Young Lebanese, Caught in the Middle, See a Brighter Future Take a Dark Turn

July 23, 2006

By JAD MOUAWAD

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 22 — Maya Hage, 24, is a singer in a local band that plays at the hip beach resorts dotting Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. Ms. Hage, a Maronite Christian, returned from France four years ago to enjoy her country’s many charms. Now she feels betrayed.

Nabil Sargi, 26, is trying to cling to his freewheeling Beirut. An account manager and musician, he was sipping a beer recently at a bar in the Gemayzeh district, whose restaurants and clubs long drew the artistic, literary crowd. But few of them are open now, and the traffic that so recently paralyzed the street late into the night has vanished.

Zainab Anis Jaber, 23, fled her home in southern Beirut when the terrifying pounding of Israeli rockets began. For Ms. Jaber, a religiously observant Shiite, the Beirut of glossy magazines, nightclubs, and luxury boutiques was always more distant than the dark side of the moon, and the scars of war were always near.

Today’s young Lebanese are a multifaceted group, hard to generalize about. But they all came of age in a country that was supposed to be moving past war and the religious tensions that tore the country apart from 1975 to 1990, and they all saw how a unified Lebanon drove Syria’s troops out last year after 29 years of occupation.

Now, with Hezbollah’s raid on Israel and Israel’s siege of Lebanon, there is a weary sense that the country’s halting progress may unravel.

Even before the bombing began, Beirut bore the memory of its civil war on its bullet-gouged buildings. The old Green Line that once divided the city has been sewn back with the yellow stone of refurbished French colonial buildings, chic cafes and trendy restaurants, a repaired Greek Orthodox cathedral and an expanded Sunni mosque. Roman ruins rubbed shoulders with glittering high-rise buildings.

Lebanon’s delicate tapestry is made of many religious communities — 18 in all, the largest among them Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Maronite Christians, and Druze. Power is divided along religious lines, and so is patronage.

On the surface, the divides among these groups have been ironed out. But the war never really stopped for Lebanon’s Shiites. First they were driven out of their homes by the Israeli Army fighting Palestinian militants. Then the slums where they moved in Beirut’s southern suburbs were bombed. And now, once more, an Israeli assault is throwing hundreds of thousands of them on the road.

Ms. Jaber grew up in south Beirut. Her father was killed before she was born, when the Israeli Army invaded Lebanon in 1982. Her family was forced out of the town of Marjaayoun, when the Israelis occupied southern Lebanon for nearly two decades.

Last week, war again turned her into a refugee fleeing Israeli rockets on Beirut’s southern suburbs. She said she lost a relative during the recent bombing in the south.

Ms. Jaber now lives at her aunt’s home, close to the highway that leads to the airport and a short walk from the center of town, where life seems to have stopped 11 days ago. Much of that neighborhood, devastated in the early years of the civil war, was torn down a decade ago to make way for glittering new buildings. By erasing the signs of the past, the promoters sought a clean slate. But their efforts did little to help bridge the gap between Lebanon’s disenfranchised — including the country’s large Shiite community — and the rest of the country.

“We feel neglected,” said Ms. Jaber, walking past Martyr’s Square. Her engaging round face and clear green eyes were tightly wrapped with a veil so that her hair was hidden. A long black robe revealed only sports shoes.

“People in Beirut, especially the Christians, don’t understand what is going on in the south because they live in security and prosperity,” she said.

Ms. Jaber blames the other Lebanese communities for ignoring the problems of the south, and the government for having failed the Shiites. Only Hezbollah, which distributes funds and administers services and schools, provides for the Shiites of Lebanon, she said. Only Hezbollah, she said, can defend them against Israel.

“My relatives in the south are fighting, not going out and partying,” she said. “It’s not a privilege for us. It’s something we’re forced to do.”

Thanks to Hezbollah’s financial help, she said, she went to college and earned a master’s degree.

She does not shake hands with men. When her Christian friends visit her home, she warns them against shaking hands with her male relatives. She does not listen to pop music. She does not drink.

Her experience is light-years away from Beirut’s image as a casual party town, where champagne sells for $7,000 a bottle and all forms of excess are welcomed.

“Coexistence does not mean compromise,” she said. “I respect them, but I don’t think we live the same life.”

A case in point: Before the siege, Lana El Khalil, 24, enjoyed going to parties in the cosmopolitan capital that Beirut had once more become. Now she is volunteering to help Lebanese refugees who have fled the airstrikes, as well as continuing her work practicing art therapy to help young children in a Palestinian refugee camp cope with the trauma of being uprooted.

Like many affluent Lebanese families, her family settled in Nigeria before the civil war. She returned to Lebanon when she was 16.

Although she is a Druze, she has not been actively religious. She says the Lebanese have been complacent, failing to face their past or the reasons the country spent 15 years tearing itself apart.

“We have opted for collective amnesia after the civil war; we pretended nothing had happened — we never said ‘never again,’ ” she said. “I rejected religion a long time ago because I saw what it did to this country.”

Now, Ms. Khalil said, “it seems like all the work, all the sweat, all the emotional toll spent building up, has been decimated.”

Unlike Ms. Jaber, many of the more secular younger set are furious with Hezbollah, believing the group has dragged Lebanon into a ruinous conflict. Mr. Sargi said it set the clock back 20 years. “I am 100 percent against Israel, but I also don’t agree with Hezbollah as an armed militia,” he said. “They have no right to take the country as a hostage.”

Ms. Hage is also critical. “I don’t agree with Hezbollah’s lifestyle, and I didn’t choose this war,” she said, wearing dark Chanel glasses, a revealing white T-shirt and tight sweat pants.

“The Lebanese enjoy life, they enjoy leading a good life and having fun,” she said. “We had other battles to fight — like finding work and making this economy grow. Waging a war on Israel was not a priority for us,” she said.

Many young Lebanese say they will not be dragged back into divisive conflict.

Nayla Tueni, 23, remains a believer in Lebanon’s future. She says she has little choice. Last December, a powerful bomb killed her father, Gebran Tueni, a prominent anti-Syrian campaigner and the publisher of the newspaper An Nahar. The assassination was the last of a string of bombings and killings that followed the Syrian pullout.

“I am part of a generation that does not think along the lines of Christians or Muslims,” said Ms. Tueni, who is a journalist at the paper. “Too many people have given their blood to make this happen.”

