Month: July 2006

Solidarity forum in NY on Saturday

Anti-war activists are planning a solidarity event with Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, in New York this Saturday. Here’s the press release:

Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq
Stop US/Israel War on the Middle East
Emergency Forum

In the last 2 weeks, Israel has unleashed a barbaric campaign of destruction against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
Using the pretext of recent kidnapping of 3 soldiers by Hamas and Hezollah, Israel has been bombing power plants, bridges, airports and roads in Gaza and Lebanon thus leaving millions of Arab civilians without electricity, water and food. Israel’s crimes against humanity are taking place with the support of the US government. Continue reading Solidarity forum in NY on Saturday

Help Lebanon directly

Passing on email requests from Lebanon for aid and money:

Espaces D is a Beirut art gallery. Its owners are collecting money to help refugees:

Account Number: 001-004-361-236446-01-3
SGBL Sin El Fil
SWIFT: SGLILBBX

You can also donate clothes, food, sheets, mattresses etc…
The head office is in Sassine Square
For more info: 03 35 27 27

For the NGO Al Hoda:

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Al Huda Society for Social Care is a civic non profit organization based and active in Beirut. The Society was established in 1987 during the Lebanese civil war. It has been active in providing social care for underprivileged families in Beirut, responding to the needs of each era. Its activities included launching a sponsorship program for children, who were orphaned during the 1975-1990 war; providing a day care services center for children; organizing summer camps for children of the occupied zone in South Lebanon (before 2000); providing assistance and relief for internally displaced families during the Israeli attack on Lebanon in April 2006; and establishing Nasma Learning and Resource Centre for students in public schools in the Ras Beirut area.

In light of the Israeli attack on Lebanon at this time, thousands of families have fled the most afflicted areas to become refugees in other parts of their country, including Beirut . Al-Huda Society has redirected its resources to cater to the needs of as many families as possible. Currently it is responsible for the welfare of around 200 displaced families in the Ras Beirut area. It is distributing daily rations to each family with the cost of each ration being 15 USD. The Society aspires to increase the number of families in its care, as the number of families fleeing the Israeli bombardment is continuously increasing. The essential condition for achieving this goal is increasing resources, namely financial.

In this respect all assistance is a need.

Please send your donations to:
Account Name: Al Houda Society
Account No. 02 43020 047465
Bank: Bankmed
Branch: Makdessi Branch
Via: Bank of New York , New York
A/C No. 8900057343
UID: CH035040
SWIFT: MEDLLBBX

Click on the thumbnail below for more lists of organizations and accounts:

Soumoud

Latest developments

From a Reuters feed, no comment:

July 20 (Reuters) – Following are developments in the Middle East.

* Hizbollah fight fierce battles with Israeli troops on Lebanese border, as thousands more foreigners flee 9-day-old war in Lebanon

* The fighting has killed at least 311 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel

* Israeli forces take casualties in heavy fighting with Hizbollah guerrillas just inside Lebanon. Al Jazeera TV says four Israelis are killed. Israeli media report eight soldiers wounded. Hizbollah says one of its fighters is killed.

* Israeli army says 30 rockets fired by Hizbollah land in northern Israel, cause no casualties

Continue reading Latest developments

The War Tapes

Arabist reader and friend SP sent me this interesting link about a US military documentary project, the war tapes.com

Here are her thoughts on it…

The documentary is put together mainly from footage taken by three soldiers in the same battalion, with their commentary, and from interviews with their families back home, from 2004-2005. These are citizen-soldiers, guys who signed up for the National Guard post 9/11, rather than professional soldiers, real New England average Joes. Except for one extremely interesting Lebanese American chap (who looks so much like Ali G’s Bruno persona that there’s some cognitive dissonance at first) whose parents brought him to the US as an adolescent to escape the civil war in Lebanon (his rather dramatic mother is a treat). No grand patriotic fervour here, though most of them nominally support Bush and the war, many signed up for the military for pragmatic reasons without expecting to be deployed. One of the soldiers says he thinks it will give him a sense of purpose.

Continue reading The War Tapes

More pictures from Lebanon

Are all these people members of Hizbullah?

Bir Abed Abs
Teir Hafra 1 (South) July 15 Ap
Southern Suburb Tuesday Afp

I’ve uploaded some 144 pics sent by email by Hanady Salman, of the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, at the Flickr account. Let people see them since they won’t be shown in most newspapers (even though many are from AP and AFP!) WARNING: some of them are even more graphic than the first set — it makes you wonder what weapons are being used that could cause so much damage to human bodies.

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Rapture fans “excited” about Lebanon

It’s not only the neocons who are happy about the carnage in Lebanon. The extremist fringe of the American Christian right, which believes conflict in the Middle East heralds the End Times and prepares something called Rapture (essentially the spiriting away of real Christians before the anti-Christ makes a mess of the world), is really excited by what’s happening in Lebanon. Harpers quotes from a Rapture chat room:

Praise God! We are chosen to be in these times and also watch and spread the word. Something inside me is exploding to get out, and I don’t know what it is. Its kind of like I want to do cartwheels around the neighborhood.

* * *

In another thread, someone brought up the fact that the kidnapping of the first Israeli soldier that started this whole thing was on June 25th and if you count from that day to August 3rd…….it is *EXACTLY 40 days!!!!!*

I find that to be a HUGE coincidence.

* * *

A question just popped in my head. Do you think children of around say 7 or 8 (but before the age of accountability) that have been indoctrinated up until that time by their parents religious beliefs will be raptured? . . . For example, would a 7 year old muslim be raptured? I know G-d will do right but I was just wondering everyone’s thoughts. I hate to think of kids being left here.

* * *

Got that dancing feeling on the inside of me.

* * *

This is the busiest I’ve ever seen this website in a few years! I have been having rapture dreams and I can’t believe that this is really it! We are on the edge of eternity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just so you know what kind of people are saying this, the series of novels about Rapture have been the best-selling books in America for years.

Note to any aliens reading this: please abduct me from this sick planet.

Sharqawi’s lawyer calls for release of MB detainees

Gamal 3eid–lawyer for Sharqawi and Sha3er, and the leftist director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information–issued a statement today, welcoming his clients’ release, but called up on the newly appointed Public Prosecutor to investigate the Qasr el-Nil officers who are involved in Sharqawi’s torture and put an end to police brutality; to curb the powers of State Security officers; and to release the Muslim Brothers prisoners of conscience.

3alaa has posted a very nice picture of Sharqawi, Sha3er and some of their fellow released detainees from Youth for Change here…

Wael 3abass posted more pix of Sharqawi and Sha3er here, in addition to his account of the day in Arabic.

And here’s Malek’s account of the day of Sharqawi’s release.

UN hints at war crimes in Lebanon

Finally, the UN talks about holding war criminals to account:

GENEVA, July 19 (REUTERS) – The scale of killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territory of Gaza could constitute war crimes, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said international humanitarian law was clear on the need to protect non-combatants in any conflict. “This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said.

“The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control,” she said, without directly accusing anyone.

Would have liked to see a stronger and more specific statement, but it’s a beginning. If Israel is not held accountable it will be able to do this again and again with impunity.

Here are Commissioner Arbour’s statement and a previous one in which she says “the destruction of Gaza’s electricity power station may be a violation of international humanitarian law.”