React against the war in Lebanon

React against the war in Lebanon

Sign up and state to your politicians that:
Israel has to stop the attacks immediately
Israel will be held responsible for the cost of it´s retaliation against Lebanon
Israel will be held responsible for crimes of war, according to international laws in the field
Go to the danish site and sign up if you are a danish citizen
"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared"
Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan UniversitySan Fransisco Chronicle, july the 21st. quotet from this article
....Cheney’s point, the former senior intelligence official said, was “What if the Israelis execute their part of this first, and it’s really successful? It’d be great. We can learn what to do in Iran by watching what the Israelis do in Lebanon.” .....
The New Yorker: Watching Lebanon august the 14th.by Seymour M. Hersch

Further down this site, you will find the following:Mailcontact to Kim Hansen and Sarine Khatchikian
The mail, I received from a contact in Beirut july the. 19, Sarines "Hear Our Cry" that I had to react to
My own view on the conflict
Links for those who needs to catch up a bit on Lebanon

Mailcontact:
Kim Hansen, Photographer, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sarine Khatchikian, School Principal, Beirut, Lebanon

Hear Our Cry
Enough Is Enough!
by Sarine Khatchikian
july the 19th 2006
I am a citizen of Lebanon living in this biblical land. Currently being one of those who is living and witnessing the ongoing horror in my beautiful country, I am enraged, angered, sad, distressed and confused as to what to do.
I am sick and tired of people taking advantage of my country, carrying out their own wars on my land, cleaning up their dirty laundry at the cost of my fellow citizens. I am not a supporter of any political party; I am with the land of "Milk and Honey" as the Bible states. My rage is against Israel, Hezbollah, Bush’s USA, Iran, Syria and the previous Lebanese government.
How dare they, under selfish pretexts, which I do not even wish to discern, exploit our country to settle their horrendous accounts. Hezbollah claims to be defending its land. I used to admire that group during the years when Israel had occupied the South, being the only ones to defend the land. After the occupation, they should have joined the Lebanese Army if they really intended to defend this land. They have no right to compel the people of Lebanon to pay the price for their selfish moves!
Bush (yes, Bush, not even Mr. Bush!) has declared himself as nothing short of the next Messiah who has taken under his ‘wings’ the duty of bringing justice to the world, stopping terror from the globe!!! What a noble and kindred spirit! Shame on him! What right does he have to violate the privacies of other countries? Before meddling internationally, one should clean up the national disorder. What about the homeless in the USA? What about the educational standards in a number of public schools? What about the crime rates in the states? What about substance abuse rates? What about tempered rights of children? What about the youth landing home in coffins from Iraq?
Israel! Shame on you for using "God’s Chosen People" as a slogan for every inhumane action in the world! God’s chosen people should be setting examples for the rest of the world, not violating every single humanitarian decree! What will you tell God about the innocent children whose lifeless bodies are hanging out from their parents’ cars as they are fleeing your bombs? What will you tell the children whose parents are lying dead in front of them with their intestines bulging out of their bodies in front of their tiny innocent eyes? What will you tell students when they find their schools completely destroyed and leveled to the ground? How can you justify bombing ambulances and humanitarian workers when they are selflessly and nobly trying to fulfill their missions of evacuating people and caring for the wounded? How can you hit homes and not allow people to remove their dead from under the rubble? THEIR DEAD! You took their lives, at least leave their dead bodies to their families!
Syria and Iran! It pains my heart to see those two beautiful countries who have throughout the history of mankind been pioneers in almost every aspect of existence (long before the Western world had even woken up) now taking a back seat in the vehicle of modernizing the world. There exist noble people in those countries who have now been classified as terrorists because of the dark leadership ruling them. If that is the way they want their countries governed, they have every right to do so! But keep Lebanon out of it!
We are not savages, we are not beasts! We are a civilized nation. We do not accept to have others recklessly run our country. It is time that we have a strong governing body that prioritizes the needs of its nation above others.