She remains optimistic about Lebanon’s capacity to unite its communities. Yet she, too, feels disbelief that the country has plunged so quickly into a conflict few here expected. She believes Hezbollah was wrong to drag the country into war.

“I don’t want my father to have given his life in vain,” said Ms. Tueni, who had a picture of her father pinned on her black shirt. “I don’t want to enter into a long, black tunnel. I don’t want to accept we’re in a war.”

From Beirut to Tripoli, to cities in the south of the country, the past 16 years have been a slow and painful road of reconstruction in Lebanon. The unfinished task has left the country with $40 billion of debt. The center of Beirut is still a dusty quarter with many empty lots. A few buildings have risen. Around the country, strong inequalities remain. And now, many fear just how much the onslaught will undo.

“I wonder if the Lebanese people will have the strength to rebuild everything for a second time,” said Mr. Sargi, the account manager and musician. “The bombs don’t frighten me as much as the aftermath of the war.”

Carole Corm and Nadim Audi contributed reporting for this article.

Israeli airstrikes hit a communications tower, disrupting television and phone service

Israeli airstrikes hit a communications tower, disrupting television and phone service throughout north Lebanon Saturday, a Lebanese government official said.

Video broadcast by Lebanese television station LBC showed black smoke pouring from a transmission tower north of Beirut.

A second tower location was also destroyed by an airstrike, LBC reported.

Abandoning the Dead, and Living, in Lebanon

Friday, Jul. 21, 2006
Abandoning the Dead, and Living, in Lebanon
On Scene: As residents leave the war zone to head north, the humanitarian disaster in the south is getting worse
By NICHOLAS BLANFORD/TYRE

As a carpenter labors in the sweltering noon heat to complete his melancholy task, his newly made coffins lie stacked up six high and stretch down the hospital courtyard. The simple pine coffins have been hammered together to receive the bodies of 86 people killed in eight days of Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments that are part of its campaign against Hizballah. "I built 20 last night and another 10 this morning," says Fadi Salem, pausing a moment from his back breaking work.

With Hizballah showing more signs of tenacity than expected, the Israeli military issued warnings on Thursday for all residents remaining in south Lebanon to leave their homes and move north of the Litani river, which runs about 25 miles north of the border with Israel. But for far too many people, the warnings came too late.

The southern hinterland beyond Tyre has become a killing zone. Here the dead lie under the rubble of houses destroyed in air strikes and the wounded die in the streets for lack of medical attention. Almost all the roads that criss-cross the hills and valleys of the south have been heavily cratered from multiple air strikes, making them impassable. Even United Nations peacekeepers with their armored personnel carriers have abandoned the effort to resupply or evacuate residents of southern villages because of the conditions of the roads and the Israeli shelling and air strikes. "We are in close contact with the Israelis to request safe passage but their answer has not been forthcoming," says Milos Strugar, senior advisor to the UN force, known as UNIFIL.

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers, young men and women who regularly venture out to the beleaguered villages to rescue casualties, retrieve bodies and hand out whatever medicines and food they can muster, say that starving dogs abandoned by their owners are beginning to eat the dead.

Sami Yazbek, chief of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre, claims that even his clearly marked white-and-orange ambulances have been attacked by Israeli missile fire, which blow up the road yards in front of their vehicles. The unrelenting pressure to bring aid to the stranded villagers is beginning to take a psychological toll on his team of 50 volunteers. Distraught civilians in outlying villages constantly call in for help, Yazbek says, but often there is nothing the Red Cross can do. "We hear them pleading on the phone and we can't help but cry. It's very stressful for the guys," he says.

Compared to the rest of south Lebanon, Tyre has been a place of relative safety. It suffered only one air strike, which struck a 12-story apartment building, pancaking the top three floors and killing over 20 people, some of whose bodies remain trapped and unreachable in the debris.

But few residents of Tyre are taking any chances. They are heeding the Israeli military warnings, which were relayed via the Voice of the South radio station, once run by Israel's Lebanese militia allies in the 1980s and 1990s before it went off the air in 2000; Israel appears to have resurrected the station specifically for the current military campaign. The Israelis also are using more unorthodox methods of conveying their warning — SMS text messages and recorded voice messages to local officials. Hassan Dbouk, who works with Tyre's municipality, says he received an early morning phone call on his landline and heard a voice say "This is the Israeli Army. We are about to increase our military operations in south Lebanon and you are advised to leave immediately to north of the Litani." "I'm staying," Dbouk says.

He is the exception. Hundreds of cars, with fluttering white sheets tied to the roof and crammed with people, took the northbound coastal route toward the Litani river, a perilous journey given the bomb-cratered condition of the road and the possibility of Israeli air strikes. By the weekend more than 75% of this 100,000-strong town were estimated to have fled.

Even the Christian quarter at the tip of Tyre's promontory that juts into the dark blue Mediterranean has emptied. The small stone Maronite and Catholic churches have closed. Families lugged heavy suitcases along the quarter's narrow alleyways to their cars, arguing about what to take and leave. Those elderly residents who refuse to leave sat on their doorsteps sipping tiny cups of coffee and glumly watching their neighbors flee. For them, and anyone else who chooses to stay, the future looks especially grim; even if they can escape the attacks, they face the prospect of being cut off from the rest of the country, with gradually dwindling supplies of food, bottled drinking water, medicines and fuel.

That mood of despair is shared by Tyre's local government, which has found itself confronting a catastrophe that dwarfs its meager capabilities. A crowd of anxious people throng the reception area of the municipality's offices, begging for food hand-outs and bottled water. "There's nothing for them. We have no supplies," says Hassan Al-Husseini, the mayor, bitterly.

Other officials blame the Lebanese government, asking why Caritas, a Christian charity, managed to dispatch five trucks of food from Beirut to Tyre in the previous week, while the government has sent nothing.

The sense of abandonment is compounded by the evacuation from Tyre port over the last few days of foreign nationals, tourists trapped in the town by the war or families of UNIFIL staffers. "If there were any signs of hope, then the foreigners would not have left," says Louai Chaaban bleakly.

