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From Damascus

Leila Buck Damascus 19 July 2006


Every time you hear that Israel is “minimizing civilian casualties” with “surgical strikes”, know that the south of Lebanon and everyone in it, as well as those in the southern suburbs of Beirut, are decimated and continue to be bombed many times daily. Also know that Lebanon is the size of Rhode Island, or Connecticut - which one, I forget exactly - it’s small. So while bombing every bridge and road in and out of the country plus every port may seem to be better than targeting civilians, it is a slower and more insidious kind of targeting - a complete and knowing crippling of an entire nation’s ability to get help to those wounded or supplies to people who need them. 

Wondering who the terrorists are...

Tanya Nasr Jounieh 19 July 2006


I am a Christian Lebanese living in Jounieh, a city in central Lebanon. We have been under Israeli attack since last Wednesday, 12 July, 2006, following the capture of two Israeli soldiers for the purpose of exchanging them for 6 Lebanese prisoners who have been in Israeli prisons for 25 years. Where do I start? Do I talk about the monstrosity of Israel? Or even worse, of the American support of the ugly war and their refusal of any discussion of a ceasefire? Well, why should “Condi” care? It’s not her children who are being massacred while trying to flee from the chaotic Israeli fire! 

IOF Attack El-Maghazi Refugee Camp in Gaza and Raid Nablus

19 July 2006


From the predawn hours till the publication of this press release, IOF have killed nine Palestinians and injured 81 others, including 14 children and a paramedic. Six of the dead, including two children, fell in El-Maghazi refugee camp, and the others fell in Nablus. IOF had attacked Nablus and besieged governmental buildings, claiming that there were wanted people inside them. IOF continue to detain the bodies of the fallen in Nablus after taking them from an ambulance. PCHR is concerned over the continued Israeli aggression in El-Maghazi and Nablus, which could lead to additional casualties among Palestinians and to additional destruction of their property. 

Al-Jazeera reporters detained in northern Israel

17 July 2006


The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the detention of Al-Jazeera television crews covering Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel amid allegations that they were “assisting the enemy.” Walid al-Omary, Jerusalem-based bureau chief for the Arab satellite TV station, told CPJ that he had been detained by Israeli police three times in two days for his reporting on the location of rocket attacks. Al-Omary said he was detained yesterday evening with his crew for two hours at a police station in the northern port city of Haifa. 

Security Council delays, awaits high-level UN team

18 July 2006


The United Nations Security Council met Monday to discuss the current volatile situation on the ground in Lebanon, but the majority of council members have decided to delay any sort of reaction to the Israeli shelling of Lebanon and the Hezbollah rocket launches, until the UN high-level team reports back to the UN Secretary-General mid-week. “The Secretary-General expressed his intention to work with Security Council members on a package of actions that is practical and requires the parties to release their abductees, stop the rockets, and has Israel cease its retaliatory actions,” said top UN political affairs official Ibrahim Gambari after he briefed the council. 

World Food Programme sends emergency assessment team to Lebanon

18 July 2006


With tens of thousands of people fleeing the escalating conflict in Lebanon, WFP has sent an emergency team to conduct a preliminary needs assessment of the logistics infrastructure and particularly the feasibility of reaching the population in the affected areas. The agency has already drafted contingency plans to draw on existing food stocks within the area as well as its emergency response depot in Brindisi, southern Italy. Tens of thousands of displaced persons, including women and children, have abandoned their homes and taken shelter in temporary accommodation in schools and social institutions. Cut-off from the rest of their families, they may require food aid to survive the crisis. 

A New Middle East is Born: But not exactly the one Shimon Peres had in mind

Omar Barghouti 18 July 2006


Six long, bloodstained days have passed since Israel launched its barbaric attack on Lebanon without succeeding in exacting a significant military toll on the resistance itself. Six days are exactly what it took Israel to deal a crushing and humiliating military defeat to the largely inferior armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in June 1967, and to subsequently occupy the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula. How the “Middle East” has changed in the past 4 decades! Indeed, thanks to the Lebanese resistance, and to an extent its Palestinian counterpart, this volatile zone is undergoing radical transformation. 

In Jerusalem, UN team holds 'intensive and productive' talks on current crisis – official

18 July 2006


A member of the United Nations team dispatched to the Middle East to defuse the current crisis said today in Jerusalem that talks with senior Israeli officials were “good, intensive and productive” and the dialogue will continue in the coming days. “The UN delegation has presented concrete ideas on how to resolve the current crisis and reach an end of hostilities,” Terje Roed-Larsen, a member of the team led by Vijay Nambiar which also includes Alvaro de Soto, said in a statement following their meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni. 

Voices from the Middle East

18 July 2006


The current military operations take Lebanon back to war times, bringing with it bitter memories of 1994 and 1996 with all its massive displacement and destruction of infrastructure. Since yesterday, Israel conducted bloody attacks and raids targeting infrastructure all over Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s action. Israel has bombarded the Damascus International Road, most of the major bridges linking the south to other regions, and villages in the Beqa’ and south. All three airports in the country were bombed, especially Beirut International Airport which is now closed. Israel has instigated a strict sea blockade off the coast of Lebanon. 

Syria: More assistance given to besieged Lebanese

18 July 2006


The government has set up four welcoming centres on the Syrian-Lebanese border to receive people fleeing ongoing aerial bombardments by Israel. Damascus has also opened up government schools and other institutions to Lebanese nationals who have nowhere to stay. A senior Syrian Red Crescent (SRC) official told IRIN on Tuesday that the aid organisation had established a direct telephone line to assist Lebanese nationals who are stuck without money or shelter. According to SRC head Abdul-Rahman Attar, some 20,000 Lebanese, Arab and other travellers traverse the four border crossings every day.