'Physicians for Peace', 'Peoples Union for Civil Liberties' and other peace organisations are meeting this evening to protest against Israel's senseless bombing of Lebanon. The protest starts at 5:30 pm this evening near the Gandhi Statue on the Marina Beach.
Meanwhile, read this open letter from an Arab girl to President Bush.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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11 comments:
Chennai better support Lebanon. Lots and lots of TN expats in Arab world. I can't digest when innocent civilians are killed for no fault of theirs!
Israel has taken the position that they will 'inform' civilians and then bomb civilian positions.
They have stated that if a rocket is fired from any village, the *whole* village will be destroyed.
To paraphrase Gandhi, "What do you think about Israeli civilization?", "It would be a good idea."
Israel is under the protection of the US, and as long as that protection is available, they can destroy the lives and livelihoods of all around them with impunity.
The only possible solution to this problem is to make a sheet of green glass over the whole of that area. Holy though it may be to three religions, the world will be better off that way.
Rajesh: That was just me being pessimistic. I don't much care for either Israel or Palestine or Lebanon as long as they don't end up causing WW-III.
Mr. Arif: I doubt that there is one 'Indian' who is showing these diverse view-points and is therefore a hypocrite. You're entitled to your opinion, and a right-wing radical is entitled to saying that Israel can kill all the Palestinians and the Hezbollah.
Vamanan: Lebanese casualties ~ 900. Israeli casualties ~ 70 ( 40 soldiers, 30 civilians).
I guess you think that one Israeli life is worth more than 10 Lebanese lives? And I doubt that many of the 900 are Hezbollah - most are civilians - if you've seen the footage of the devastated apartments complexes.
You may also remember that it started off as a military action - Hezbollah captured 2 Israeli soldiers, and escalation to civilian targets has been from the Israelis.
The US has basically made it acceptable to carpet-bomb civilian areas under the guise of targeting military facilities.
The Jews suffered terribly in WW-II. However, Israel is simply ensuring that the hatred against them will not die down in a decade or two - they are sowing seeds of violence which will grow long beyond this century.
As Uncle Peter says, "With great power, comes great responsibility." The Israelis in their hunger to stay alive have achieved great power. I would say that they have failed to wield it with great responsibility.
Alaphia,
Too bad i'm reading this post only today. If what is happenening in Lebanon is not sickening and nauseating enough, more so is the "ethical" and "moral" viewpoints of some pro-Israeli/American Indians.
Vamanan.
"Civilians die when Israel misses"
Whoa!!! Going by your (ill)logic, Israel sure has a lousy track record of *trying-not-to-miss*.
Well, they sure manage to "miss" their targets da-in day-out. Please LOOK!
Did you know that Hizbollah is a popular movement which has the support of Lebanese people. Do you know how/why Hizbollah was formed? Do you realize that Israel's actions will GUARANTEE that more Hizbollah's, Al Qaeda's mushroom everywhere? Do you know why the Israeli soldiers were kidnapped? Did you know that ususally it is ONLY Israel/America (UK tows along obediently) against the International Community and UN?
Hello..
Only just had a chance to come in. I thought this post would not generate any debate... because whats to debate?? Israel's response is so disproportionate. The US is so hypocritical and the UN is so dead. How can there be any debate about that??
Alaphia,
Exactly!
Immediately after the Mumbai blasts, we had a lot of bloggers, and even so-called analysts, referring to and justifying U.S.A's "response" after 9-11 and Israel's "defense" tactics . To me, thats not only downright stupid and innaccurate, but more importantly, its grossly immoral and unethical.
Sorry Alaphia for sounding off on your space, but allow me to post these in light of some comments here.
Excellent analysis U.S Media's distortion of the middle east conflict
Israeli Ambassador to the UN asks
"DAN GILLERMAN: As we sit here during these very difficult days, I urge you and I urge my colleagues to ask yourselves this question: What would do you if your countries found themselves under such attacks, if your neighbors infiltrated your borders to kidnap your people, and if hundreds of rockets were launched at your towns and villages? Would you just sit back and take it, or would you do exactly what Israel is doing at this very minute?"
Noam Chomsky replies:
"NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah. Well, he's correct that hundreds of rockets have been fired, and naturally that has to be stopped. But he didn't mention, or maybe at least in this comment, that the rockets were fired after the heavy Israeli attacks against Lebanon, which killed -- well, latest reports, maybe 60 or so people and destroyed a lot of infrastructure. As always, things have precedence, and you have to decide which was the inciting event. In my view, the inciting event in the present case, events, are those that I mentioned -- the constant intense repression; plenty of abductions; plenty of atrocities in Gaza; the steady takeover of the West Bank, which, in effect, if it continues, is just the murder of a nation, the end of Palestine; the abduction on June 24 of the two Gaza civilians; and then the reaction to the abduction of Corporal Shalit. And there's a difference, incidentally, between abduction of civilians and abduction of soldiers. Even international humanitarian law makes that distinction."
Source: This
Rajesh,
"And to hear some saffron brigade nut cases egging the govt for similar action against POK...dammit, where do these ppl come from?"
Exactly.
Not only is this argument stupid from a tactical point of view, to imply U.S.A and Isreal are just victims of terror and not perpetrators smacks of utter immorality
Rajesh - Its a disproportionate response to the abduction of soldiers. Is that so difficult to understand? Although, the word,'Disproportionate' of course is letting Israel of lightly.
No problem about the link bala. Will check it out.
To steal a quote from Bala's blog,
A French Journalist: "Don't you think its cowardly to pack bags with bombs and let women place it in crowded places, killing inncocent civilians?
FLN Leader: "Don't you think its a thousand times more cowardly to bomb defenceless villages with napalms? We don't have your bomber jets... Give them your bombers and we shall give you our bags"
- Battle Of Algiers
Unfortunately I feel this cycle of violence is only going to increase till it sucks in all the countries around the area. I think the only thing keeping that from happening is the very real fear of American weapons. If and when that fear vanishes, either because of some American 'transgression' which incites a further reaction from the Middle East, or because they see no other options, things can only become worse.
Silencing the Hezbollah TV station
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