 Mourning the dead in Qana, Lebanon - BBC
Today on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," under the gentle questioning of George, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon made a statement that should have stood Stephanopoulos' hair on end. Instead, Steph let it blow by, instead choosing to emphasize the fact that Israel today "took full responsibility" for a bombing raid on the city of Qana, that left more than 60 people, mostly women and children who were hiding in an apartment basement, hoping to escape Israeli air strikes, dead. (Of course, "full responsibility" for Israelis means saying that 'war crimes' (Fouad Siniora's words, not mine,) against Arabs are of course the fault of the Arabs themselves... First, the story, and then the incredible statement. MSNBC reports:
QANA, Lebanon - An Israeli airstrike killed at least 60 people — many of them children — in a southern Lebanese village Sunday, the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon in a setback for diplomatic efforts to end hostilities.
Infuriated Lebanese officials said they had asked Rice to postpone the visit after Israel’s missile strike. But Rice said she called Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to say she would postpone the trip, and that she had work to do in Jerusalem to end the fighting.
The missiles destroyed several homes in the village of Qana as people were sleeping. Rescue officials said at least 60 people were killed, and the bodies of 27 children were found in the rubble, Reuters reported. ...
...Rescuers aided by villagers dug through the rubble by hand. At least 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets were taken away, including 10 children. A row of houses lay in ruins, and an old woman was carried away on a plastic chair.
Villagers said many of the dead were from four families who had taken refuge in on the ground floor of a three-story building, believing they would be safe from bombings.
“We want this to stop!” shouted Mohammed Ismail, a middle-aged man pulling away at the rubble in search for bodies, his brown pants covered in dust. “May God have mercy on the children. They came here to escape the fighting.”
“They are hitting children to bring the fighters to their knees,” he said. Rice is said to be "exasperated" with the Israelis, who launched this strike overnight, just as the U.S. secretary of state was headed to the region. But exasperation apparently doesn't translate into influence, because the Israelis are unbowed, and continuing to insist that they targeted Qana because Hezbollah was luanching rockets from there. In fact, on Meet the Press this morning, Israeli U.N. Ambassador ... made the incredible claim that Israel has pictures of a rocket launcher located at an apartment building similar to the one they leveled. Well, that should explain it...
By the way both CNN and NBC reporters (Ed Henry and Richard Engel) have reported this morning that they saw NO Hezbollah fighters or rocket launchers in that part of Qana. But of course, the Israelis will simply say that they were hidden in that basement where the kiddies where sleeping.
Now on to that statement. Ayalon, sitting opposite Stephanopoulos for one of the most softball interviews I've seen this side of Wolf Blitzer chatting with his former AIPAC clients in the Israeli government, made the following outrageous statement, which I'll paraphrase until the transcript is posted.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The Israeli government has said it takes full responsibility for the bombing and has said it would investigate. But this morning, the Lebanese prime minister called this a war crime. Is it a war crime?
AYALON: Yes, it is a war crime. ... one committed by Hezbollah, which is using innocent civilians as human shields. ... By the way, George, speaking formally, the Fourth Geneva Convention states that if civilians caught in the crossfire are hiding enemy fighters, they are participants, and are not protected. ... Ayalon then seemed to realize the implication of what he had just said -- that the women and children whose bodies were being dug out of the rubble of that apartment building were essentially Hezbollah sympathisers who deserved their fate, and did not merit the protections of Geneva -- and begun to stumble out a walk-back. You could hear him in garbled fashion starting to say "that is not to suggest..." but Stephanopoulos cut him off, breezing past what Ayalon had just said, to ask again about Israel taking responsibility and investigating the bombing.
This was one of the more stunning statements out of Israel, although the U.N. ambassador's claim that Hezbollah was "holding those civilians hostage in that basement against their will" comes close. As Richard Engel reported for NBC just before the ambassador came on, the people left in places like Qana and Tyre at this point are those who are too poor to flee, or who have no place to go. The fact that they are still there after the Israeli leaflets doesn't mean they are tantamount to Hezbollah fighters in skirts and short pants. They are civilians. Mostly women and children. And Israel is killing them with abandon, and justifying it with rhetoric that borders on the outrageous.
Here's the BBC's version of events:
More than 54 civilians, at least 34 of them children, have been killed in a town in south Lebanon in the deadliest Israeli strike of the conflict so far.
Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit.
Lebanon's prime minister denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with the US secretary of state.
Israel said it regretted the incident - but added that civilians had been warned to flee the village.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would "continue to act with no hesitation against Hezbollah" which has been firing rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon.
He is reported to have told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel needs 10-14 days to press its offensive.
Israel's military has asked United Nations observers in southern Lebanon to evacuate two more villages - Ramyah and Ayta ash-Shab - before sunset, but they are unable to do so, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said.
