| Jayce Salloum on Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:02:14 +0200 (CEST) |
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Dear all, People here are asking what they can do, feeling helpless in respect to the recent actions in Palestine and Lebanon and all of the ensuing 'double-speak' from politicians and the press, seems like 1984 all over again Orwellian style. A 'media cleansing' is taking place (as usual), it must be illegal to show dead and wounded Arabs or their suffering. We are inundated with reports from Israel as their perspective & situation leads off most news stories, lots of compassion shown there. When was the last time we saw images/reports of the death and destruction happening in Gaza. A convenient time for slaughter, as if Palestinians don't count. And why are we not seeing images of the dead and wounded in Lebanon (see the last website listed below)? If we undertake the seemingly futile task of writing letters to our politicians around the world to put pressure on the Israeli's, will that accomplish anything? I think that if enough people speak up then at least our politicians can lend a dissenting voice but I am not hopeful because they are so incapable of seeing beyond Israel and America's agenda. And with Israel proving once again to be the war-criminals that they are, they have been doing this same type of murdering, annihilation/ militaristic-terroristic (in the true sense of the word) politiking for 60 years (starting formally with the Irgun & the Stern Gang). Both Palestine's situation and Lebanon's can be linked in the sense of the historical and contemporary perspective, and how Israel's agenda is similar with both targets, to eliminate any secular and moderate voices and destroy as much infrastructure as possible at any cost (then they say there is no one to talk to), at least until they have a puppet government in place in both countries, one that kowtows to the whims of Israel (and it's colony America). So, to reiterate, we all need to write our local politicians. I think if we all apply pressure to our federal politicians that is the most direct way of getting them to pay attention. Then maybe they will force our "leaders" to see some of the reality of the situation which they are truly missing. Unequivocal support of Israel is stupefying, unbelievable, so damn wrong. Also, it would be useful to send it to the opposition leaders and their Foreign Affairs people in each of the parties, and of course as much global press/editors as one possibly can. For Canadians, I've pasted some of Adala's at the end of this missive. In this case I don't think petitions are helpful except to assuage our feelings of helplessness and to relieve us of the feeling of needing to do anything else. But I've signed it anyway, it can't hurt: www.PetitionOnline.com/50600 And here's the CNN poll: if "Israeli Offensive on Lebanon is justified". Bush probably takes more notice of this as it's easy viewed in full colour for adults and children alike. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html see: Israel's monstrous legacy brings tumult a step closer by David Hirst www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1820134,00.html No peace for Israel without justice for the Palestinians, by Saree Makdisi www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/editorial/outlook/4048204 Echoes of 1948 and 1967, Israel's Latest Bureaucratic Obscenity www.counterpunch.org/cook07122006.html Israel acts according to a ready script, by Jonathan Cook www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=73998 What Does Israel Want?, by Ilan Pappe http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5003.shtml Israel, the US and the New Orientalism by M. SHAHID ALAM www.counterpunch.org/alam07142006.html >From The Lebanese People To The So Called ³Civilized² West "Thank You" (Warning: the images here are disturbing in more ways than one) www.fromisraeltolebanon.org I've also pasted some texts (excerpts from emails etc) below from friends living in Lebanon for your perusal. So if you feel so inclined, write a letter and send it to everyone you know. Then the snowball effect may have some weight. Sincerely, Jayce ----- 7/17, Day 5 of the Siege part 2, from Rasha ..It's 3:30 am. Perhaps past that time, I don't know. I could not sleep from the shelling. It's not the intense quantity of shells falling, no, it's 10 to 12 shells every hour or hour and the half. They augment the nerve-wrecking aspect: they don't focus shelling one one zone, with one objective. It's wounds inflicted over time and time, the length of a week... It's been a really, really rough night. Where do I begin with what you will not hear? With what you will not know and what will be hidden from your ears? The air raids over the Beqaa did not really stop all day today. The raids and shelling over Tyre were also really bad. Saida was shelled and bridges and roads leading to the south. The mountains were shelled as well, specifically bridges.There seemed to be a lull of sorts in the late afternoon. But as soon as the sun set, the air raids over the southern suburbs returned. By now the IDF knows that there are only civilians, that the Hezbollah leadership is elsewhere in hiding. But they have express missive from the US to kill Hassan Nasrallah (according the largest circulating Israeli daily, Maariv). At night, the Jamhour area was targetted. It is where the Lebanese Ministry of Defense is located, the Military School, and the power station feeding Beirut and its surrounding mountains. The power station was targetted and hit, but there was a "mistake" and the shells reached the Military School and barracks surrounding it. 100 soldiers are now injured, a dozen are dead. The power station was hit and the larger share of Beirut is under the cover of darkness. Air raids are also shelling the Beqaa valley. However, the most horrific news is that the inhabitants of 'Ayta el-Shaab (the first