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UN aid chief calls for ‘humanitarian truce’ to help Middle East’s children and wounded

28 July 2006


The top United Nations aid official today made an urgent appeal for a “humanitarian truce” lasting at least three days between Israel and Hezbollah to allow children, the wounded and the elderly to escape the fighting and food, medicine and other emergency supplies to get through to the conflict zones. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who has returned to UN Headquarters in New York from a six-day visit to Lebanon, northern Israel and the Gaza Strip, made his appeal while briefing the Security Council on the deadly and horrific destruction in the region. 

Photostory: Hundreds Protest U.S. Aid to Israel in Front of San Francisco Senator's Office

28 July 2006


Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office in San Francisco on Thursday, July 27. Likely few if any of the protesters expect Dianne Feinstein do anything productive even as news of more and more atrocities committed by Israel in Lebanon come to light. Last Sunday, she organized a rally in San Francisco to support Israel’s actions against the Lebanese people. On July 20, Feinstein supported a resolution in support of Israel in the House of Representatives. The rally turned into a march to the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle to protest the newspaper’s lopsided pro-Israel coverage. 

UN observer teams in line of fire in south Lebanon to relocate

28 July 2006


Three days after a United Nations post in Lebanon was destroyed during an Israeli bombardment, leaving four dead, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has decided to temporarily move unarmed observers into more secure positions. The decision was made to move members of the Observer Group Lebanon (OGL) from patrol bases in the Marwahin and Markaba area into more secure UNIFIL positions as the mission reports increasingly intense exchanges of fire along the Blue Line of withdrawal between Israel and Lebanon. There were two direct hits on its bases in the past 24 hours from the Israeli side, and Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of five of its positions. 

Ali La Pointe and Zena's words on the New York streets

Emily Jacir New York, United States 28 July 2006


I was invited to teach at an art workshop, so yesterday I went. I gave a lecture in the morning and then in the afternoon I was asked to give the students an assignment that they could do in two hours. I decided to print emails from my inbox from the last two weeks. I also printed out the article about the Americans rushing bombs to Israel and spoke about the absurdity of the question Americans ask about wether to get involved or not when they are 100 percent involved! I gave each student a different email, and a copy of the article, and told them to go out into the streets and do something in the public sphere based on their interaction, (or reaction) or whatever with the emails. 

"Please show the reality" say Lebanon's affected

28 July 2006


Volunteers and staff from a Christian Aid-supported organisation working to help those displaced by the conflict in Lebanon say the world needs to understand the depths of the humanitarian crisis unfolding there. “The news isn’t showing the reality of what is happening here,” said Pascale Kolakez, a psychologist speaking from a Beirut school that Christian Aid partner Mouvement Social (MS) has converted into a shelter for displaced people. “Please show the reality. People have lost everything, even the future of their children. What’s happening in Lebanon is a crime against humanity.” Those working with MS have chosen to stay and help those most in need. 

The lies Israel tells itself (and we tell on its behalf)

Jonathan Cook 28 July 2006


When journalists use the word “apparently”, or another favourite, “reportedly”, they are usually distancing themselves from an event or an interpretation in the supposed interests of balance. But I think we should read the “apparently” contained in a statement from the head of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, relating to the killing this week of four unarmed UN monitors by the Israeli army in its other sense. When Annan says that those four deaths were “apparently deliberate”, I take him to mean that the evidence shows that the killings were deliberate. And who can disagree with him? 

OCHA: 22 Palestinians killed in Gaza in past 36 hours

27 July 2006


Twenty-two Palestinians were killed in the last 36 hours in the Gaza Strip (including a three-year-old girl). Wednesday (26 July) saw the highest daily death toll since 28 June - the start of what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have code-named ‘Operation Summer Rains’. Since the last Situation Report (18 July), there have been a significant number of Palestinian casualties - 50 dead and more than 230 injured - from IDF incursions, shellings and Israel Air Force (IAF) air strikes. Of the 150 Palestinians that have been killed since 28 June, approximately one-quarter of have been reported as children (31). At least 541 Palestinians have been injured. 

Lebanon's biggest environmental catastrophe: 15,000 ton oil spill hits coast

Wael Hmaidan 28 July 2006


The escalating Israeli attack on Lebanon is not only killing its civilians and destroying its infrastructure, but it is also annihilating its environment. Last week a 15,000 ton oil spill resulted from the Israeli air raid on the Jiyyeh power plant South of Lebanon. The power plant has six fuel tanks. Four of them have burned completely, while the fifth one, which is also the main cause of the spill, is still burning. The Lebanese Ministry of Environment is worried that the sixth tank, which is underground and so far intact, is going to explode and increase the magnitude of the problem. 

Israel's long history of abusing the United Nations

Marc J. Sirois 28 July 2006


The crux of the problem is that the Jewish state resents the United Nations because it has failed to accept repeated humiliations - and worse - with sufficient obsequiousness. In the Israeli view, international organizations should follow the example of the United States, which has frequently betrayed both the safety and the reputation of its own military and diplomatic personnel by meekly accepting Israeli atrocities and provocations. The US government forced the US Navy to help cover up the nature of Israel’s deliberate 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, which killed dozens of American servicemen, and to deny proper decorations to victims and survivors alike. 

Merseyside trade unionists call for sanctions against Israeli invasions of Lebanon, Gaza

28 July 2006


On behalf of Merseyside trade unionists the Sacked Liverpool Dockworkers have been asked to circulate, coordinate and collate all responses to this message. We are trade unionists with a record of action within our own industries and in opposition to racism and war. We watch with horror and outrage as Israel has bombed Lebanon indisciminately since 12 July with hundreds of civilian casualties, and their army begins a major ground invasion. Similar atrocities are being committed against Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza. We know that the Blair government, including even the T&G sponsored Foreign Secretary, has given Israel a blank cheque to continue.