The World Must Stop the Slaughter to give a free Lebanon a chance...

[marmar]

Published on Monday, July 31, 2006 by the Independent / UK
The World Has to Stop This Slaughter If A Democratic Lebanon Is to Have A Future
Israel has led my country into destruction and my people into a humanitarian emergency
by Merhi Rima

Where are America and Britain now that we need them? Not that they listened to us last July, when I testified to the US Congress on the aspirations of the youth of Lebanon for national reform. I remember the moment when I cried out in sheer frustration: "Hezbollah, Hezbollah, Hezbollah - there is more to Lebanon than Hezbollah!"

Apparently not, at least not for Israel and the United States. "There is a limit to how far the Lebanese are willing to forgo their security and stability for the sake of reform," I told Congress. The tragic massacre at Qana yesterday is a clear demonstration to the US and the world of Israel's "measured response."

In complete disgust, I listened to one speaker yesterday on the BBC make the offensively racist remark that "Israelis are raised in a more human way than Arabs" while urging Lebanese mothers to not allow Hezbollah to use them as human shields. If she was a mother she would know that no mother in the world would risk her own child's life for any purpose in the world. In the name of "reform," "democracy," and "the war against terror," Israel, backed by the US, has led my country into destruction and my people into a humanitarian crisis. We are numb with despair on hearing Israel admit it is nowhere near achieving its military objectives against Hezbollah! Israel's responsibility does not begin and end with the security of its people, so long as it is party to conventions and treaties on international and humanitarian law.

No one will dispute that Israel is no more secure today than it was 19 days ago. Both Israel and Hezbollah have been accused of war crimes and must be tried by the international community at large. The whole world is outraged by Israel's disproportionate response. The attack on UN premises in Beirut yesterday morning is a desperate cry for help in a world where we feel abandoned by the international community at large, including our Arab neighbors.

With the support of my colleagues and professors, I made a speech on Lebanon at Oxford University last week. I was secretly amused to note that some colleagues may have had the illusion that Hezbollah is a terrorist dressed in black carrying a bomb and living every minute of every day with the sole intent of destroying Israel and the US.

The rest is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0731-29.htm