What we are facing today is Hurricane Katrina and the last Tsunami combined and then multiplied! Yes modern world, that is what we have! There are around half a million refugees all around Lebanon having taken shelter in schools, and yes, even on so-called safe "streets" sleeping on sidewalks. Do we really understand what that means? 500,000 people sleeping on the icy ground, with no blankets, no mattresses, nothing to eat but a bite of bread once a day! Do we really know what it means to have 200 people use 4 toilets and not have a single drop of water to flush it? Do we? Let’s just face the bare facts for a moment. We read and hear the media say "war" and "refugees". Now, picture one of our local schools with your entire family in it, with your newborn baby crying for milk, with your young son shaking from fear not grasping why he is sitting on the floor while his father or mother is bleeding to death in front of him and the ambulance is not coming! What would you do? Wouldn’t you spit at the face of this unjust world?
Enough is enough! The Lebanese are a proud and noble nation, who after 30 years of destructive war caught up with the rest of the world and proved to everybody that they can be the best in any professional domain.
Let us be, let us help the world with our potentials, allow us to our basic human rights so we can live and be able to welcome you on our biblical land and share with you the "Milk and Honey" that God has bestowed upon us.
Sarine Khatchikian
School Principal

.......24 years ago, on the day my daughter was born, and I´ve just celebrated her 24th. birthday, I had to dash to the maternity hospital to see her given birth, from a massdemonstration in London against the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon. Israel has been invading and occupying Lebanon all of my 24 year old daughters life.........
..........it´s Israel, that´s invading Lebanon, it´s Israel, that´s attacking Lebanon. Not Lebanon that´s attacking Israel!...........see the interview here
George Galloway, UK MP (Respect)
Sky News, august the 6th.
Roger over!
by Kim Hansen
august 15th 2006
Finally the peace deal was set after one month of insanity in Lebanon, but in the moment the dealer closed the game for Hezbollah and the IDF, a ghostgambler came across, sat down and brought it all into a new perspective. A trained gambler, who earlier had brought unbalance into the account, while the noise of victoryshoutouts and accusations of cheating was peaking.
While the active gamblers are counting up the leftovers at the gambling table, it is for most of the world a sad account to finish, because how can you talk about winners, when the high stakes seem to have left everybody with big and irreparable losses?
Olmert, his government, his defence force together with the Israeli people, united by the mainstream popular statement "getting the job done", have all lost. Not just the honour, but also their faith and believe in their ever so undefeatable army. What they manage to kill and destroy was, during this month, well over 1000 civilians, including 300-400 kids and for around $ 2,5 billion infrastucture. That is hardly a reason for any credit, when you enter your own war on terror. Not even by your people in a democracy, no matter how much history and rhetoric from the old Testament, you try to justify your retaliations upon.
Some Israeli peace movements began acting op until the peace deal, though they took a long deep breath, before going into action. At the same time some leftwing Israeli newspapers began publishing analysis, that stated the fall of Olmerts and Peretz popularity, caused by a rising frustration over the IDF´s "succes" on the battlefield. But it did not frighten the israeli government, with the logic of a greedy looser, in throwing in an extra 20.000 soldiers on the table, as if there was anymore to win.
If Israel has won anything at all, it should be a wake-up-call and a chance to have a look in the mirror, saying goodmorning to the world of today after a long deep sleep, redefining their part of the history and the modern world.
The Lebanese people, however, seem to have taken the biggest losses in this loose-loose game, conducted by the US, Syria and Iran in silence, backed by mere absence from the rest of the world, and if you can talk about anything, they will gain from the conflict at all, it could be, that 24 years of Israeli occupation of their land, now has come to an end. But we still have to wait, to see the result of the mathematics by which all previous UN resolutions has to be added and deducted from the latest. Let us see, if Israel has the will to pull out of Sheeba Farms and if they will pull out of the Golan Heights as well.
And will Hezbollah be able to disarm, just like that? Will they be able to step into a normal life in the lebanese society, accepting a democratic structure that only allow them to act in political terms. And if that is the case, they could be the winner of the game, at least they seem to be the part left with less wounds.
