missiles within 75 metres of them to prevent them from covering the effects of Israel’s bombardment of the eastern town of Khiam. The journalists said their convoy of vehicles was chased by Israeli fighter aircraft which fired missiles on the road behind them as they approached a bombed-out bridge. Eventually, the journalists left their vehicles and walked to the village of Hasb Bayah. 

The Beirut blogs: People under siege tell their stories online

Kaelen Wilson-Goldie 3 August 2006


“I don’t want to be a war story … I just want to be me … not what is imposed on me … I don’t want to be another depressing story in your Inbox.” Beirut-based artist Zena al-Khalil began sending email updates to her friends, colleagues and contacts on July 13, the day Israel began bombing her city. Like Khalil, writer and curator Rasha Salti started organizing her thoughts into “siege notes.” Her missives, poignant, personal and rife with pointed political analysis, are now posted online at “Electronic Lebanon” - an offshoot of Electronic Intifada that launched within hours of Israel’s attack of Lebanon’s infrastructure and citizenry. Either way, they are collective memory in the instant, a readymade archive. 

The Case for Boycotting Israel

Virginia Tilley 7 August 2006


It is finally time. After years of internal arguments, confusion, and dithering, the time has come for a full-fledged international boycott of Israel. Good cause for a boycott has, of course, been in place for decades, as a raft of initiatives already attests. But Israel’s war crimes are now so shocking, its extremism so clear, the suffering so great, the UN so helpless, and the international community’s need to contain Israel’s behavior so urgent and compelling, that the time for global action has matured. A coordinated movement of divestment, sanctions, and boycotts against Israel must convene to contain not only Israel’s aggressive acts and crimes against humanitarian law but also, as in South Africa, its founding racist logics that inspired and still drive the entire Palestinian problem. 

Israeli Intellectuals Love the War

Ran HaCohen 7 August 2006


All generalizations are wrong, except this one: Israeli liberal intellectuals are against war. They have always been against it, and they even suffered greatly for their critical views, as they stress proudly. They were against the previous war, they will be against the next war, they are against all wars. There is just one minor exception, though: the present war, every present war, which they always support. Because the present war - well, that’s something totally different from all those other wars! How can you even compare?! The present war is always inevitable, and necessary, and just, and worthy of support. 

War is becoming a way of life

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 6 August 2006


As each day goes by, war is becoming a way of life. And that is so dangerous. People must never get used to this. Today it is Lebanon … but tomorrow, who will be next? Violence begets violence. And all this attack is doing is creating more hate for the West in this region. It didn’t have to be like this. It was only a month ago that I was in the south of Lebanon listening to the radio. The station was being broadcasted from Israel — they were playing great music from the ’80s. I was listening, enjoying the tranquility, and thinking about how similar we were. A part of me wants to just sleep and wake up when this is all over with — however, I am so scared that when I do wake up, things will just be a lot worse. 

Besieged Lebanese Turn to Internet

Zeina Karam 6 August 2006


Like many of her compatriots, artist Zena el-Khalil has turned to blogging on the Internet to express her longings and fears amid the fighting in Lebanon. Writing from Beirut, the 30-year-old tells of wanting to have children and worries about Israeli air raids on the capital. “Word on the street is that Israel is threatening to hit Beirut now. I feel so helpless,” she said in a recent entry in her online diary. “I called my husband and told him to come home right away. If I die, I want to be in his arms.” 

PCHR Condemns the Detention of the Speaker of the PLC

6 August 2006


PCHR strongly condemns the detention of Dr. Aziz Dweik, the Speaker of the PLC, by Israeli Occupation Forces. This detention is a continuation of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian Ministers and PLC members from the “Change and Reform List” supported by Hamas. The Centre views the detention of the PLC Speaker as a form of reprisal and collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, which are prohibited in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Centre views this detention as another step in the attempts to undermine the results of the free and democratic elections held in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on 25 January 2006. 

Six Killed in Vigilante Attack on Jericho Central Prison

6 August 2006


PCHR strongly condemns the gruesome crime committed by gunmen inside Jericho Central Prison on the evening of Friday, 4 August 2006. The crime resulted in the death of six inmates, two of them by mistake, and the injury of three others. PCHR also condemns the failure of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and law-enforcement bodies to fulfill their duty to protect prisoners. The Centre views this crime as an indicator that many insist on maintaining a state of security chaos, undermining the rule of law, and practicing vigilante justice. 

Agriculture in peril as war drags on

6 August 2006


Lebanese agricultural production, badly affected by the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, faces a crisis if the conflict does not end soon, according to government officials. “The sector has been hit very badly because all the roads have been hit, there is no possibility to go from one village to another or from the field to the market, and you can’t reach the fields to harvest because there is always bombing and shelling,” said Talal Al-Sahili, the Agriculture Minister. The death of 33 farm workers in the northern Beqaa valley on Friday highlighted the kinds of risks many in the industry face. 

Camps to address housing shortage

6 August 2006


The Lebanese government’s Higher Relief Committee (HRC) said on Saturday that it will set up temporary tent camps in a bid to alleviate the growing housing shortage in Beirut. The housing shortage is a result of the influx of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled fighting in the south between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party with a military wing. The conflict began on 12 July after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. “As the number of displaced people increases, we are having to explore alternative ways to meet the basic needs of the displaced,” said the HRC’s Fadi Aramoune, who is coordinating the tent camps project.