Thursday, July 27, 2006
Solidarity with the people of Lebanon and Palestine!
One of the principles of workers' solidarity is that when workers somewhere in the world are under attack, we take a stand for them wherever we are. Currently in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, hundreds of ordinary people have already been slaughtered in Israel's indiscriminate bombing and invasion. Of course, it's always the working class and the poor that get hit the hardest - those without the money to flee, whose lives and livelihoods are currently being ripped apart by American-made lazer-guided "smart bombs."
Of course, this violence ricochets back to workers in Israel, where those in Haifa are getting hit by rockets aimed at Israel by Hezbollah fighters using their most powerful weapons to defend their country. And it's workers that make up Israel's army, some of whose parents and friends have called for a halt to the violence and faulted Israel for it even though their sons and daughters have been killed in the fighting. In war, it is always the workers who die first.
The instances that led to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip and Lebanon two weeks ago happened as follows:
-Palestinian, not Lebanese, fighters captured an Israeli soldier. For the soldier's release, they demanded that Israel release all Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons (some 10,000 Palestinians currently languish in Israeli jails).
-In response to the soldier's kidnapping, Israel began a massive arial bombing campaign of Gaza, knocking out roadways and the only power plant in the Gaza strip.
-In solidarity with the Palestinians, Hezbollah launched a guerilla operation specifically targeting a squadron of Israeli soldiers on the border with southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah operation killed six and captured two Israeli soldiers, which Hezbollah has continued to hold until their demands are met. These demands are for a withdrawl of Israel from Lebanon and release of Lebanese prisoners of war.
-Israel immediately began airstrikes of Lebanon, targeting the airport in Beruit and the main highway from Beruit to southern Lebanon. This effectively left thousands of foreign tourists stranded until they could be rescued by their home countries, of which the U.S. was the slowest to respond to the situation. Israel then began bombing, and continues to bomb, civilian infrastructure and housing throughout southern Lebanon. Though Israel claims it is using "precision bombing," observers on the ground have noted that the bombing seems indescriminate, or even directed at inflicting the most civilian casualties possible. In several instances, Israel has warned civilians to evacuate southern Lebanon, only to then bomb civilian convoys fleeing for safety. Israel also bombed a U.N. compound in Beruit for over 12 hours, killing four unarmed U.N. observers. So far, hundreds of Lebanese civilians have been killed, with the death toll rising by dozens per day. Israel's actions qualify unequivocably as war crimes under international law, which U.N. officials including Kofi Annan have condemned as such despite taking heat from the united-front pro-Israel U.S. government.
Where has the U.S. been in all of this? On the wrong side of the fence, as always. Both the House and Senate rushed to pass resolutions, not to condemn Israel for launching a unilateral bloodbath, but to blame the victim of Israel's assaults, demanding that Hezbollah disarm. They say Israel has the "right to defend itself", in the same way the U.S. "defended itself" by invading Iraq - and of course the Palestinians and Lebanese have no such rights when faced with the bombing of civilians under a full-scale invasion using the latest, deadliest military hardware (supplied, btw, by the good ol' US of A). Now the Democrats are trying to beat out the Republicans in pro-Zionist rhetoric; Howard Dean himself objected to the remarks of Iraqi PM Maliki - a U.S. puppet - who criticized Israel, calling him an anti-semite, and called for a boycott of his speech to Congress. But even pro-Israel Jewish peace groups are calling criticism of Israel legitimate, and there has already been an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv of over 5,000 people. It's a sad day when the supposedly liberal party in the U.S. is more right-wing than the liberals of apartheid Israel. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to stonewall efforts to get a resolution passed in the U.N. security council calling for a ceasefire.
A bit of background: Israel withdrew its protracted occupation of southern Lebanon in 1985, after years of Hezbollah's guerilla warfare. It has continued to occupy the Shebaa Farms region of southern Lebanon, defying Lebanese authority. Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic fundamentalist organization based in Lebanon, with close ties to Hamas in Palestine. It is one of two main Lebanese groups opposing Israel, and acts as the stronger of Lebanon's two armies (the other is the official Lebanese army, which is secular). Israel's avowed mission is to isolate Hezbollah by creating a rift in Lebanese public opinion that would see them as the cause of Israel's collective punishment. So far, support for Hezbollah resisting Israel seems to be high in Lebanon. But it's anybody's guess what the outcome of this latest bloodbath will hold.
So call those Senators. Call those Representatives. Call those slimeball Democrats - Dave Obey and Russ Feingold if you're in the northwoods - and try to impart some sanity over the phone. Good luck getting anywhere, but go ahead and try. More importantly, go to a protest. Or organize one. Or go to D.C. on August 12 to protest. We need to put on some public pressure to counter the ubiquitous Alice-in-Wonderland media message that Israel is somehow the victim.