But was that really the intention from the beginning? It might be so. Hezbollah took a chance in kidnapping the 2 israeli soldiers, and Olmert was certainly not late in snapping the bate. They went directly into the trap. Nasrallah had obviously relied fully in a bloody and not well-planned answer from Israel, both taking Lebanon and its citizens as hostages But he got what he wanted, with the help of his enemys arrogance towards its neighbours. A bloody and devastating answer, that not only showed a part of the world, how easy it is to undress the Chosen People™ when it comes normal sence of moral and ethics, but also showed how easy it is to gain popularity from the people of Lebanon, who was fighting hard to get back in the world society after 30 years of civil war and an ongoing 24 year old Israeli occupation.
During this war, Nasrallah rose in the hearts of the lebanese for a while, allthough most people was sick and tired of his religious statements, mostly a mix of orthodox arab and iranian rhetoric and pure mumbo-jumbo for most westerners, given that he has represented the only miltary resistence to the occupation and arrogance from Israel.
It might be so at the edge of the preliminary halt of the war, but as soon as the peace deal is set for beeing a reality on the ground, noone really knows what is happening. If the future is ready for stability, the rest of the world has to attend now, put in the best will and efforts, and help Lebanon in getting back to the world, solving their vulnerable political mixture, including disarming the Hezbollahmilitia, with or without Hezbollah as a political idea.
Lebanon as the first test before Iran
The disarming of the Hezbollahmilitia is a dark horse in the account, that is about to be revised. Israle has for a long time used Hezbollah as their icon of the enemy, an icon of an enemy representing Iran and Syria, and a phenomena Libanon with a weak army could not do much about, despite earlier UN resolutions, which demanded a disarming. The lebanese fought hard to come out of the shadow of civil war and occupation, and at last Lebanons Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, for less than 3 months ago, had to go to London, New York and Washington, begging for international support to disarming the militia. Important it is noticing, that he turned to the west, begging for support. From the US, UN and EU. But he got nothing. Little did he know, that Lebanon for a long time ago had been pointed out as a testing ground for a later war on Iran by Sharon, Peretz, Olmert, Barak, Rumsfeldt, Rice, Cheney and Bush, in silence backed by Blair.
Now, 3 months later, after the unsuccessful attempt to persuade the west to give a helping hand, a ghostgambler came across. And it was certainly not Mr. Somebody. The Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour M. Hersch, wellknown for undressing the US, when he uncovered the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Irak, and much earlier the massacre in My Lai in Vietnam, came across in the same moment the ceasefire was accomplished with a report stating that Israel and the US had a plan on using the first provocation from Hezbollah as an excuse for testing overwhelming airstrikes in a country with very little ability to retaliate. This thought was launched july the 21st in San Fransisco Chronicle, but it seemed to be more or less one of the usual conspiracy theories, that Dick Cheney had seen the bombardments as an easy and cheap test. For years IDF has trained this scenario as a preparation for an assault on Iran. Lebanon was seen as the first real life test. What Israel, the US and the UK has gained from this remains pretty unclear. Despite a rather clumpsy strategi from Israel, you can hardly say it was not well-planned anylonger.
For sure it is, that the people of Lebanon is left with a certain mistrust in opening up to the west once again, even though that was what they wanted.
And for sure it is, that there is more than 1000 people now, who is not able to ask any questions anymore.

........the disproportionate response by Israel was a violation of international humanitarian law.......
......there is no military solution to these things, only political solution(s).....
Jan Egeland, UN´s relief chief (july the 23rd)

Entering a war, they didn´t understand
If only Israel were able to realize, that fighing the Hezbollahmilitia is not a war, they were equipped to win. I think, Israel and the same goes for most of the western world, that we keep forgetting, that the impact of the Hezbollah-idea has quite a lot of govern power in their own areas and hoods, and is more or less an idea, a way of thinking, that fulfil many functions for a part of the population. An idea or a way of thinking is not just a thing, you wipe out, no matter if you bring in the most fancy high- and wartech-gismoz for the purpose.