Attack condemned
Hundreds of Lebanese protesters staged a violent demonstration, ransacking the UN headquarters in Beirut, chanting slogans against the US and Israel and in support of the Hezbollah militants.
Several countries have condemned the attack and renewed their calls for an immediate ceasefire - opposed by Israel and the US.
At an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, Mr Annan urged members to strongly condemn the Qana attack and to put aside differences to call for an immediate ceasefire.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday the situation could not continue and that all hostilities ought to cease once a UN resolution is adopted.
Lebanon's health minister now says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon since their operations began 19 days ago. ...
...A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict, sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July. And now for the world's revulsion reaction, courtesy of the BBC, starting with the reaction of the Arab and Muslim world, beginning with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who made another emotional address to his people early Sunday morning:
Out of respect for the souls of our innocent martyrs and the remains of our children buried under the rubble of Qana, we scream out to our fellow Lebanese and to other Arab brothers and to the whole world to stand united in the face of the Israeli war criminals.
The persistence of Israel in its heinous crimes against our civilians will not break the will of the Lebanese people. There is no place on this sad morning for any discussion other than an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as the international investigation into the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now. Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa:
The attacks that Israeli forces are launching targeting civilians and the Lebanese infrastructure are another confirmation of Israeli aggressive intentions. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (one of the Sunni Arab leaders who made the miscalculation that siding against Shiite Hezbollah might be a good play):
The Arab Republic of Egypt expresses its profound alarm and its condemnation of the irresponsible Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana, which resulted in innocent casualties, mostly women and children. Jordan's King Abdullah (who along with Mubarak, had found himself on the wrong side of the Arab street -- Sunni, Shia and otherwise -- on this subject before now, having rushed out to criticize Hezbollah on behalf of the United States, and who must be feeling the heat, particularly given his large Palestinian population):
This criminal aggression is an ugly crime that has been committed by the Israeli forces in the city of Qana that is a gross violation of all international statutes. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad (who has to look like the smartest guy in the Middle East right now, having put his mainly Sunni, secular country on the side of the "Shia crescent -- a gamble that has appeared so far, to have paid off for him, while his Arab League friends in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt squirm):
The massacre committed by Israel in Qana this morning shows the barbarity of this aggressive entity. It constitutes state terrorism committed in front of the eyes and ears of the world. And you can't leave out Iran, whose foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi had this to say:
The Qana bombing is the outcome of [US Secretary State Condoleezza] Rice's trip to the region. Some American officials should be put on trial for the crimes in Lebanon. Okay, that's not so unexpected. But let's head over to Europe:
In the U.K., British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett (who replaced a recalcitrant Jack Straw who made the mistake of not being rabid enough to attack Iran):
It's absolutely dreadful, it's quite appalling. Undoubtedly today's events will make things worse at least in the short term. We have repeatedly urged Israel to act proportionately. EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana:
I have talked to the prime minister of Lebanon... I have expressed to him my profound dismay and deep sorrow at the attack and the death of innocent civilians in Qana. Nothing can justify that. I have transmitted to him that the European Union is continuously working to reach an immediate ceasefire. Sweden's Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson:
It is time to end this madness. The UN Security Council must accept its responsibility and immediately adopt a resolution to bring an end to hostilities.
And here's Pope Benedict XVI, who has been calling for a ceasefire since day one:
"In the name of God, I appeal to all those responsible for this spiral of violence, so that they immediately put down their arms on all sides," the pope told pilgrims and tourists at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome. Pausing slightly, he repeated the word "immediately."
"I appeal to governing leaders and to international institutions not to spare any effort to obtain this necessary cessation of hostilities," the pontiff said. According to overseas news reports, Lebanon has appealed to the Vatican for help in making the moral case for a ceasefire, given its large Maronite Christian community (a community, by the way, which apparently has also been driven into the arms of Hezbollah by the Israeli bombardment of that country). More on the Pope's statements here:
``Peace, peace, peace,'' pilgrims and tourists in the papal palace courtyard chanted, using the Italian word, ``pace,'' for peace as they briefly interrupted the pontiff.
``In this moment I cannot help but think of the situation, ever more grave and more tragic, that the Middle East is going through: hundreds of dead, so many wounded, a huge number of the homeless and refugees, houses, cities and infrastructure destroyed, while in the hearts of many, hate and the will for revenge seem to grow,'' Benedict said, opening his remarks on the clashes between the Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Israel's military.
``These facts demonstrate clearly that you cannot re-establish justice, create a new order and build authentic peace when you resort to instruments of violence,'' the pontiff said. Israelis, turn to your neighbor and say, "neighbor... is Pope Benedict talking to you...?"
And now, the Israeli reaction, first from tourism minister Yitzhak Herzog (this can't be a good couple of weeks for him...):
We are very sorry. We take this with great pain...but we have the full right to defend our people.