Back at the hospital, the bodies wrapped in blankets and plastic sheets and bound tight with tape are lowered from a refrigerated truck into the carpenter Salem's pine coffins. Some of the bagged bodies are pathetically small — hospital officials say that over half of them are children. Other coffins are filled with several shopping bags, all that remains of some of the victims. The bodies had been stored in a makeshift morgue — a refrigerated meat transport truck brought from Tripoli in northern Lebanon at the outset of the war in anticipation of many fatalities. But the corpses are rotting and the local population began to complain. More ominously, hospital officials say they may need the space for what might come next.

UN warns of war crimes in Lebanon

UN warns of war crimes in Lebanon

Killing of civilians in Lebanon is likely to subject Israeli soldiers to war crime trials in international courts, UN human rights high commissioner says
Ronen Bodoni

The continuation of Israel's operation in Lebanon and the rising civilian death toll is likely "could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control," Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights, told the New York Times.



“International humanitarian law is clear on the supreme obligations to protect civilians during hostilities,’’ she said.


Head to Head
US to France: Too early for ceasefire / Yitzhak Benhorin
Washington, which declared its support of Israel's right to defend itself, provides 'diplomatic umbrella' for strikes in Lebanon, convincing France not to promote ceasefire at this stage. Ambassador Ayalon: We have time
Full story

“Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians,” she said in a statement released by her office in Geneva. “Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged innocent civilians is unjustifiable.”


“Hizbullah fighters too are bound by the rules of international humanitarian law, and they must not target civilian areas,” it said, referring to the indiscriminate shelling of Israeli cities.


The statement was issued following calls for a cease-fire by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who warned of a humanitarian crisis in his country.


Siniora said over 300 civilians have been killed by Israeli air strikes on his country.


Europe fearing response by Islamists


If the death toll in Lebanon continues to rise, pressure on Israel to stop its operation will increase and so will pressure on Washington to press its ally to stop the offensive.


According to a Washington Post report, European officials are concerned that the Bush administration's siding with Israel will fuel tension between the west and Arab nations, encourage Islamists to carry out terror attacks against western targets, strengthen support for Osama Bin Laden, and escalate the fighting between coalition forces and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.



"The one thing that is guaranteed to send the Arab world and the Persian world over the edge is for the US to be seen ultimately to be doing what they always believed - to be fully in cahoots with Israel," a European official told the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity. "The danger of allowing it to continue is that the United States is more and more despised. It's not like the US had a good reputation within the region to start with."



The White House denied it is coordinating with Israel or "sitting around at the war table saying 'Do this, this and this,'" press secretary Tony Snow said.


"We're not colluding, we're not cooperating, we're not conspiring, we're not doing any of that," he told reporters. "The Israelis are doing what they think is necessary to protect their borders."


The State Department also denied that the Bush administration is backing Israel's military operation in Lebanon.


"I don't think anybody disagrees on the desire to end the violence in the region, but let's remember what the root causes of the violence are," spokesman Sean McCormack said.


A senior administration official told the Post that it is too early to speak of a diplomatic solution. "The conditions that the G-8 (Group of Eight industrialized nations) talked about are not in place to get a real and permanent cease-fire that addresses the fundamental problems of the region," he told the newspaper.


He said Israel faces "a terrible problem" because Hizbullah is operating from within civilian areas. "They make mistakes, and there are accidents," he said. "It is impossible for them to avoid all the collateral damage."

Americans fleeing Lebanon express regret

By LAUREN FRAYER and HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press WritersFri Jul 21, 11:25 PM ET

Anxious Americans hauled bulging suitcases down a rocky Lebanese beach and into the waiting hold of a U.S. Navy landing craft Friday as the accelerating U.S. evacuation moved thousands away from unrelenting Israeli airstrikes.

Five thousand U.S. citizens were leaving Friday — the largest number in one day since the evacuation began Wednesday. U.S. officials confirmed that 3,600 had left but it wasn't immediately clear if a ship carrying the remaining 1,400 had departed.

U.S. Embassy officials, still smarting from criticism over delays in starting the evacuation effort, said that with the day's departures, more than 8,000 of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon when the bombing started had evacuated.

The Americans joined tens of thousands of foreigners heading home to destinations around the globe.

U.S. Marines helped push baby carriages and lifted children into the boats ferrying thousands of U.S. citizens, many who had been visiting family in Lebanon, to seven warships that waited in the Mediterranean, compared to two the day before.

Dogs sniffed luggage for explosives. Troops handed out water bottles and military rations to evacuees, many of whom had been waiting in the sun since 5 a.m.

"We're really sad because we're leaving this way," said Maha Maher, 38, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who was visiting relatives with her two sons. "All that we wish is peace for Lebanon, because it's a great country. The Lebanese people are paying the price, and we feel sorry for this."

The USS Trenton, normally a troop transport, left Beirut carrying 1,775 Americans to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus, as did the USS Nashville, with 1,000 evacuees.

Officials had said that only about 8,000 Americans had registered to leave, but they were letting people who had not signed up board the ships. They declined to give a specific number, but suggested the effort would wrap up this weekend.

"That would be my suspicion," said Marine Brig. Gen. Carl B. Jensen, who was leading the operation. He added there might even be room for guests from other countries.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all if we had some excess capacity," Jensen said. "We will of course make that available to other nations to assist in their orderly departure," he added.

About a quarter of Lebanon's population, or about 1 million people, emigrated during the 1975-1990 war, to France, the Americas and Australia. Many of those who settled in the U.S. were dual citizens.

Catherine Haidar and her husband Mahmoud, who own a restaurant in southern California, had brought their four girls — ages 9 to 17.

"I was waiting for my kids to grow up," Catherine Haidar said, adding that the girls had just gotten used to the unfamiliar territory and made friends when the bombs began to fall.

"The house was shaking," Haidar said.

Americans already in Cyprus boarded flights home or packed into shelters.

The U.S. government already has spent about $200,000 helping Americans return to the United States, an amount expected to grow.

A repatriation center opened Thursday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Another center opened Friday at Philadelphia's airport.

The centers are staffed by medical and mental health professionals, and have phone banks and computers to help people contact friends and relatives.

Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, setting off the Israeli offensive. Hezbollah has responded by raining rockets onto Israel.

Most foreigners are traveling by sea to Cyprus as the overland route to Syria was deemed too dangerous and Israel knocked Beirut's airport out of service last week by bombing its runways.