It was a so called "4th Generation War" they involved themselves into. A war between a state army and a non-state army. This was hardly to fall out to the benefit of the Israelis according to several experts in this type of warfare. But just because Israel doesn´t understand what kind of warfare, they let themselves into, it still doesn´t justify this extreme rage they are showing by keeping taking innocents lives day by day, smashing up the infrastructure, throwing it´s neighbour into the arms of Hezbollah and maybe even Al-Qaeda later on, with the possibilities of a later civil war again for it´s wornout citizens, following a collapse of Lebanons vulnerable political system.
A country with a habition, that didn´t want to provocate their neighbour, but was unlucky to have a democracy, which included some militants with will and power to do it on their behalf, and made Israel ignite in an orgy of hate and violence, which is completely out of any proportions and totally beyond imagination.
You might add, that the Hezbollahwarriors is in no way to be respected for their hiding amongst the civilians, but it seems as if it is more or less a myth, repeatedly mentioned by Bush, Olmert and other opinionmakers, and repeatedly published by the world media. Human Rights Watch has researched this myth to its roots and has only been able to find a very few occasions, in which this could be the fact. In most cases Israel has attacked civilians without deliberate military targets. In their report, they also state that an attacking part of a war has to protect civilians despite the military value of a target. Israel has not shown any mercy, not even when convoys of fleeing civilians in advance made a deal for a safe escape route. 6 times during the past month IDF has performed massacres on these convoys minutes after the deal was made.
And of course, Human Rights Watch has aimed criticism towards the Hezbollahmilitia, too.
The myth of Israel
The last few weeks has unwrapped another myth. However, this is a myth, which is certainly not a lie. I will gladly try to repeat it, just to see if the world opinion is ready to tip over, even if it has to take another 2000 years. The myth, that you are not allowed as a westener to aim any kind of criticism at the state of Israel™ and all of it´s related brands, IDF™, Gods Chosen People™ and the Old Testament™. I could easily fill in with a few other trademarks, but hopefully it should not be necessary. They are all to be heavily defended by a huge army of unconscious guiltfeeling autopilots, who are willing to take whatever it takes to derail any necessary debate regarding Israels role on the world scene. And the debate is necessary. Not only have we seen Mel Gibson and the norwegian author Joostein Gaarder get public spank galore during these weeks, but many of us non-celebrities have reached a puke point too.
Let us fearlessly take the fight on words and opinions, and leave the weapons behind, but it will take some people, who dare to talk up against Israel and their trademarks, without beeing afraid of the first accuse to come........the ever repeated mantra and autoanswer: ANTISEMITIST!
Why is it so, that every time you take that right to aim criticism towards Israel, this is the autoanswer?. Without beeing an antisemitist at all, I want to defend my right simply because I cannot accept, that Israel is pursuing a goal, while they are killing civilians at a ratio of 10:1 for every holy warrior they lay to the ground, and that Lebanon is nothing more than a suitable battleground for a goal, that is much much wider than just a military answer to the capture of 2 soldiers by the Hezbollahmilitia, which started this completely unproportionate retaliation following this huge number of civil losses in Lebanon, besides the overwhelming devastations, we have seen to Lebanons infrastructure.
This is not a respectable behaviour. Respect is not just a thing you can call upon yourself. Respect is something you have to work hard to acheive. The israelis are no better than the extremist they are figthing. And fanatism doesn´t deserve respect in any way in a modern world.
This, however, is not written in sympathy for the holy warriors of Hezbollah. No way. If I can do anything at all, I can try to talk to a state, Israel, as a supposedly respectable partner of the world society of today, however she is not on my list anymore, but I still aknowledge her right to exist, and therefor it is everso important, that we can discuss the relevance of Israels behaviour to neighbours and other patners in the world.
My concern is solely circling about the fact, that Israel has done nothing more than heavily fueled and feeded their own enemy, the iranian backed Hezbollahmilitia for the last month with new ambitions, and without any scrubles at all caught Lebanon and its citizen in a completey unnecessary war. Leaving it at all up the rest of the world to clean up and calm down the middle east.
The bill
The 3 bullets on top of the side is still to be pursued and I think it is important that Israel have to pay the bill, after smashing up Lebanon.
