Feature Archives

The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also rejected calls for Israel to declare a cease-fire. Canada’s Conservative government has responded to the murder of eight Canadian citizens in an Israeli air strike with a shrug of its shoulders. The Canadians, four adults and four children aged from 1 to 7, were among eleven members of the Al-Akhrass family who were killed as the result of Israeli strafing of the south Lebanese village of Aitaroun. Of the three hundred people killed in the past eight days of fighting, the overwhelming majority have been, like Montreal pharmacist Ali Al-Akhrass and his family, innocent civilians.

While the US media seeks to present the current crisis in terms of equal suffering—Israeli civilians hit by Hezbollah rockets, Lebanese civilians hit by Israeli bombs—the reality is far different. More than 200 Lebanese have been killed and a billion dollars worth of damage inflicted on their country, compared to 24 Israelis killed, nearly half of them soldiers killed in combat against Hezbollah fighters.

Many Lebanese say the failure of the international community to resolve the crisis in their country is worsening the situation.

Arab countries are no longer interested in issuing a strong condemnation of Israel | A Letter to Canadian PM Stephen Harper | Resist at your peril | Security Council delays, awaits high-level UN team | Lebanese question world's silence | As Lebanese civilians killed en masse, US Senate expresses unanimous support for Israel | Blair rejects MPs' call for unilateral Israeli cease-fire | Ralph Nader: US Has "Inescapable Responsibility" for "Israeli Government's Escalating War Crimes" | Over 100 Palestinians Killed in Three Week Israeli Offensive | Peaceful Rally Calling for an Immediate Ceasefire Draws Large Crowd in Front of White House | US Buys Israel Time in Lebanon | Aid Trundles but Short of Aiding Lebanon | Protests denounce Arab leaders’ complicity in Israeli assault | The fear is growing in Beirut

On July 18th, Israeli war planes struck Lebanese army targets in an overnight raid in which 11 troops, including four officers, were killed and 40 injured. The target wasn't a Hizbullah barracks, it was the regular Lebanese army, which Israel says it would trust to patrol the Lebanese border with Israel, and which they wish would take on Hizbullah.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora pleaded for an immediate internationally-sanctioned cease-fire on Tuesday, saying the international community must have been aware that Israel was committing massacres against Lebanese civilians, including children, women and elders. He said that Israel was acting to destroy "everything that allows Lebanon to stay alive".

Siniora came to power as part of an anti-Syrian political movement supported by the Bush administration, dubbed by the American press "the Cedar Revolution" and thought by some to be a CIA front. As recently as April of this year George W. Bush said about Siniora:
I told the Prime Minister that the United States strongly supports a free and independent and sovereign Lebanon. We took great joy in seeing the Cedar Revolution. We understand that the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the street to express their desire to be free required courage, and we support the desire of the people to have a government responsive to their needs and a government that is free, truly free . . . We talked about the great tradition of Lebanon to serve as a model of entrepreneurship and prosperity. Beirut is one of the great international cities, and I'm convinced that if Lebanon is truly free and independent and democratic, that Beirut will once again regain her place as a center of financial and culture and the arts.

There's no question in my mind that Lebanon can serve as a great example for what is possible in the broader Middle East; that out of the tough times the country has been through will rise a state that shows that it's possible for people of religious difference to live side-by-side in peace; to show that it's possible for people to put aside past histories to live together in a way that the people want, which is, therefore, to be peace and hope and opportunity.

On July 18th Bush warned Syria to stay out of Lebanon as he signalled to Israel that it would have more time to carry out its military campaign. He said Israel had been asked to ensure that the government of Fouad Siniora survived, but the White House declined to comment on repeated Israeli strikes against Lebanese army units.

Juan Cole: Bush to Siniora: Drop Dead | Is the Arab Spring turning to Dust under Israeli Bombardment? |

On Monday July 17th, Bay Area Jewish activists protested in front of the Israeli consulate against Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Seventeen people engaging in an act of civil disobedience blocked the street in front of the consulate and were arrested. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Videos: 1 | 2 | 3

Jewish Voice for Peace is organizing public actions in major cities across the country to help bring an end to the current conflict. Many JVP members have friends and family in Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel. They believe that Israel’s refusal to negotiate and its decision to act with overwhelming force—using weapons supplied by the United States-- have escalated this situation to war.

On Wednesday July 12th, Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers on the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel responded with the heaviest bombing of Lebanon in 24 years and the imposition of a naval blockade. WIth over 50 civilians killed in the first day of bombings, outrage has spread throughout the Middle East and around the world. In San Francisco, a protest against Israel's actions was held in front of the Israeli consulate on July 13th. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video

On Tuesday, July 11, responding to the recent Israeli siege on Gaza and humanitarian crisis resulting from the US-Israeli imposed starvation campaign of the Palestinian people, demonstrators rallied in support of the Palestinian people at 16th & J Streets in Sacramento. The local demonstration, initiated by the National Council of Arab Americans and Sacramento Area Peace Action, was held in conjunction with similar protests taking place throughout the country.

On Monday July 3rd there was an emergency protest in San Francisco against the U.S.-Israeli assault on Palestinians. The protest was at 4:30 PM in front of the Israeli Consulate on Montgomery St. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter-bombers have destroyed the main power station in Gaza and destroyed bridges on the only major roads linking the northern and southern sections of the region. Round-the-clock Israeli artillery shelling is taking place. Most of the people of Gaza are now without water and electricity. Israel has also arrested a third of the members of the Palestinian Authority governing body.

On Tuesday, June 20th more than 150 people people joined MECA, ADC-SF and QUIT! in downtown Berkeley for an emergency action to say "NO!" to killing children by violence and deprivation. In dozens of cities in North America, June 20th was a Day of Action in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Israeli military has fired over 7,000 shells on the people of Gaza so far this year. Photos: 1 | 2