In the past few days, hundreds of rockets were launched at the Galilee from the vicinity of Qana and from Qana itself.
It turns my stomach, and my heart aches for them, but we have to tell the truth - rockets designed to kill and harm thousands of Israelis were launched from that very place. We would like a ceasefire as soon as possible. Oh, would ya, now? Not according to this guy...
All the residents were warned and called upon to leave. There are hiding places for rockets inside the village and the village itself is a safe haven for those who launch rockets. We have no policy to target innocent civilians.
I think it needs to be clear that Israel is in no rush to reach a ceasefire before we get to a point where we could say that we have achieved the main objectives we had set forth.
This requires a ripening of the diplomatic process and a specific agreement regarding the formation of the force that will operate from the areas from which Israel was threatened in this period. That would be Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
By the way, if you watched "This Week" you saw the Lebanese National Security Advisor say that this was the second Israeli massacre in Qana. In actuality, it is the third major event for which this tragic little city is known. More, again from the terrific, thorough, BBC:
...In realms of biblical narrative, some believe it to be the scene of Jesus Christ's first miracle, turning water into wine during the wedding at Cana of Galilee.
In modern times, it was the scene of one of the bloodiest events of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict, the Israeli shelling of a UN base sheltering Lebanese civilians 10 years ago.
International shock at those deaths - more than 100, and another 100 injured - led to huge pressure for a ceasefire deal bringing an end to Israel's last sustained military operation against Hezbollah militants, codenamed Operation Grapes of Wrath.
The Qana Massacre, as it is known in Lebanon, remains a powerful symbol for Lebanese people of what they say is Israel's indiscriminate and disproportionate response to Hezbollah's rocket attacks.
...Israel still insists the 1996 shelling was an accident and that its forces had a legitimate militant target - a Hezbollah military unit that had fired mortars and rockets from near the Qana base.
Then, as now, Israel accused Hezbollah of using the civilian population as human shields when they launched their attacks.
However, a UN investigation reported in May 1996 that the deaths at the Qana base were unlikely to have been the result of an accident as claimed by the Israelis.
The UN report cited the repeated use of airburst shells over the small UN compound, which sent down a deadly torrent of shrapnel that caused terrible injuries among the unprotected civilians.
The UN also noted the presence of Israeli helicopters and a drone in the skies over Qana which must have witnessed the bloodbath.
Strategic location
In the current round of Israel's bombardment, Qana has again been in the news - the scene of several incidents, such as the bombing by Israel of two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances and the death of a young Lebanese photojournalist, Layal Nejib, also in an air strike on her car. ...
... It lies at the northern edge of the Lebanon's southern uplands which border Israel and also at the confluence of five strategic roads in the hinterland south-east of the southern city of Tyre.
Qana and the villages surrounding it are a strong pro-Hezbollah area and Israel says it has repeatedly been used to fire rockets over the border about 10km (six miles) to the south. Finally, Israel has claimed that all of its targets are strategic in nature, and aimed at stopping rocket fire into Israel from southern Lebanon. But as Tim Russert pointed out this morning, that doesn't explain the shelling of targets all over Lebanon, as shown by a map released by the Siniora government in Lebanon.
And as people around the world take to the streets, including in the equally embattled Palestinian territories, the linkage between what Israel is doing, and who is supplying her, is clear to every single person in the street.
And inevitably, troubling questions are already beginnning to be asked (though not by the itenierant journalists of the U.S., who can barely manage to get a sentence out without warbling about the fictional Hezbollah rocket attacks that started before Israel launched their airstrikes,) about whether this, like everything else in the Middle East or Central Asia that has George W. Bush and Dick Cheney's fingerprints on it, is about oil.
Whatever the geopolitics involved, I can see no reason to justify what Israel is doing. I got an email this week from a very thoughtful gentleman who made the case that on the radio and on this blog, I have been too soft on Hezbollah. He likened the situation to David Duke, the notorious Klansman who tried to clean up his image and run for office. The emailer asked, would that make him a politician? My answer is no, it makes him a Klansman trying to be a politician. But if the United States government decided to eliminate Duke and his fellow Klansman by firebombing Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, levelling homes, destroying the infrastructure and killing lots of civilian women and chilren as collective punishment because those states harbored both Klansmen and Klan-like sympathies, the world would rightly decry us as barbarians, and the people of those states, white and Black, would burn with hatred for those who bombed them, even if purportedly to save them from Klan infiltration.
And so the scorn being heaped upon Israel is more than justified this morning, whether or not you see their Hezbollah as our KKK. Previous: Tags: News, Current affairs, Middle East, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Condi Rice, Bush, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Politics, war, Iran, Iraq, neoconservatives |