Does these incidents leave you with any feelings at all?The massacre on fleeing civlians from Marja’youn
The massacre on fleeing civlians from Kafra
The massacre on fleeing civlians from Marwaheen
The massacre on fleeing civlians from Taire
The 2 massacres on fleeing civlians from Mansouri
The attack of a civilian from Beit Leef on his way to get medication
The bombing of a residential property in Tallousa
The bombing of a residential property in Marja’youn
The bombing of a residential property in Debbine
The bombing of a residential property in Aitaroun
The bombing of a residential property in Houla
The bombing of a residential property in Bent Jbeil
The bombing of a residential property in Zibqine
The bombing of a residential property in Baflay
The bombing of a residential property in Dweir
The bombing of a residential property in Quana
The bombing of a residential property in Nabatiyeh
The bombing of a residential property in Srifa
The bombings of 2 residential properties in Aitaroun
The bombings of 2 residential properties in Tyre
The missile attacks on 4 Red Cross ambulances
The missile attack on 8 new ambulances and a truck with food, medication and other necessities from the UAE in a relief aid convoy from Syria
The missile attacks on several convoys from UN and the Red Cross with relief aid and refugees
The use of chemical warfare with phosphoric bombs.
The use of cluster munition in populated areas, i.e. in Blida
The bombing of the UN post in Khiam
The enviromental crisis after the bombing of the power utility in Jiyyeh. 15.000 tons of crude oil into the Mediteranean Sea, with a possibilty of an extra 15.000 tons. (All in all just a little bit less than the Exxon Valdez enviromental crisis)
Total destruction of densely populated parts of the bigger cities
The devastations of historical buildings, ancient sites, bridges, viaducts, airports, habours, schools, water- and powerutilities etc etc.
A total bill of $ 2.500.000.000 during the first 3 weeks for the material damage onlyAll of these incidents are not going to be forgotten for the upcoming past and are all to be considered as warcrimes or violations to humanitarian laws
How much more will we accept?
So, dearest moderate and democratic world citizen, no matter the colour and origin
Be active in stating a political demand, that Israel has to be held up against their responsibilities in the past months warfare
I am not a believer in any religious way, nor do I believe in spirituality, But I never heard that some good vibrations could harm anybody, in this case the lebanese people. They have now, more than ever the need to know, that there is a world behind them..
This little humble website is just a response to something I can´t imagine. I hope several someones out there, can take it up from here and forward this message-in-a-bottle-kind-of-thing, hopefully with a lot of sign-ups soon, out in our countries, end eventually deliver it further up to your leaders. But please, spread the message.
Or, if you cannot agree with the message here, then support your local relief organisation, at least.
Kim Hansen
Photographer

Links to safe relief aid organizations:
ICRC -International Committee of the Red Cross. "Conflict in the Middle East", a broader relief aid program, especially focusing in distributing the relief aid in a larger scale by convoys, ships, etc. Read more or make an online donation here.
DanChurchAid. "Support the victims of the Middle East Crisis", a relief aid program focusing on distribution of food, water, medicine, first aid kits and other necessities in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. Read more about their general program or make an online donation here.
Save the Children (Denmark) This organisation has unfortunately forgotten to update their current program in english, but is in general focusing their work on making a world of difference to the lives of millions of children across the world. Read more about their general program or make an online donation here.
Q&As on war crimes:
Amnesty International: Report: Lebanon: Deliberate destruction or "collateral damage"? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructureBBC: Q&A: Mid-East war crimes?Human Rights Watch: Q&A on hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah
Videolinks:
Sky News: The Violence will go on (9:19). George Galloway, UK MPDemocracy Now: Robert Fisk in Beirut (24:38) or read the transcriptDemocracy Now: ...or View the entire show (59:08) from july the 19th.