About 200 Canadians assembled near the Beirut port waiting to be evacuated, many wearing hats or covering their heads with towels under the sweltering heat. Officials said as many as 30,000 were scheduled for evacuation and 2,413 people had left Beirut by the end of the day.

The first planeload landed in Ottawa aboard Prime Minister Stephen Harper's jet, which Harper had flown to Larnaca, Cyprus.

Canada has been criticised for conducting chaotic and slow evacuation efforts. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the criticism, of what would likely become the country's largest emergency exodus from another country, was unwarranted.

"It's the largest effort in Canadian history; we are making progress and we are getting results," he told a news conference in Ottawa. "We are sparing the politics and we are moving forward in a way that is going to allow Canadians to get home."

The U.S. evacuation effort drew Marines to Lebanon for the first time in more than two decades. A total of 241 Americans, including many Marines, were killed in a 1983 suicide bombing blamed on Hezbollah-linked militants. The Marines left Lebanon a few months later, ending the last U.S. military presence in this tiny Arab nation.

"For the U.S. Marine Corps, Beirut will always be hallowed ground," Jensen said. "No Marine can set foot on Lebanon without memories flooding."

Other evacuees so far include at least 2,860 Britons, 1,000 Italians, 608 Indians, 3,500 Germans, 560 Greeks and 1,000 Turks.

Leading article: The betrayal of the Lebanese nation

Published: 21 July 2006

Before this latest Middle Eastern crisis began, the Israeli army's chief of staff threatened to "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years". That process is now nearing completion. Israeli military action in Lebanon has brought the country to its knees. Tens of thousands of refugees have been created in just nine days. Evacuated foreign nationals have overwhelmed ports in Cyprus. But these are the lucky ones. Some 500,000 Lebanese civilians have been forced from their homes. And there will be no evacuation to safety for these unfortunates.

Lebanon's infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli air strikes. So many roads and bridges have been bombed out that the distribution of water, sanitation and medical facilities for the displaced is proving almost impossible. Transporting the injured to hospitals in the south is proving particularly hazardous as Israel will, it seems, bomb anything that moves there. United Nations aid agencies are warning of an unfolding humanitarian disaster.

Ministers accused of giving Israel green light to bomb

By Ben Russell and Colin Brown

Published: 21 July 2006

Ministers faced strong criticism from across the House of Commons yesterday as MPs accused the Government of helping to fuel the crisis in the Middle East.

Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, faced angry claims from Labour and Opposition benches that the Government had given diplomatic cover to continued Israeli bombing by failing to call for an immediate ceasefire.

In the Commons, Labour MPs led by Clare Short, the former international development secretary, attacked the Government for its stance on Israeli attacks.

Ms Short warned that "massive killing of innocent Lebanese civilians and destruction of infrastructure" amounted to a war crime. She said: "We are heading for further violence and catastrophe. And I'm sad to say that our Government is following President Bush's errors and pouring petrol on the flames."

Privately some senior ministers said they were "appalled" that Mrs Beckett had failed to visit the region to demonstrate British concern at the scale of the Israeli bombardment. Mrs Beckett told the Cabinet that those calling for a halt to hostilities, including the French government, were in effect demanding a one-sided ceasefire.

She told MPs Britain was committed to ending the conflict and maintained that Britain had urged restraint on all sides, and said she "regretted" loss of life.

But MPs queued up to criticise the Government. Joan Ruddock, Labour MP for Lewisham Deptford and a former minister, asked Mrs Beckett: "There can be no doubt that Hizbollah started this conflict. But would she not agree that the response by Israel with 300 Lebanese civilians dead, 1,000 injured, and half a million people dispossessed, is utterly disproportionate?"

Michael Ancram, the former shadow foreign secretary, asked: "Does she believe that the action taken by the Israeli government, understandable initially as a response against terrorism, is proportionate or disproportionate?"

Chris Mullin, a former Foreign Office minister, said: "Is it not just a tiny bit shameful that although we rightly condemn Hizbollah for what they have done, we can find nothing stronger than the word regret to describe the slaughter and misery and mayhem that Israel has unleashed on a fragile country like Lebanon?"

Mrs Beckett insisted that Syria and Iran were "giving support" to Hizbollah. She said: "Syria finances Hizbollah and facilitates the transfer of weapons including thousands of weapons which appear to be supplied by Iran."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "Both myself and others have repeatedly asked for the Prime Minister to support an even-handed response. We all accept the Hizbollah should be condemned.

"Tony Blair must now accept that Israel's actions are disproportionate and amount to collective punishment. There should be an immediate ceasefire as Kofi Annan has now confirmed."

Ministers faced strong criticism from across the House of Commons yesterday as MPs accused the Government of helping to fuel the crisis in the Middle East.

Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, faced angry claims from Labour and Opposition benches that the Government had given diplomatic cover to continued Israeli bombing by failing to call for an immediate ceasefire.

In the Commons, Labour MPs led by Clare Short, the former international development secretary, attacked the Government for its stance on Israeli attacks.

Ms Short warned that "massive killing of innocent Lebanese civilians and destruction of infrastructure" amounted to a war crime. She said: "We are heading for further violence and catastrophe. And I'm sad to say that our Government is following President Bush's errors and pouring petrol on the flames."

Privately some senior ministers said they were "appalled" that Mrs Beckett had failed to visit the region to demonstrate British concern at the scale of the Israeli bombardment. Mrs Beckett told the Cabinet that those calling for a halt to hostilities, including the French government, were in effect demanding a one-sided ceasefire.

She told MPs Britain was committed to ending the conflict and maintained that Britain had urged restraint on all sides, and said she "regretted" loss of life.

But MPs queued up to criticise the Government. Joan Ruddock, Labour MP for Lewisham Deptford and a former minister, asked Mrs Beckett: "There can be no doubt that Hizbollah started this conflict. But would she not agree that the response by Israel with 300 Lebanese civilians dead, 1,000 injured, and half a million people dispossessed, is utterly disproportionate?"

Michael Ancram, the former shadow foreign secretary, asked: "Does she believe that the action taken by the Israeli government, understandable initially as a response against terrorism, is proportionate or disproportionate?"

Chris Mullin, a former Foreign Office minister, said: "Is it not just a tiny bit shameful that although we rightly condemn Hizbollah for what they have done, we can find nothing stronger than the word regret to describe the slaughter and misery and mayhem that Israel has unleashed on a fragile country like Lebanon?"