village where the IDF tried to make a land incursion but was swiftly defeated by Hezbollah) are being told by loudspeakers and other means that they should evacuate their village by dawn or else they will all be crushed by airplanes, tanks and shelling. It's like 1948 again... They want everyone out. The village has now 3,000 people still left. The elderly and the wounded have been evacuated to another village. It's the "buffer zone" they want to "clear". Most don't have cars to evacuate. If you want to see a replay of the 1948 expulsion of peasants under fire, tune in to Lebanon. If you don't scream your outrage and make sure some things are NOT acceptable.. -- 7/17/06 from Laura in Beirut: "..You can also write to the PM and Foreign Minister or to your US equivalents and tell them Israel¹s offensive is killing innocent Lebanese and bombing the country back 20 years, at cost to this country of $8 billion a day?seems a pretty idiotic way to go after Hizballah, which does not represent Lebanon. It appears that Israel is using phosphorous incendiary bombs, which suck the air out of a building and don¹t stop burning, on civilians, this is illegal of course. It might make a difference that 7 (or 8) of the people killed in the south yesterday were Canadian but since they are Lebanese-Canadian maybe they¹re not considered to count. And how about asking our governments to contribute to Lebanon¹s multi-billion reconstruction? Let me reiterate that Israel is bombing things that have nothing to do with Hizballah but only with immiserating the Lebanese. Why bomb the Beirut-Damascus highway? Does Hizb allah bring arms in through Lebanese constoms? Of course not?it¹s just to make it impossible for people trying to leave. Ditto the airport and the port?Hizb allah doesn¹t use them. It¹s to punish the Lebanese people and turn them against Hizb allah, but the reverse may be happening. So this means Is. Is probably going to hit us even harder in the next few days while they still have the green light from the US.." -- 7/14/06 Rasha's letter from Beirut http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0041885.html ---- ?s: ?Why are the politicians discussing sending an International force to Lebanon to stop attacks on Israel when there has never been such a force sent to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza & the West Bank after years of the Palestinians requesting such a force? ?How can journalists based in Jerusalem & Tel Aviv accurately report what is happening in Lebanon or the Palestinian territories, when aside from distance and not seeing the situation on the ground, everything they write is subject to censorship from the Israeli military? ?Afraid to play the numbers game or face reality? Why is the media so biased/prejudiced in its coverage, as if this is a war and the warring sides are armed evenly, and as if the deaths and injuries are equal on both sides? i.e. It must be that 100 Lebanese or Palestinian deaths are equal to 1 Israeli death. ?Why are Hizballah's missiles described on BBC as "Iranian missiles" but Israeli bombs never mentioned as being American bombs? ?Why can't this conflict be seen in a larger regional and historical context by the media? ?Aren't captured soldiers legitimate targets/POWs (prisoners of war), thus justifiably held in exchange for the hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners illegally imprisoned for years in Israeli prisons and detention centers? ----- >From Adala (edited): The civilian death toll is increasing at an alarming rate. The attacks have destroyed dozens of bridges, a television station, and Beirut International Airport, the only international airport in the country. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited." Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishments are a war crime. The 'International Red Cross Comment' says, "Parties to a conflict often would resort to 'intimidatory measures to terrorize the population' in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices 'strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice'." The Prime Minister of Canada recently issued a statement in support of Israeli actions. This is tantamount to supporting war crimes being currently committed against a largely defenseless civilian population. This goes against everything that Canada stands for and our commitment as a law-abiding and law-supporting nation. We urge the Prime Minister to reconsider his unfortunate statements. You can find out who your member of parliament is by inputting your postal code at this website: www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Language=E&sour ce=sm Others to send emails to: (Compiled from the list below): Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca, alghabra.o@parl.gc.ca, Mourani.Ma@parl.gc.ca, Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca, Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca, VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca, Martin.Paul@parl.gc.ca, Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca And others not on list below to also send emails to include: Fry.H@parl.gc.ca, gregor.robertson.mla@leg.bc.ca, Letters@globeandmail.com, Alghabra.O@parl.gc.ca, Mourani.Ma@parl.gc.ca --- Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, pm@pm.gc.ca Harper.S@parl.gc.ca Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ph (613) 992-6022 MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs ph: (613) 947-4566 Obrahi.D@parl.gc.ca Peter Van Loan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs ph: (613) 996-7752 VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca Bill Graham, Leader of the Federal Liberal Party ph: (613) 992-4284 Graham.B@parl.gc.ca Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Federal Bloc Québécois ph: (613) 992-6779 Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party ph: (613) 995-7224 Layton.J@parl.gc.ca - Adala's sample letter: Israel is committing murderous attacks against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. As of today, Israeli forces have massacred over 200 Lebanese innocent civilians including entire families. Even civilians fleeing the war zones were not spared Israeli bombings. The civilian death toll is increasing at an alarming rate. