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International Day of Action Against Israeli Aggression

20 July 2006


As Israeli attacks on civilians continue and escalate day after day in Lebanon and Palestine and as the world’s governments support Israel’s crimes or, at best, turn a blind eye to its actions it is time for the people to speak. Saturday July 22, 2006 has been declared “International day of action against Israeli aggression”. We call on people all around the world to rise up on that day and be heard. Please organize an action in your city or area on that day under the banner of the “International day of action against Israeli aggression”. If you already have something planned for that day condemning Israel’s actions or in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, please link it to the international action. 

Journalists Call on Israel to Explain Shooting of Al Jazeera in Palestine

19 July 2006


The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the Israeli Defence Forces to explain a shooting incident in Nablus, in which a news crew of TV satellite channel Al Jazeera was fired upon and a technician injured. “First reports suggest that here was an unarmed media crew suddenly subject to an unprovoked attack by Israeli soldiers,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “If true, it is an astonishing and terrifying example of targeting and the Israeli authorities must give an explanation as to how this happened.” 

Emergency demonstrations in the UK

20 July 2006


Lebanon torn to shreds. End Israel’s crimes against humanity, join the demonstrations on July 22. More than 300 killed, 500,000 flee their homes, all major roads destroyed, no supplies reaching many areas. Apartment buildings, churches, mosques, petrol stations bombed. Lebanon’s largest dairy farm and pharmaceutical plant destroyed. Desperate need for water, medicines and sanitation for those fleeing Israel’s bombardment. An emergency demonstration will take place on Saturday July 22, London at noon from Whitehall Place to Hyde Park. Emergency Demonstrations round the country: Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Sheffield, York. 

Israel's long roll call of dishonour

Jonathan Cook 20 July 2006


The general surprise that Lebanese civilians are taking the brunt of Israel’s onslaught — and the unwillingness in some quarters of the media to report the fact — reflects a poor understanding of Israel’s historical use of violence. Since its birth six decades ago, Israel has always been officially “going after the terrorists”, but its actions have invariably harmed civilians in an indiscriminate manner. The true reasons are concealed from credulous observers by Israel’s use of Orwellian language. When it says it is destroying the “infrastructure of terror”, Israel means it is crushing all Arab resistance to its territorial ambitions in the region. 

Mideast News: Beyond the Mainstream

Peter Rothberg 19 July 2006


From an unscientific survey, the better blogs seem to include Beirut Spring and From Beirut to the Beltway. The Angry Arab News Service offers less polemical content than its name would suggest, though the especially disturbing pictures of children killed in recent bombings do inspire anger, among other emotions. The Electronic Intifada is a good portal for news, commentary, analysis, and reference materials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective. Since Israel’s attack on Lebanon began, the site has posted 112 articles from the ground on the conflict while continuing to keep track of simultaneous Israeli aggression in Gaza. And check out Electronic Lebanon, a new section of the site devoted exclusively to the new (but old) Israeli invasion. 

Annan calls for immediate end to conflict

20 July 2006


Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Thursday for an immediate halt to the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia but said there were “serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire.” Annan addressed members of the Security Council during a meeting on the situation in the Mideast at United Nations headquarters in New York. He condemned Israel’s “excessive use of force” and collective punishment of the Lebanese people, saying it had triggered a humanitarian crisis. He urged the members of the Security Council to take firm action towards ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East region as mandated by the Charter of the United Nations. 

South African lawyers condemn Israel's flagrant breach of humanitarian law

20 July 2006


The National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa condemns the flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law and the violations of the human rights of Palestinians further exacerbated by the latest attack by Israel on the residents of Gaza in Palestine. We associate ourselves with the views expressed by our allies in the struggle against apartheid, the South African Council of Churches and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. By virtue of our history, we have an obligation to support the just struggle of the Palestinian peoples right to self-determination. We call on the South African government to immediately recall the South African ambassador. 

"Because This Is the Middle East"

20 July 2006


The media assumption is that in withdrawing from Gaza in September 2005, Israel ended its conflict with at least that portion of Palestine and gave up, as Schieffer put it, “what the Palestinians supposedly wanted.” In reality, however, since the pullout and before the recent escalation of violence, at least 144 Palestinians in Gaza had been killed by Israeli forces, often by helicopter gunships, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B’tselem. Only 31 percent of the people killed were engaged in hostile actions at the time of their deaths, and 25 percent of all those killed were minors. 

As civilians bear the brunt of the armed conflict, the ICRC steps up its humanitarian action in Lebanon

19 July 2006


One week after the start of the latest armed hostilities in Lebanon, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is extremely concerned about the grave consequences that military action is still having on the civilian population. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded, and it remains difficult to organize medical evacuations and to maintain health services. All across the country, large numbers of people are fleeing the conflict zones in dangerous circumstances. There has also been widespread destruction of public infrastructure. The first emergency supplies from the ICRC reached Lebanon on 18 July. 

The fear is growing in Beirut

Hanady Salman Beirut 20 July 2006


“The fear is growing in Beirut. Beirut is sad, scared, wounded and … left alone,” writes Hanady Salman. “Today has been an exceptionally calm day: the US marines are evacuating US citizens. By tomorrow, the country will be left to its own people and Israeli shelling. In Beirut, by Saturday, there will only be those who have nowhere else to go and the very few who deliberately decided to stay. There were also be those who managed to flee the south and the southern suburb of the capital. What will happen to us on Saturday? Worse than not knowing what will happen is knowing that whatever the Israelis decide to do, nobody wants or can stop them.”