Mrs Beckett insisted that Syria and Iran were "giving support" to Hizbollah. She said: "Syria finances Hizbollah and facilitates the transfer of weapons including thousands of weapons which appear to be supplied by Iran."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "Both myself and others have repeatedly asked for the Prime Minister to support an even-handed response. We all accept the Hizbollah should be condemned.

"Tony Blair must now accept that Israel's actions are disproportionate and amount to collective punishment. There should be an immediate ceasefire as Kofi Annan has now confirmed."

Robert Fisk: Once again, truth is the first casualty of war

The exchange rate for Lebanese vs Israeli deaths now stands at 10 to one

Published: 22 July 2006

As many lies are now falling upon Lebanon as bombs. The explosions are easy to count – three on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday morning and many on the main highway to Syria, destroying more of the great viaduct at Mdeirej along with three passengers buses which were returning to Lebanon after carrying foreigners to Damascus. The lies were less obvious but just as powerful.

The first whopper came from Ehud Olmert. Hours after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had asked for a ceasefire and appealed for "corridors" to allow the movement of humanitarian aid to civilians, the Israeli prime minister said he would allow just such a "humanitarian corridor" – between Cyprus and Lebanon. And that, of course, made the morning headlines. But there already is free sea passage between Cyprus and Beirut, What Mr Annan was asking for were "corridors" between Beirut and the heavily bombed villages of southern Lebanon – and only hours later, the Israeli army demanded the removal of all civilians within 20 miles of the Israeli border, an act regarded by the Lebanese as 'ethnic cleansing' but one of which Mr Olmert of course made no mention.

Blair urged to back Lebanon ceasefire

By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

Published: 22 July 2006

The Archbishop of Canterbury has led calls for Tony Blair and George Bush to demand an immediate ceasefire by Israel and Hizbollah.

Dr Rowan Williams accused Mr Blair of being out of touch with public opinion as people across Britain prepared to march in protest today at the carnage in the Middle East.

The demonstrations echo the backlash before the Iraq war began in March 2003 when millions demonstrated against British involvement in the invasion of Iraq. The issue of Mr Blair's adherence to the American line has dogged his premiership since.

The former Foreign Office minister Chris Mullin accused the US and British governments of standing by while the Israelis committed "war crimes".

As the demands for a change of British foreign policy raged, Mr Blair's official spokesman dismissed the calls by Dr Williams and others for a ceasefire, saying it would "make people feel good for a few hours" but was unlikely to have any lasting effect. "In what way is it in the interests of the Middle East to pretend that somehow or other calling for a unilateral ceasefire is actually going to help the situation?" the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

However, Dr Williams warned: "We really have to ask whether the governments of some Western countries are catching up with the consciences of their own people. They may have to reckon with the rising level of public despair and dismay and I hope that they will bring their influence to bear in moving towards a ceasefire."

Thousands of people are expected to join demonstrations across the country today to protest at the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

The protests have been called by groups including the Stop The War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain to highlight "crimes against humanity".

A spokesman for the protest organisers said: "Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon is escalating into an international crisis which could soon engulf the whole region.

"The promise by Bush and Blair in the lead-up to the Iraq war that their wars would bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East and peace to Palestine, have yet again been shown to be lies, just as the anti-war movement has consistently said they were."

Demonstrations will also be held in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.

The Foreign Office minister Kim Howells was flying to the Middle East for talks with governments in the region. Mr Howells said: "The aim of these talks will be to work towards a lasting ceasefire, backed up by action not just words, which guarantees Israel's security and that of its neighbours."

The Archbishop of Canterbury has led calls for Tony Blair and George Bush to demand an immediate ceasefire by Israel and Hizbollah.

Dr Rowan Williams accused Mr Blair of being out of touch with public opinion as people across Britain prepared to march in protest today at the carnage in the Middle East.

The demonstrations echo the backlash before the Iraq war began in March 2003 when millions demonstrated against British involvement in the invasion of Iraq. The issue of Mr Blair's adherence to the American line has dogged his premiership since.

The former Foreign Office minister Chris Mullin accused the US and British governments of standing by while the Israelis committed "war crimes".

As the demands for a change of British foreign policy raged, Mr Blair's official spokesman dismissed the calls by Dr Williams and others for a ceasefire, saying it would "make people feel good for a few hours" but was unlikely to have any lasting effect. "In what way is it in the interests of the Middle East to pretend that somehow or other calling for a unilateral ceasefire is actually going to help the situation?" the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

However, Dr Williams warned: "We really have to ask whether the governments of some Western countries are catching up with the consciences of their own people. They may have to reckon with the rising level of public despair and dismay and I hope that they will bring their influence to bear in moving towards a ceasefire."

Thousands of people are expected to join demonstrations across the country today to protest at the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

The protests have been called by groups including the Stop The War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain to highlight "crimes against humanity".

A spokesman for the protest organisers said: "Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon is escalating into an international crisis which could soon engulf the whole region.

"The promise by Bush and Blair in the lead-up to the Iraq war that their wars would bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East and peace to Palestine, have yet again been shown to be lies, just as the anti-war movement has consistently said they were."

Demonstrations will also be held in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.

The Foreign Office minister Kim Howells was flying to the Middle East for talks with governments in the region. Mr Howells said: "The aim of these talks will be to work towards a lasting ceasefire, backed up by action not just words, which guarantees Israel's security and that of its neighbours."

Reaction: 'If Israel is behaving like a psychotic bullying child, Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents'

Published: 22 July 2006

Andrew Burgin, SPOKESMAN FOR STOP THE WAR COALITION

We are obviously very opposed to the destruction of Lebanon. We think it's a crime against the people there and we are calling for an unconditional ceasefire. Blair and Margaret Beckett have been utterly shameful. Blair has just done the bidding of his political master, George Bush.

Alexei Sayle, WRITER

Anyone can see that what Israel is doing is unacceptable, violent, cruel, evil and wicked. If Israel is behaving in the manner of a psychotic bullying child, then Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents.

Michael Ancram, FORMER SHADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY

While I think Israel has the right to pursue Hizbollah terrorists and weapons, the campaign they are embarked upon is disproportionate. The onslaught must cease now. I would also like to see Hizbollah cease its terrorism. I believe they are doing it to destabilise the situation, and they have succeeded.

