Lebanon burns while the US feeds the flames

Deploring the "horrendous and dangerous" situation in Lebanon, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed a three-part strategy involving an immediate cessation of hostilities and wide-ranging political and economic commitments to solve a crisis that has killed hundreds of people and forced around 800,000 others to flee their homes.

"A cessation of hostilities, a political framework, the deployment of an international force, and agreement on a reconstruction programme would give us the beginnings of a way out of this crisis," he told delegates at a high-level conference in Rome called to discuss the worsening situation.

"The death and destruction we have witnessed in the past two weeks, including yesterday's tragic killing of UN peacekeepers, compels this conference to send a strong message, and to speak with one voice. We must say, to the people of Lebanon, to the people of Israel, to people throughout the wider Middle East, that we will do our utmost to help them find a path towards peace."

During Mr. Annan's address, delegates stood and observed a minute of silence for those killed, while afterwards the Secretary-General warned there remains "great potential" for further escalation in the conflict and that was why it was most urgent to have an immediate cessation of hostilities.

"I call on Hezbollah to stop its deliberate targeting of Israeli population centres. And I call on Israel to end its bombardments, blockades and ground operations. A temporary cessation of hostilities would offer crucial hours and days for essential humanitarian tasks, including the distribution of relief aid and the evacuation of non-combatants and the wounded."

He said an international force would have a vital role to play, helping in the short-term with the humanitarian operation, but over the longer term assisting Lebanon's Government in implementing various agreements and Security Council resolutions, particularly by helping it extend its authority and disarm all militias.

Mr. Annan acknowledged such a force could only operate with the consent of the Government and all "Lebanese parties." The second part of his strategy calls for a political framework so that a cessation of hostilities can be transformed into "a longer-term process of enduring peace."


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Beirut is burning, hundreds of Lebanese die, hundreds of thousands lose all they ever owned and become refugees, and all the world is doing is rescuing the "foreign passport" residents of what was just two weeks ago "the Paris of the Middle East". Lebanon must die now, because "Israel has the right to defend itself", so goes the U.S. mantra, used to block any international attempt to impose a cease fire.

Israel, backed by the U.S., portrays its war on Lebanon as a war of self-defense. It is easy to sell this message to mainstream media, because the residents of the north of Israel are also in shelters, bombarded and endangered. Israel's claim that no country would let such an attack on its residents unanswered, finds many sympathetic ears. But let us reconstruct exactly how it all started.

On Wednesday, July 12, a Hezbollah unit attacked two armored Jeeps of the Israeli army, patrolling along Israel's border with Lebanon. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack and two were taken hostage. In a news conference held in Beirut a couple of hours later, Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah explained that their aim was to reach a prisoner exchange, where in return for the two captured Israeli soldiers, Israel would return three Lebanese prisoners it had refused to release in a previous prisoner exchange. Nasrallah declared that "he did not want to drag the region into war", but added that "our current restraint is not due to weakness ... if they [Israel] choose to confront us, they must be prepared for surprises."[1]

The Israeli government, however, did not give a single moment for diplomacy, negotiations, or even cool reflection over the situation. In a cabinet meeting that same day, it authorized a massive offensive on Lebanon. As the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported, "In a sharp departure from Israel's response to previous Hezbollah attacks, the cabinet session unanimously agreed that the Lebanese government should be held responsible for yesterday's events." Olmert declared: "This morning's events are not a terror attack, but the act of a sovereign state that attacked Israel for no reason and without provocation." He added that "the Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah is a part, is trying to undermine regional stability. Lebanon is responsible, and Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions."[2]

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For months and years, independent media commentators have been using the term 'root causes' to highlight the role of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem as one of the primary contributing factors to a destabilized Middle East.

At the G-8 Summit, US President Bush said, "One of the interesting things about this recent flare-up is that it helps clarify a 'root cause' of instability in the Middle East - and that's Hezbollah and Hezbollah's relationship with Syria, and Hezbollah's relationship to Iran, and Syria's relationship to Iran. Therefore, in order to solve this problem it's really important for the world to address the 'root cause.'"

Prior to giving the green light to Israel to continue its bombing campaign for another week, US Secretary of State Condolleeza Rice said, "We do seek an end to the current violence, we seek it urgently. We also seek to address the 'root causes' of that violence. A cease-fire would be a false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo."

As Ms. Rice shuttled to Lebanon, Israel and Rome talking about peace, the Bush administration approved rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel after receiving a request last week.

At virtually every home demolition in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the tear gas canisters say, "Made in the United States."

How is it that a Republican-led administration that has virtually no credibility in the entire Middle East expect to be seen as a balanced arbiter of interests when Israel is dropping American-made bombs and directly funding the Israeli military? Russia and the US are arming the region and using it as their proxy battlefield. Is the right-wing Republican Administration the root cause behind the serious missteps in American foreign policy since 2001?

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