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Another Update from Beirut

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 20 July 2006


Evacuation is not the solution. Just stop the bombing and then no one has to go. I would say that the biggest issues on my mind today is what is going to happen to Beirut after all the foreigners are shipped out? On tv and online, I’m seeing thousands of people fleeing the country. Where are you all going? I have been helping foreigners leave. Two already gone. One tomorrow. And one that keeps postponing her departure… She doesn’t want to leave. Her parents have pleaded for her to leave, but she loves Beirut as much as I do…What happens when they are gone? Will they then finally go for the all out Beirut attack? Beirut is nothing without her foreigners. Please don’t leave. 

Aid agencies hampered by Israeli strikes

20 July 2006


Humanitarian agencies working in Lebanon say their work is being hampered by continued Israeli attacks on aid convoys and access routes. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) yesterday reiterated its 13 July appeal to both parties involved in the conflict in Lebanon to “respect humanitarian volunteers and workers and the Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols”. This call follows an attack on Tuesday by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on a convoy of ambulances and trucks, sent by the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent (UAERC), on the road between Damascus and Beirut. 

Humanitarian crisis unfolds in south

20 July 2006


Relief agencies working in the south of Lebanon say there is a shortage of medical supplies, particularly for infants and children. Hisham Hassan, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman in Lebanon, told IRIN: “The problem is not whether we are facing a shortage in ambulances or not. It is in getting help through to the victims.” He said that in the southern town of Srifa, where more than 40 civilians had been killed by Israeli bombs, “the Civil Defence cars couldn’t get near the town to rescue any survivors because the Israelis attacked all the town’s entrances and exits throughout the day”. 

PRCS condemns attacks on health organizations and PRCS staff

19 July 2006


PRCS condemns the Israeli targeting of the health organizations and medical staff as well as the series of Israelis attacks at medical staff and particularly at PRCS staff. PRCS confirmed that Israeli Army attacked the medical center in Al-Maghazi camp in Gaza and wounded a PRCS Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Mr. Anwar Juma Abu Huli. In addition, a PRCS ambulance was shot in Bet Lehya receiving two bullets causing damage to the vehicle. PRCS EMT Anwar Juma Abu Huli, 40 years old, was wounded today by the Israeli Army while he was on duty. 

UN Secretary-General briefs Security Council to mixed reaction

20 July 2006


United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a strong call for an immediate cessation of hostilities to preserve lives with a broad, negotiated political solution between Israel and Lebanon in his briefing to the Security Council Thursday, prompting a mixed reaction from members of the Council and regional actors. “We are not going to desert the Lebanese people in their hour of need,” Annan told Council members. “But we have to proceed with caution … most people in the region rightly reject a simple return to the status quo ante, since any truce based on such a limited outcome would not be expected to last,” he added. 

Bombs over Beirut

Stefan Christoff 20 July 2006


Lebanon is under military attack. For the past week, the country has endured a brutal campaign of violence at the hands of Israeli planes and artillery. The Lebanese government estimates that roughly 300 people have lost their lives since Israel began its attacks, which have essentially dismantled the public infrastructure of the country. In response to the request for a prisoner exchange by Hezbollah, Israel has launched an all-out war on the Lebanese people, inflicting far-reaching misery, and capturing the world’s attention. 

The long, hot summer has already begun

Robert Rosenberg 20 July 2006


The Israeli consensus is holding largely because its media is still behind the operation, and focused on the empty streets of the northern communities and the individual suffering of various families who have lost relatives to the rockets or seen their life possessions demolished in a moment. Of the many, many hours of television time devoted daily to the violence, only a few minutes are given to the scenes from Lebanon. Regular programming has disappeared from the three main channels. A ground invasion would indeed raise the specter of a lengthy stay in hostile territory and casualties among Israeli soldiers and that would certainly lead to protests. 

And after the attacks in Lebanon and Israel?

George Bisharat 20 July 2006


Little did we realize, as we departed for home through the gleaming halls of Beirut’s new airport and boarded what turned out to be one of the last flights out, that within days, as Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz put it, the Israeli military would “turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years.” Hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and untold ingenuity and effort, have been blown to rubble in Israel’s outburst of violence. The airport, highways, bridges, gas stations, power stations, the port, even the modern lighthouse on Beirut’s coastal promenade — all have been devastated in Israel’s lethal tantrum. 

Reliving the terror, once again

Najla Said Damascus, Syria 20 July 2006


Evacuated again. Throwing up, shaking, fearing, hurting, crying. Again. And again the feeling I keep having is that terror. That terror that I had twice before. The feeling that it is gone, it’s over. You summon your courage, your optimism, your humor - the things that people love you for. You decide that tomorrow Beirut will be back, that you will see daddy again (oh how I kept turning my brain away from thoughts of him when he died - it was too difficult to fathom the reality). The idea that you will never see something or someone you love again is unbelievably terrifying when you know really that it’s over, it’s gone, and it’s getting worse every day. 

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.