Clare Short, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This policy of our Government is so unbalanced and so disrespectful of international law, and the equal human rights of all people in the region, that it is inflaming the situation and inciting large numbers of angry young Arabs and Muslims to conclude there is no political route to justice.

Detta Regan, PEACE FOLLOW THE WOMEN CHARITY FOUNDER

What's going on is absolutely unbelievable. A lot of the people dying are children and civilians who have had nothing to do with this conflict. I'm totally disgusted with our Government. They could do something and should do something. We're supposed to be a humanitarian nation. I'm ashamed to be British.

Rowan Williams, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

The British and US governments may have to reckon with a rising level of public despair and dismayand I hope very much that they will bring their influence to bear in moving towards a ceasefire.The question is what can a state morally do without subverting its own cause in self-defence?

David Rowan, EDITOR OF JEWISH CHRONICLE

I could see Israel signing up to a ceasefire - if the international community guaranteed to disarm Hizbollah, to stop [its leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah hiding his rockets in residential homes poised to fire at northern Israel, to block the Syrian and Iranian weapons shipments. But that's not going to happen.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN

By wilfully turning a blind eye to Israel's indiscriminate killing of women and children and the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, we have further tarnished how our country is viewed in the eyes of the Muslim world. There can be no doubt that Israel's actions constitute war crimes.

Mark Thomas, COMEDIAN AND ACTIVIST

It is absolutely shameful that our Government is standing by while collective punishment and war crimes are meted out on the people of Lebanon. Let us be clear: if America and Britain had not given Israel the green light to do this, then it would not be happening. It is beyond horrific.

Louise Ellman, LABOUR FRIENDS OF ISRAEL

The answer has to be a buffer zone that protects Lebanon andnorthern Israel and to disarm the [Hizbollah] militia. The Israelis have to find a way of stopping indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. Hizbollah have put munitions in densely populated areas and that is to be condemned.

Sir Menzies Campbell, LEADER, LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Neither Hizbollah nor Israel will be the first to lay down their arms. It is essential for the international community to put pressure on both to bring a simultaneous halt to their attacks. I have called twice in the House of Commons for this approach, yet the Prime Minister stubbornly refuses.

Michael Mansfield, QUEEN'S COUNSEL

In Margaret Beckett we have a Foreign Secretary who seems to be unwilling to recognise that Israel is committing war crimes, by using disproportionate force and targeting a civilian population. Our Government only talks about Hizbollah rockets. What must the Islamic world be thinking?

Andrew Burgin, SPOKESMAN FOR STOP THE WAR COALITION

We are obviously very opposed to the destruction of Lebanon. We think it's a crime against the people there and we are calling for an unconditional ceasefire. Blair and Margaret Beckett have been utterly shameful. Blair has just done the bidding of his political master, George Bush.

Alexei Sayle, WRITER

Anyone can see that what Israel is doing is unacceptable, violent, cruel, evil and wicked. If Israel is behaving in the manner of a psychotic bullying child, then Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents.

Michael Ancram, FORMER SHADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY

While I think Israel has the right to pursue Hizbollah terrorists and weapons, the campaign they are embarked upon is disproportionate. The onslaught must cease now. I would also like to see Hizbollah cease its terrorism. I believe they are doing it to destabilise the situation, and they have succeeded.

Clare Short, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This policy of our Government is so unbalanced and so disrespectful of international law, and the equal human rights of all people in the region, that it is inflaming the situation and inciting large numbers of angry young Arabs and Muslims to conclude there is no political route to justice.

Detta Regan, PEACE FOLLOW THE WOMEN CHARITY FOUNDER

What's going on is absolutely unbelievable. A lot of the people dying are children and civilians who have had nothing to do with this conflict. I'm totally disgusted with our Government. They could do something and should do something. We're supposed to be a humanitarian nation. I'm ashamed to be British.

Rowan Williams, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

The British and US governments may have to reckon with a rising level of public despair and dismayand I hope very much that they will bring their influence to bear in moving towards a ceasefire.The question is what can a state morally do without subverting its own cause in self-defence?

David Rowan, EDITOR OF JEWISH CHRONICLE

I could see Israel signing up to a ceasefire - if the international community guaranteed to disarm Hizbollah, to stop [its leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah hiding his rockets in residential homes poised to fire at northern Israel, to block the Syrian and Iranian weapons shipments. But that's not going to happen.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN

By wilfully turning a blind eye to Israel's indiscriminate killing of women and children and the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, we have further tarnished how our country is viewed in the eyes of the Muslim world. There can be no doubt that Israel's actions constitute war crimes.

Mark Thomas, COMEDIAN AND ACTIVIST

It is absolutely shameful that our Government is standing by while collective punishment and war crimes are meted out on the people of Lebanon. Let us be clear: if America and Britain had not given Israel the green light to do this, then it would not be happening. It is beyond horrific.

Louise Ellman, LABOUR FRIENDS OF ISRAEL

The answer has to be a buffer zone that protects Lebanon andnorthern Israel and to disarm the [Hizbollah] militia. The Israelis have to find a way of stopping indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. Hizbollah have put munitions in densely populated areas and that is to be condemned.

Sir Menzies Campbell, LEADER, LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Neither Hizbollah nor Israel will be the first to lay down their arms. It is essential for the international community to put pressure on both to bring a simultaneous halt to their attacks. I have called twice in the House of Commons for this approach, yet the Prime Minister stubbornly refuses.

Michael Mansfield, QUEEN'S COUNSEL

In Margaret Beckett we have a Foreign Secretary who seems to be unwilling to recognise that Israel is committing war crimes, by using disproportionate force and targeting a civilian population. Our Government only talks about Hizbollah rockets. What must the Islamic world be thinking?

Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as terror victims -- Bolton

Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as terror victims -- Bolton

Mon Jul 17, 4:47 PM ET

US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in Israel from "malicious terrorist acts".

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he said: "it is a matter of great concern to us ...that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

The eight dead Canadians were a Lebanese-Canadian couple, their four children, his mother and an uncle, said relatives in Montreal.

The Montreal pharmacist and his family had arrived in Lebanon 10 days earlier for a vacation in his parents' home village and to introduce his children to relatives, they said.