Stand up for the oppressed Lebanese and Palestinian people! Stop the slaughter now!
Of course, this violence ricochets back to workers in Israel, where those in Haifa are getting hit by rockets aimed at Israel by Hezbollah fighters using their most powerful weapons to defend their country. And it's workers that make up Israel's army, some of whose parents and friends have called for a halt to the violence and faulted Israel for it even though their sons and daughters have been killed in the fighting. In war, it is always the workers who die first.
The instances that led to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip and Lebanon two weeks ago happened as follows:
-Palestinian, not Lebanese, fighters captured an Israeli soldier. For the soldier's release, they demanded that Israel release all Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons (some 10,000 Palestinians currently languish in Israeli jails).
-In response to the soldier's kidnapping, Israel began a massive arial bombing campaign of Gaza, knocking out roadways and the only power plant in the Gaza strip.
-In solidarity with the Palestinians, Hezbollah launched a guerilla operation specifically targeting a squadron of Israeli soldiers on the border with southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah operation killed six and captured two Israeli soldiers, which Hezbollah has continued to hold until their demands are met. These demands are for a withdrawl of Israel from Lebanon and release of Lebanese prisoners of war.
-Israel immediately began airstrikes of Lebanon, targeting the airport in Beruit and the main highway from Beruit to southern Lebanon. This effectively left thousands of foreign tourists stranded until they could be rescued by their home countries, of which the U.S. was the slowest to respond to the situation. Israel then began bombing, and continues to bomb, civilian infrastructure and housing throughout southern Lebanon. Though Israel claims it is using "precision bombing," observers on the ground have noted that the bombing seems indescriminate, or even directed at inflicting the most civilian casualties possible. In several instances, Israel has warned civilians to evacuate southern Lebanon, only to then bomb civilian convoys fleeing for safety. Israel also bombed a U.N. compound in Beruit for over 12 hours, killing four unarmed U.N. observers. So far, hundreds of Lebanese civilians have been killed, with the death toll rising by dozens per day. Israel's actions qualify unequivocably as war crimes under international law, which U.N. officials including Kofi Annan have condemned as such despite taking heat from the united-front pro-Israel U.S. government.
Where has the U.S. been in all of this? On the wrong side of the fence, as always. Both the House and Senate rushed to pass resolutions, not to condemn Israel for launching a unilateral bloodbath, but to blame the victim of Israel's assaults, demanding that Hezbollah disarm. They say Israel has the "right to defend itself", in the same way the U.S. "defended itself" by invading Iraq - and of course the Palestinians and Lebanese have no such rights when faced with the bombing of civilians under a full-scale invasion using the latest, deadliest military hardware (supplied, btw, by the good ol' US of A). Now the Democrats are trying to beat out the Republicans in pro-Zionist rhetoric; Howard Dean himself objected to the remarks of Iraqi PM Maliki - a U.S. puppet - who criticized Israel, calling him an anti-semite, and called for a boycott of his speech to Congress. But even pro-Israel Jewish peace groups are calling criticism of Israel legitimate, and there has already been an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv of over 5,000 people. It's a sad day when the supposedly liberal party in the U.S. is more right-wing than the liberals of apartheid Israel. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to stonewall efforts to get a resolution passed in the U.N. security council calling for a ceasefire.
A bit of background: Israel withdrew its protracted occupation of southern Lebanon in 1985, after years of Hezbollah's guerilla warfare. It has continued to occupy the Shebaa Farms region of southern Lebanon, defying Lebanese authority. Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic fundamentalist organization based in Lebanon, with close ties to Hamas in Palestine. It is one of two main Lebanese groups opposing Israel, and acts as the stronger of Lebanon's two armies (the other is the official Lebanese army, which is secular). Israel's avowed mission is to isolate Hezbollah by creating a rift in Lebanese public opinion that would see them as the cause of Israel's collective punishment. So far, support for Hezbollah resisting Israel seems to be high in Lebanon. But it's anybody's guess what the outcome of this latest bloodbath will hold.
So call those Senators. Call those Representatives. Call those slimeball Democrats - Dave Obey and Russ Feingold if you're in the northwoods - and try to impart some sanity over the phone. Good luck getting anywhere, but go ahead and try. More importantly, go to a protest. Or organize one. Or go to D.C. on August 12 to protest. We need to put on some public pressure to counter the ubiquitous Alice-in-Wonderland media message that Israel is somehow the victim.
Stand up for the oppressed Lebanese and Palestinian people! Stop the slaughter now!
