The petition for war and recolonisation
[Well, I hope the people I criticise here are happy...]
A friend sent me a link to an online 'Ceasfire Petition' yesterday. The organisers of the petition claim that almost a quarter of a million people have already given their support to this call:
The world cannot allow the bloodshed in the Middle East to continue. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and wounded, almost 1 million made homeless, and a catastrophic larger conflict is possible. We call on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair and the UN Security Council to support UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an immediate ceasefire and an international force to stabilize the situation.
Like all sane people, I want the carnage in Lebanon and the rocket attacks on northern Israel to end. That's why I won't be signing this petition. Kofi Annan's 'ceasefire' would see Israeli troops remaining in southern Lebanon until they could be relieved by a United Nations force that would be dominated by France, Lebanon's old colonial master.
Like the Israelis before them, the UN troops would be charged with disarming Hizbollah's militia, a task that is not going to achieved by anything short of armed force. Far from 'stabilizing the situation', a UN army would simply continue the war. The only difference would be that the Lebanese people would see their country occupiued by half a dozen foreign armies instead of a single army. The 'Ceasefire Petition' is in fact a proposal for recolonisation and war.
The simple truth is that there will be peace in Lebanon when the south of the country is free of foreign occupation. The war began when Israel invaded Lebanon, and the Lebanese defending their country have made it clear that they will stop fighting as soon as Israel withdraws from their country. Israel has tried to present the rocket attacks launched by Hizbollah as justification for its invasion, but the attacks began only after Israeli air raids began killing Lebanese civilians. Hizbollah leaders have repeatedly offered an immediate ceasefire and an end to rocket attacks in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal.
Instead of wasting their time appealing to Bush and Blair to transmogrify from warmongers into peacemakers, the signers of the Ceasefire Petition should be on the streets demanding that Israel end its occupation of Lebanon.
A friend sent me a link to an online 'Ceasfire Petition' yesterday. The organisers of the petition claim that almost a quarter of a million people have already given their support to this call:
The world cannot allow the bloodshed in the Middle East to continue. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and wounded, almost 1 million made homeless, and a catastrophic larger conflict is possible. We call on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair and the UN Security Council to support UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an immediate ceasefire and an international force to stabilize the situation.
Like all sane people, I want the carnage in Lebanon and the rocket attacks on northern Israel to end. That's why I won't be signing this petition. Kofi Annan's 'ceasefire' would see Israeli troops remaining in southern Lebanon until they could be relieved by a United Nations force that would be dominated by France, Lebanon's old colonial master.
Like the Israelis before them, the UN troops would be charged with disarming Hizbollah's militia, a task that is not going to achieved by anything short of armed force. Far from 'stabilizing the situation', a UN army would simply continue the war. The only difference would be that the Lebanese people would see their country occupiued by half a dozen foreign armies instead of a single army. The 'Ceasefire Petition' is in fact a proposal for recolonisation and war.
The simple truth is that there will be peace in Lebanon when the south of the country is free of foreign occupation. The war began when Israel invaded Lebanon, and the Lebanese defending their country have made it clear that they will stop fighting as soon as Israel withdraws from their country. Israel has tried to present the rocket attacks launched by Hizbollah as justification for its invasion, but the attacks began only after Israeli air raids began killing Lebanese civilians. Hizbollah leaders have repeatedly offered an immediate ceasefire and an end to rocket attacks in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal.
Instead of wasting their time appealing to Bush and Blair to transmogrify from warmongers into peacemakers, the signers of the Ceasefire Petition should be on the streets demanding that Israel end its occupation of Lebanon.
posted by maps at 8/12/2006 12:26:00 pm
1 Comments:
Maps - is there evidence as to how this conflict bagan? You say Israel atacked first? I'm not saying it's not true but I just wound up a big discussion on my forum on Chessgames.com and discussion is ongoing on there - we had an Israeli and others - Americans - someone from the Middle East - now I couldn't counter the charge that it appeared that Hezbollah started the war by firing rockets and capturing some Israelis - I would like to see a link and some evidence on this that I could quote as I - like most people - believed that Israel was attacked first - and also that they invaded after troops were captured
Of course I know there are longer historical things going on but a link (some evidence showing that Israel attacked first) would be good.
I also feel that this UN force is problematic - I saw a woman from France speaking about that and she went straight into: "And we are the right people [for "policing Lebanon] as we are symapthetic to the Israelis, we and they suffered from a massacre in... . 19xx 200x" So I am not too confident of the UN.
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