[E-rundbrief] Info 435 - War crimes and Lebanon

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 435 - Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano, 
Howard Zinn, Ken Loach, John Berger, Arundhati Roy: War crimes and 
Lebanon. Steve Trevillion: UN convention on the rights of the child 
and children in Lebanon.

Bad Ischl, 4.8.2006

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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War crimes and Lebanon

Thursday August 3, 2006

The Guardian

The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, 
smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is 
not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing 
international laws, a war crime.

The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social 
infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, 
designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US 
protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of 
the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of 
Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while 8% believe the US 
supports Lebanon. But these actions will not be tried by any court 
set up by the "international community" since the US and its allies 
that commit or are complicit in these appalling crimes will not permit it.

It has now become clear that the assault on Lebanon to wipe out 
Hizbullah had been prepared long before. Israel's crimes had been 
given a green light by the US and its loyal British ally, despite the 
opposition to Blair in his own country.

In short, the peace that Lebanon enjoyed has come to an end, and a 
paralysed country is forced to remember a past it had hoped to 
forget. The state terror inflicted on Lebanon is being repeated in 
the Gaza ghetto, while the "international community" stands by and 
watches in silence. Meanwhile, the rest of Palestine is annexed and 
dismantled with the direct participation of the US and the tacit 
approval of its allies.

We offer our solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality 
and to those who mount a resistance against it. For our part, we will 
use all the means at our disposal to expose the complicity of our 
governments in these crimes. There will be no peace in the Middle 
East while the occupations of Palestine and Iraq and the temporarily 
"paused" bombings of Lebanon continue.

Tariq Ali
Noam Chomsky
Eduardo Galeano
Howard Zinn
Ken Loach
John Berger
Arundhati Roy
London

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As our political leaders argue over the difference between a 
"cessation of hostilities" and a "ceasefire", more and more children 
die. The British government (unlike the US) has agreed to be bound by 
the UN convention on the rights of the child. This is a legally 
enforceable international treaty which enshrines the "right to life" 
as one of its four core principles. I would be very interested to 
know how the government justifies its actions in relation to its 
responsibilities under the convention and why our new children's 
commissioners have remained silent on what appears to be a flagrant 
disregard of children's rights, as well as a breach of our 
international obligations.

Professor Steve Trevillion
University of Leicester

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1835915,00.html

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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