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Photostory: LA drops banner against Israel's war on Lebanon and Gaza

25 July 2006


The past few days protests were held in Israel, across the Middle East and around the world condemning Israel’s US-backed war on Lebanon and Gaza. The the largest demonstrations, involving thousands of people, were held in the United States and in countries closely allied with Washington�s war aims in the region — Britain, Australia and Canada. In downtown Los Angeles, activists held a rally on Saturday, July 22, to protest Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza. They dropped a banner with raining bombs. The image was traced from a large image created by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff — although they spun it to demonstrate the role of the US in this conflict. 

Web preference: e-Intifada

25 July 2006


The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah (and Hamas) targets mainly innocent civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. News about this conflict comes primarily from Israel or the West but on the web you can find alternative news sources. The English language news site The Electronic Intifada (EI) reports from a Palestinian perspective, albeit in an objective manner. Often EI is faster than established mainstream media. Last week, when no one knew, they reported that Westerners have been denied access to the Palestinian territories. The editors live in various places in the world and receive news from correspondents on the ground. 

Lebanon's Phoenix Rising

Marwan Khoueiry Beirut 25 July 2006


I am not writing this article to condemn the atrocious Israeli war on Lebanon that started on that abyssal day of July 12, 2006, nor to debate who is mainly responsible for it. I am writing to give hope - the hope that every Lebanese citizen needs right now. Hope for every family who has lost a child, a mother or a father. Hope for every family whose house was destroyed. Hope for every Lebanese student who thinks he has no future in his country anymore. Hope for every investor who withdrew his business from this country. In Majida el Roumi’s song to Beirut, she sings, “Beirut, lady of the world, get up from under the ruins like a pine flower in April.” 

Live from Lebanon: Rania Masri on Democracy Now!

17 July 2006


Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has entered its sixth day and the Lebanese death toll has now topped 150: almost all of them civilians. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is continuing to fire rockets at northern Israel. On Sunday, a missile hit Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. The Israeli death toll since now stands at around 24. We go to Lebanon to get a report. First we go to Northern Lebanon to speak with Rania Masri, assistant professor in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Balamand in Lebanon, assistant director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at that university. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Rania Masri. 

Terrorist Donkey Joins Family in Death

Sami Abu Salem Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip 25 July 2006


The paramedics and witnesses could not differentiate between the pieces of flesh of the eleven-year-old Nadi al-Attar, and those of his grandmother, 57-year-old Khairiyya, or the donkey’s, scattered on the branches of lemon and boxthorn trees on both sides of the dusty road in Beit Lahia, north Gaza. Yesterday, the old woman and her three grandsons Nadi, Shadi (14), and Ahmed (17) were riding a donkey cart, heading to their field to collect ripe figs that fetch a good price in Gaza’s markets when Israeli rocket hit their cart and blasted two of them into small pieces. 

In Lebanon, We Have No Bomb Shelters

Maya Mikdashi Beirut 21 July 2006


Today all of Lebanon is under attack, and the target is the country’s civilian population. The facts speak for themselves. Bridges, tunnels, highways, hospitals, national gas storages, and privately owned gas stations have all been bombed by Israeli planes, ships, and artillery. Churches, mosques, village roads, state electric and water plants, homes, grain silos, food factories, and trucks transporting gas and goods have been destroyed, and civilians ordered to evacuate their homes have been targeted while searching for refuge. 

Art therapy with kids in a Beirut shelter

Mayssoun Sukarieh Beirut 25 July 2006


Many organizations and volunteers have started to work with children who were displaced with their families from many parts of the country, and who are now filling the schools, parks and different establishments in Beirut. The goal of current efforts and programs is first to encourage the children to express their feelings and anxieties about the war, and second, to give some time to their parents to relax a bit during the days. In addition to drawing, many volunteers are reading with children, singing, playing, or even just sitting and talking. 

Five myths that sanction Israel's war crimes

Jonathan Cook 25 July 2006


This week I had the pleasure to appear on American radio, on the Laura Ingraham show. I was pitted against David Horowitz, a “Semite supremacist” who most recently made his name under the banner of Campus Watch, leading McCarthyite witch-hunts against American professors who have the impertinence to suggest that maybe, just maybe, Arabs have minds and feelings like the rest of us. It was a revealing experience, at least for a British journalist rarely exposed to the depths of ignorance and prejudice in the United States on Middle East matters — well, apart from the regular whackos who fill my email in-tray. 

UNHCR relief supplies blocked at Syrian-Lebanese border

25 July 2006


UNHCR relief supplies for over 20,000 displaced and distressed people in Lebanon, including many living out in the open in parks or in overcrowded public buildings, are still blocked this morning in Syria awaiting a safe route into Lebanon. It is enormously frustrating to be right on the back doorstep of Lebanon and ready to move in with hundreds of tonnes of aid, but the door remains closed. We have hundreds of tonnes of tents, mattresses, blankets and other aid which could be delivered in a matter of hours if we only had access to the country. We are exploring every option and pressing to move these urgently needed relief items as soon as possible to where they are needed most. 

UN refugee chief urges rapid response for Lebanon displaced

24 July 2006


UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said Monday that his agency is positioning more than 500 tonnes of relief supplies along the Syria-Lebanon border but urgently needs assurances of safe passage to deliver the supplies to tens of thousands of displaced people. “The plight of the displaced in Lebanon is growing more difficult by the hour and it’s crucial that we get the humanitarian pipeline flowing now,” said Guterres. “UNHCR is trucking some 40 trailers loaded with over 500 tonnes of aid supplies from our regional warehouse in Jordan to Syria. It’s frustrating that we can’t deliver this aid, particularly when there are thousands of uprooted civilians in Lebanon who desperately need it.”