Three of his Lebanese relatives died too, a family member told AFP.

"It's simply not the same thing to say that it's the same act to deliberately target innocent civilians, to desire their deaths, to fire rockets and use explosive devices or kidnapping versus the sad and highly unfortunate consequences of self-defense," Bolton noted.

The overall civilian death toll from the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon since last Wednesday reached 195, in addition to 12 soldiers, officials said. Twenty-four Israelis have also been killed since fighting began last Wednesday, including 12 civilians in a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire across the border.

Report: US to deliver smart bombs to Israel

Report: US to deliver 'smart bombs' to Israel

New York Times reports that Israel asked US delivers shipment of smart bombs under deal signed last year; Washington believes Israel has long list of targets in Lebanon requiring precision-guided missiles
Yitzhak Benhorin, Washington

Washington - Smart bombs on the way: The Bush administration has complied with Israel's request for an expedited delivery of satellite and laser-guided bombs, the New York Times reported Saturday.


The newspaper reported that the decision could anger Arab countries who have accused Washington of giving Israel the green light to push ahead with its offensive against Lebanon.


Israel and the United States have kept silent on the type of bombs and the size of the delivery.


The delivery is part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale deal signed between Washington and Jerusalem last year, which Israel can draw on as needed.


But US officials said the arms delivery is not similar to that supplied by Washington to Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which helped Israel gain momentum against the attacking Arab armies.


Estimates are that Israel needs a large number of precision-guided bombs to bombard Hizbullah bunkers with little collateral damage.


Although the Pentagon refused to give details of the delivery, the newspaper said last year's agreement included 100 precision-guided bombs weighing two and a half tons each. The bombs are used to destroy underground concrete bunkers.



Israel is eligible to purchase "bunker buster" bombs capable of penetrating underground Hizbullah bunkers. The bombs can be fitted on F-15 jets.



The Bush administration has also approved a six-billion arms sale deal with Saudi Arabia, which the newspaper say is aimed at soothing Arab anger at Washington's support for Israel.

Mass evacuation from bombed Lebanon gains momentum | International News | Reuters.com

Mass evacuation from bombed Lebanon gains momentum
Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:25 AM ET

By Michael Winfrey

LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) - Ships and aircrafts worked through the night into Saturday scooping more tired and scared people from war-battered Lebanon and bringing them to safety in Cyprus and Turkey.

The Pentagon said 4,400 Americans had escaped from Lebanon on Friday by sea and air, the largest single day total to date in the operation to save foreign nationals trapped in the relentless cross-fire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

The amphibious transport USS Trenton, the biggest ship so far involved in the evacuation, deposited a further 1,800 people at the Cypriot port of Limassol in the early hours of Saturday.

Nearly 200 non-essential United Nations staff and their families walked ashore from a boat chartered by the world body.

British and Australian servicemen also stepped up efforts to rescue their nationals as Israel announced plans to allow aid agencies to deliver food and medicine to thousands of displaced people in Lebanon.

"In the next couple of days we are really going to start moving a lot of people through here," said Australia's High Commissioner in Cyprus, Garth Hunt, at the port of Larnaca.

"As far as we concerned, nobody should have to fend for themselves," he said after welcoming ashore nearly 350 Australians transported by a Maltese catamaran contracted by the Canberra government.

The British government, in an announcement carried by the BBC, said Saturday would be the last scheduled British maritime evacuation of U.K. passport-holders from Beirut.

It urged those wanting to leave to gather at a conference hall in the Lebanese capital between 8 am and 4 pm local time.

MAYHEM

Evacuees coming ashore described scenes of mayhem back in Lebanon, where many had been holidaying or visiting family when the Israeli rockets began falling 11 days ago.

"We were worried we would be stuck there for a long time. There were no ports, no airports working, there was no way out of Lebanon," said Ramon Jerbat from Victoria, Australia.

Tiny Cyprus is struggling to deal with the crisis and has appealed for more help from its European Union partners.

Help has also come from Cyprus's arch rival Turkey, which threw open its Mediterranean port of Mersin to take in Canadian, American and Swedish evacuees.

Locked in a decades-old diplomatic row, Turkey and the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus have no diplomatic relations.

"We are working at a capacity of about 1,000 people a day," Canadian ambassador to Ankara Yves Brodeur told Reuters.

Evacuees plucked from Lebanon by U.S. naval vessels and helicopters praised their rescuers' efficiency and kindness.

"I have to say everyone in the navy was incredible. They gave so much more than we expected. They carried our luggage, they gave us food, they did everything for us," said Rosana Ayoub, 22, a medical student from California.

The Pentagon said eight of nine U.S. ships slated to take part in the evacuation were now on the scene.

About 1,000 Americans were taken to a massive "camp-bed city" set up on a fairground in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia. Many were angry at not being told how long they would stay.

"They told me we might be able to leave tomorrow, or perhaps in a week," said Nejat Salah, a 37-year-old photographer from Los Angeles who held her daughter by the hand.

"If it's going to be like this here in Cyprus, perhaps I should start looking for a way to go back to Lebanon."

(Additional reporting by David Clark, Michele Kambas and Simon Bahceli in Cyprus, and bureaux in Turkey)

Democrats call for Bush to send Mideast envoy | US News | Reuters.com

Democrats call for Bush to send Mideast envoy
Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:29pm ET172

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leaders on Friday called on President George W. Bush to send a high-level special envoy to the Middle East to work with allies and negotiate an end to the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a letter to Bush they were "surprised" that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned only a brief stop in the region next week.

"The United States needs to step forward and do the hard diplomatic work required to put in place a sustainable settlement and prevent a return to the status quo ante where Hizbollah attacked Israel at will," they wrote.

"Unfortunately, the architecture that you have constructed to deal with the Middle East is not adequate, as it does not allow for the kind of high level and sustained involvement that is required," they added.


They urged Bush to appoint a high-level envoy "without further delay," adding Israel had the right to defend itself and that they supported Israel's efforts to eliminate the threat posed by Hizbollah.

Rice announced on Friday plans to travel to the region on Sunday and attend an international meeting in Rome next week, saying she hoped to help create conditions for a lasting Middle East peace. Rice reiterated the U.S. position that an immediate ceasefire would not help achieve that peace.