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited." Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. The 'International Red Cross Comment' says, "Parties to a conflict often would resort to 'intimidatory measures to terrorize the population' in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices 'strike at guilty andinnocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice'." I call on the Canadian government to condemn these illegal and utterly immoral Israeli attacks and to demand that the Israeli government cease this unjustifiable madness. I also call on the Canadian government to immediately suspend all arm sales to Israel. (name) (address) (phone) ---- 7/18/06 via Emily Jacir: Subject: Beirut Update 3 from my friend zena in beirut, love to you all. emily Today I drove through downtown on my way to visit my parents. I was driving alone and was a bit nervous. First time in a car alone since this whole thing started... But I had to see my parents. I came across a red light and stopped. The streets were empty, and I caught myself wondering why I stopped and didn't just go through. Streets were totally empty; no other cars, no traffic police. Then I remembered my latest policy that is helping to keep me sane; that even under attack, we should not lose our manners. That even under attack, there are still some regulations we should abide by. Somehow, by not crossing the red light, I was able to maintain some dignity. Then I looked into my rearview mirror and saw other cars approaching. I closed my eyes and in a fit of prayer wished that they would stop too. That somehow, if they didn't cross the light, it would indicate that somehow we are all thinking the same. I know most of you have heard about Lebanese drivers.. They never stop at red lights! Ladies and Gentlemen, today, they stopped. I opened my eyes and and then burst into tears. All the cars had stopped. Everyone was behaving. It was a ray of hope today. Haha, the little things that make you happy. I turned and smiled and nodded my head to the other drivers. Maybe they thought this bleached blond was flirting with them. I don't want to write about all the miserable moments I had today. They were too many. And how can I find the words to really express my despair? I don't want to write about the tears that fell when I heard about how the Israeli army bombed food storages today. They bombed wheat silos and vegetable storages. Now they want to starve us to death? About how they are now targeting Lebanese army outposts. Lebanese army who are not even fighting them. About the planes that are flying so low. About how my house starts to shake every time a bomb drops. About my worries now about food and water shortages. About the refugees who have lost so much, who are now living on the streets. The biggest threat today has been to bomb our main electrical plant. The very same one they blew up a few years ago. If that one goes, we are without electricity. I remember that summer... It was long and hot. I don't know what I would do without internet. Dear friends, if you don't hear from me after this email it is only because I no longer have access. I don't want to write about the cramp in my heart every time I hear the death toll rising. So many children!! I don't want to write about how everything I have spent my whole life working for has disappeared in a matter of days. A matter of days..my whole life has changed. My whole life has changed and I did not ask for it. My whole life has changed without my consent. My whole life has changed because someone, not me, decided they were going to change it. Who said they could? Why didn't they ask me? I was supposed to be camping in the mountains (Chouf) this week. I was supposed to be working on a proposal to bring a New York artist out here next summer. It was supposed to be a surprise; I was going to set the whole thing up, get the funding and surprise him with it. People bought artwork from me, I am supposed to cash my checks. I am supposed to deliver art to people. Two bombs just went off. My windows are shaking. Stupid me, I closed them to stop the mosquitoes from coming in. thank God they didn't just shatter. My heart, my heart is another story. We are doing the best we can to help those in need. We are all playing our respective roles... Finding roles to play. My sister has been working with the Zicco House/ Helem rescue point. They have gotten a bank account open to accept donations so they can buy food, medicine, water, blankets, and mattresses. The ministries of heath and social affairs have proven to be ineffective. It is up to the civil society now to help out. Two temporary bank accounts are now dedicated for donations: Credit Libanais S.A.L Beyrouth Agence Sassine SWIFT CODE: CLIBLBX Client Name: Al Azzi Georges Account number: 043.001.208.0006817.35.6 SGBL Hamra Branch SWIFT CODE: SGLILBBX Client Name: CHIT Bassem Account: 007.004.367.092.875.014 I can not thank you all enough for all your wonderful emails. They are filling me with life. Please forward the news... I am so tired. But as long as I have electricity and internet, I will continue to write. Until I lose my mind... Maybe by then I can get back into my studio again and paint. To any Israelis who may read this. I have not learned to hate. I still believe in humanity. Violence begets violence. I know there are some of you protesting this. Thank you. With love, Zena el-Khalil ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre _______________________________________________ Nettime-ro mailing list Nettime-ro@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ro --> arhiva: http://amsterdam.nettime.org/