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Chasing oil and coming home to another massacre

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 30 July 2006



I had a really bad headache all day … we were driving on the coastal road, stopped every few minutes to document. The smell was so strong. When I got home, I blew my nose and the tissue was all black. I made sure to take a really good shower. We were going to send out the press release, pics and video today, but we got even worse news … There had been a massacre in Qana early this morning. History repeats itself. The Israelis dropped a bomb on a building that was sheltering refugees. The news at this point is that 55 were killed. It was only a few years ago that the Israelis did the same thing, except last time, it was a UN building that they hit and over 100 people were killed. 

Qana massacre provokes crowd attack on UN building

30 July 2006



Lebanese citizens responded with fury at the news that more than 50 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern town of Qana on Sunday. Across the nation, Lebanese woke up to graphic pictures of at least 37 dead children being removed from the rubble of a destroyed house. Days and weeks of frustration at the slow progress being made to resolve this conflict at the higher political level culminated in an impromptu mass convergence at the UN building in Beirut. As far as many ordinary Lebanese are concerned, Qana is the last straw. “We are used to Zionist massacres,” says Hani Mansour, a protester outside the UN building. 

Photostory: Gaza protests Israel's assault on Lebanon

30 July 2006



Today, Palestinians in Gaza demonstrated against Israel’s military assault in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in front of the European Union office in Gaza City. In Gaza Palestinian artists have painted a mural during the demonstration. The EU Council of Foreign Ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on Tuesday in order to assess the situation in Lebanon and to prepare further EU action following the International Conference on Lebanon in Rome on 26 July. Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the current EU presidency, and EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner will report on their visit to the region. 

Extrajudicial execution: Israeli special forces kill two Palestinians in Nablus

30 July 2006



On Saturday evening, 29 July 2006, IOF extra-judicially killed a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, and a civilian who accompanied him. In the meantime, IOF have continued their wide scale offensive on the Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive week, committing more crimes against Palestinian civilian and property. At approximately 08:30 on Saturday, 29 July 2006, an IOF undercover unit moved into Sheikh Musallam quarter in the old town of Nablus. IOF soldiers immediately opened fire from a close range from pistols equipped with silencers at two young men, who were sitting near a carpentry workshop. 

Qana again: Israel's war on civilians

Arjan El Fassed 30 July 2006



Today, when Israeli war planes attacked Qana, at least 54 civilians, including at least 27 children, were killed. It is the deadliest single strike since Israel unleashed its war on Lebanon. Israel, the US and several European governments are in no rush to reach a ceasefire. Dozens of other villages in the region around the southern port city of Tyre were also bombarded for two hours overnight with fire from the Israeli navy, air force and artillery. Israeli planes also tore up the Masnaa border crossing into Syria, leading to the closure of the main Damascus-Beirut route. Israeli bombardments have been directed at targets regardless of the consequences for civilians. 

Mass burial of unclaimed bodies in Tyre

29 July 2006



Lebanese authorities buried 32 unclaimed bodies in a mass grave in wasteland outside Tyre on Saturday. The Lebanese soldiers retch as they unload maggot-infested body bags into coffins laid out for the mass burial. The bodies had lain unrecovered for up to ten days in the burned-out shells of cars, or scattered around the devastated villages of south Lebanon. “We just cannot hold onto them anymore,” says Salman Zaynadeen, director of a hospital in the al-Bas Palestinian camp in Tyre, where the bodies of villagers recovered this week were taken for storage. Weeping over the pieces of rubble her family collected to mark the grave of their loved one, Mihal Watfa pleads for a ceasefire. 

Israel's cruel offensive

James Abourezk 29 July 2006



Israel has virtually destroyed the infrastructure of Lebanon. Instead of confronting Hezbollah directly (which I think they are afraid to do), they’ve bombed the civilian areas of Lebanon, hoping the Lebanese and Arabs will turn on Hezbollah. What’s interesting is that the Arab world is becoming more united than ever against what Israel, with American support, is doing to the Lebanese. Israel has bombed the milk factory in Beirut, the grain silos in Tripoli, hospitals, all the bridges in the country, the highways leading in and out of Lebanon, as well those leading in and out of the villages they are bombing. 

How Do we Sleep While Beirut is Burning? (Part Two)

Hamid Dabashi 30 July 2006



“On a daily and hourly basis, Beirut is now the target of an unsurpassed savagery from the air, from the sea, from the land. They are pounding Beirut. Their ships, their fighter jets, their artilleries, their unparalleled barbarity, pounding Beirut like there is no tomorrow, burning it to ashes, murdering its fragile peace, shredding its imperceptible harmony to pieces, its gloriously cantankerous and divided thinkers, journalists, artists, writers, historians, poets, photographers, filmmakers …” In part two of a two-part series, Professor Hamid Dabashi analyzes the state of affairs that allows the carnage in Lebanon to continue. 

First UNHCR relief convoy arrives safely in Beirut from Syria

29 July 2006



UNHCR’s first relief convoy - carrying 140 tonnes of emergency relief items for thousands of displaced people in Lebanon - arrived safely in Beirut on Saturday after making the journey from Syria. The supplies of blankets, mattresses and kitchen sets will be distributed rapidly in the mountain areas outside Beirut where tens of thousands of people are crammed into schools. “The arrival of this first convoy is really good news. We are relieved that our emergency supplies are finally able to enter Lebanon, and this is just the start,” said UNHCR’s representative in Lebanon, Stephane Jaquemet, as the convoy pulled into the Lebanese capital. 

Lebanon's Children: Voices of the Unheard

Ramzi Kysia 29 July 2006



“Israel made us refugees and destroyed our homes, and this is why we came here [to the refugee center] with our families… I saw bombing and I was so afraid… They are not bombing a certain place, they are bombing everywhere. I want to tell people in America to ask Israel to stop bombing because we didn’t do anything. We’re not the ones threatening anyone. Stop bombing because it’s not the fault of the children. Why are they bombing and killing children?… They are killing lots of children and they are bombing everywhere. Hezbollah is just trying to resist, and to defend from what Israel is doing…”