Blair "horribly wrong" on Mideast: aid agencies

Blair "horribly wrong" on Mideast: aid agencies
Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:57 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Some of the world's major aid agencies said on Friday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had got his policy on the crisis in Lebanon "horribly wrong" by failing to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.

Blair's stance has put his country at odds with the rest of the international community, seven agencies, including Christian Aid, Save the Children and Oxfam, said in a joint statement.

"The situation on the ground is grim and getting worse," said Janet Symes, Christian Aid's regional manager for the Middle East.

"The prime minister has in the past provided admirable leadership on humanitarian crises. We can't understand why he has got this one so horribly wrong."

Blair's government, like that of the United States, has refused to publicly call for a ceasefire, putting it at odds with the United Nations and most of its European allies.

Explaining the government's stance, a spokesman for Blair said on Friday said the prime minister had "made it clear right from the beginning that he wants the conflict to end".

"What, however, people appear to want him to do is to call for a unilateral ceasefire.

"That may make people feel good for a few hours but a) it's unlikely to have any impact and b) a quick fix will not deliver a sustainable peace in the Middle East."

The seven aid agencies -- Christian Aid, Save the Children, Oxfam, Islamic Relief, CAFOD, World Vision and CARE International UK -- condemned the bombings and rocket attacks in Lebanon and northern Israel.

"Civilians are the main victims of this and a ceasefire would be in all their interests," said Geoffrey Dennis, head of CARE International UK.

US rushes precision-guided bombs to Israel

US rushes precision-guided bombs to Israel: paper
Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:15 AM ET



NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hizbollah targets in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing U.S. officials who spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity, the Times said the decision to ship the weapons quickly came after relatively little debate within the administration, and noted in its report that its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others who could perceive Washington as aiding Israel in the manner that Iran has armed Hizbollah.

The munitions are actually part of a multimillion-dollar arms-sale package approved last year which Israel is able to tap when it needs to, the officials told the Times. But some military officers said the request for expedited delivery was unusual and indicated that Israel has many targets it plans to hit in Lebanon.

The arms shipment has not been announced publicly. The officials who described the administration's decision to rush the munitions included employees of two government agencies, one of whom described the shipment as just one example of a broad array of armaments that the United States has long provided Israel, the Times said.

Pentagon and military officials declined to describe in detail the size and contents of the shipment to Israel, the newspaper said, and they would not say whether the munitions were being shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means.

But one U.S. official said the shipment should not be compared to the kind of an "emergency resupply" of dwindling Israeli stockpiles that was provided during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, according to the Times report.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington told the Times: "We have been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the military capabilities of Hizbollah and to minimize harm to civilians. As a rule, however, we do not comment on Israel's defense acquisitions."

A War on Hezbollah or Civilians ?

After more than seven days, Israel is still commiting a crime after another. Under the pretext that they are attacking Hezbollah, Izreal has managed to kill more than 400 civilian, injured more than 1000 and forced more than 500,000 out of their homes!

After more than seven days, Israel has managed to destroy 99% of all the bridges , road, power, airports, and every civil infrastructure.

After more than seven days, Israel has closed the sea the air and the land. No food can enter the country, no medicines. They bombed a red cross building and bombed trucks.

After all this they don;t feel ashamed to claim that they are only targetting Hezbollah! and guess what?

After more than sezen days and all the F16s and might and power, Israel has killed 2 members of Hezbollah!

After all this, and the world is still watching. The problem is not that people are stupid, but it is the media, and gov. those week politicians who does not dare to say that Israel has crossed every international law and steped over geneva congention...

Do somthing , call someone make this mass massacre STOP. It is your gov after all. It is your weapons. It is your money! that is killing those innocant people. Please make it STOP.

Dobbs: Not so smart when it comes to the Middle East

Dobbs: Not so smart when it comes to the Middle East
By Lou DobbsCNN
Editor's note: Lou Dobbs' commentary appears every Wednesday on CNN.com.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We Americans like to think we're a pretty smart people, even when evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. And nowhere is that evidence more overwhelming than in the Middle East. History in the Middle East is everything, and we Americans seem to learn nothing from it.

President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week.

Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and Israeli fighter jets blast Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, we simultaneously decry radical Islamist terrorism and Israel's lack of restraint in defending itself.

And the U.S. government, which wants no part of a cease-fire until Israel is given every opportunity to rescue its kidnapped soldiers and destroy as many Hezbollah and Hezbollah armaments as possible, urges caution in the interest of preserving a nascent and fragile democratic government in Lebanon. Could we be more conflicted?

While the United States provides about $2.5 billion in military and economic aid to Israel each year, U.S. aid to Lebanon amounts to no more than $40 million. This despite the fact that the per capita GDP of Israel is among the highest in the world at $24,600, nearly four times as high as Lebanon's GDP per capita of $6,200.

Lebanon's lack of wealth is matched by the Palestinians -- three out of every four Palestinians live below the poverty line. Yet the vast majority of our giving in the region flows to Israel. This kind of geopolitical inconsistency and shortsightedness has contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict that the Western world seems content to allow to perpetuate endlessly.

After a week of escalating violence, around two dozen Israelis and roughly 200 Lebanese have died. That has been sufficient bloodshed for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to join in the call for an international security force, ignoring the fact that a U.N. force is already in Southern Lebanon, having failed to secure the border against Hezbollah's incursions and attacks and the murder and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

As our airwaves fill with images and sounds of exploding Hezbollah rockets and Israeli bombs, this seven-day conflict has completely displaced from our view another war in which 10 Americans and more than 300 Iraqis have died during the same week. And it is a conflict now of more than three years duration that has claimed almost 15,000 lives so far this year alone.

An estimated 50,000 Iraqis and more than 2,500 American troops have been killed since the insurgency began in March of 2003, which by some estimates is more than the number of dead on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past 58 years of wars and intifadas.

Yet we have seen no rescue ships moving up the Euphrates for Iraqis who are dying in their streets, markets and mosques each day. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has not leaped to Baghdad as he did Beirut. And there are no meetings of the Arab League, and no U.S. diplomacy with Egypt, Syria and Jordan directed at ending the Iraqi conflict.

In the Middle East, where is our sense of proportion? Where is our sense of perspective? Where is our sense of decency? And, finally, just how smart are we?