In-pictures links:
TIME: Beirut--War and RebirthBBC: In pictures: Beirut destructionMagnum in Motion: War in Lebanon - slideshow with audioMagnum Photos: Conflict with Israel as slideshow or thumbnailsMagnum Photos: Israeli-Lebanon Conflict as slideshow or thumbnailsMagnum Photos: Conflict In Lebanon as slideshow or thumbnailsThe Daily Star: Images of War - The July War 2006 Gallery
Links to timelines, key facts and maps:
The Daily Star: Timeline of the July War 2006BBC: Text: UN Lebanon resolutionBBC: Day by Day: Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7BBC: Middle East Crisis: Facts and figuresBBC: Key Maps: Middle East CrisisBBC: Lebanon Key Facts: History, Population, Politics, EconomyBBC: Lebanon damage reportRESPECT: Map of Israeli assaults in Lebanon
News links:
The Independent: Robert Fisk has been the leading asset at The Independent for years, when it comes to issues on the Middle east. His articles are not free content, but The Independent obviously has decided to run Robert Fisk´s articles as free content for a limited time, like a few days or so. Be quick and follow up on him for free. Even if you have to pay for his earlier articles, he is worth it.
The Daily Star: A Beirut based newspaper, with in-depth artichles rather than pure warzone-reports
The Guardian: Several in-depths articles on the present conflictThe Guardian: You have one more week to blast Hizbullah
BBC NEWS probably needs no introduction, but here is a few links to put everything into a context, for those who needs a better understandiing to the situationBBC: In depth: Middle East CrisisBBC: Israel's offensive one month onBBC: Israel fights under shadow of IraqBBC: Siniora wants pressure on IsraelBBC: Snapshots of Lebanese family lifeBBC: Doubts over 'new Middle East' BBC: Mercy mission into Beirut airportBBC: History repeats with a vengeanceBBC: Washington risks a wider conflictBBC: Bush-Blair team unshakeable as everBBC: Arab Leaders fears rise of HezbollahBBC: Middle East crisis: Future scenariosBBC: Lebanese open up homes for refugeesBBC: UN´s emergency relief chief appalled by Beirut DevastationsBBC: Lebanons two fighting forcesBBC: The divided loyalties of LebanonBBC: Stranded and scared in the war zone
TIME MagazineTIME: Israel's Military Dilemma: How Far Into Lebanon to Go?TIME: Who's to Blame for the U.N. Attack?TIME: The Lebanese Government: From Powerless to Power Broker?TIME: Are Israel's Attacks Winning New Support for Hizballah?TIME: Egypt's Mubarak: "No Light at the End of the Tunnel"TIME: After Rice's Trip: What's the Way Out?TIME: How the U.S. Hopes to End the Lebanon CrisisTIME: Hizballah's Unlikely Rep at the Bargaining TableTIME: Behind Israel's New Battle PlanTIME: The Message Behind Rice's Surprise Visit to BeirutTIME: The war that never ends begins a violent new chapterTIME: Hate Thy Neighbor
Links to other ressources, opinions, testimonials and analysis
BBC: Online debate: Israeli and Lebanese. Part one, two and threeBBC: Voices from Iran and Syria
The Guardian: Zena el-Khalil´s diary from the first week of the attack
Human Rights Watch: Several links to articles on the current conflict
Democracy in Lebanon. Read the opinions from around the world. Lebanese, Israelis, Jimmy Carter, Ralph Nader, Lou Dobbs, Robert Fisk, Michael Young and many many more
Mepass. A Middle Eastern company in the field of independent political and economic analysis with informative artichles on the region.
At globalsecurity.com, a smiliar company to the Mepass, you will find an article about Hezbollah
4. Generation warfare: At lewisrockwell.com you are able to find articles of the american military historian William S. Lind. A large collection of articles about different generations of warfare, state armies vs. non-state armies and the war raging right now. Another contributer is Michael S. Rozeff with his article Morality and Fourth Generation War with an informative article to a better understanding of principles behind the "4. Generation warfare" theories.
Links to other petitions:
Amnesty International: Act Now! - Take action on the Lebanon/Israel conflict: Attacks on civilians need immediate investigation
Demand an Immediate Intl. Criminal Tribunal for Israel to Stop Global War!
Justice for Lebanon

Go and see the danish list of signatures