Bush, Blair, and Israel: A concerted agression on Lebanese civilians during last year's July war

I was away from the blogosphere for one week and nearly missed this interesting post by Craig Murray* shedding some new light on what appeared to be the inability of western governments, especially Blair's, on which many have pinned hopes to stop the savage bombings of civilians in Lebanon by Israel because of its good relations with the US government who was actively and openly promoting and supporting Israel's war on Lebanon (remember Rice's many trips to the ME during this war and famous declaration about the ME pangs of birth ?).

Well, behind the scenes, UK's diplomacy was actually working the other way. While Margaret Beckett, Blair's minister for foreign affairs, as other western leaders, was showing support for the west's darling Lebanese PM Fouad Sanyura with a short visit and a declaration about how her country was working hard to achieve a ceasefire, the UK's mission at the UN was instructed to keep a ceasefire off the agenda.

Murray relates the following: "I had a friend and former colleague call me from our Mission to the United Nations phone me from New York at the time in deep personal despair, as he had been instructed to keep an early ceasfire resolution off the Security Council agenda by making it known that we would veto it. Meanwhile everyday he was seeing news footage of dead Lebanese children dragged from the rubble of their homes. "

At the time, I was deeply moved by British peace activists efforts to expose the UK's complicity and bring the case of war crimes against Israel and its allies in this war by attempting on the night of 6th to 7th August last year, when Israel knew it was loosing the war and consequently intensified its bombings on civilians in a will to inflict maximum damage, to look at Prestwick airport for evidence of US munitions bound for Israel for use in the Lebanon conflict, among them the infamous cluster bombs who continued to kill children well after the end of the war. At the time, we, citizen of Lebanon, felt totally abandoned by our own government and by the international community, who was supporting our government but refusing a ceasefire to save our children, our civilians, and our source of living and infrastructure (remember the ugly oil spill all over the Lebanese coast and the cluster bopmbs scattered in our fields resulting from Israel's bombings ?).

Eight activists were charged of trespassing. Seven were acquitted by the court this August. The remaining activist, Marcus Armstrong, who was charged, refused to pay a 750 pounds fine and preferred prison for 20 days. Indy media Scotland reports that a prominent expert witness of the defendants testified that "a collusion in war crime was relevant to the context of the trial.
Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University told the court that war crime by Israel was very much an issue at the time of the incident at the airport. Israel had been breaching international law by targeting its air strikes in Lebanon at areas and installations liable to contain civilians. They had asked the US for an emergency top-up supply of bombs. US planes delivering these armaments would need a fuel stop-over in the UK and Prestwick was one of the options."

This shows, among others, that activism is never vain, especially when it is brought to the courts of law where it can serve as a basis to build a case for war crimes against powerful governments by ordinary citizens. The impulse shouldn't be changed, it only need to be intensified and extended. As Craig Murray rightly states, Marcus Armstrong is a prisoner of conscience and I wish everyone had his conscience during this ugly war. I wish him well.

Read what Jonathan Cook, Correspondant in Nazareth, has to say about the July war of agression on Lebanon.

*As Britain's outspoken Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, Craig Murray helped expose vicious human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of Islam Karimov. He is now a prominent critic of Western policy in the region.

What's In a Name: Israel names its July war on Lebanon

Just In; Israel has finally given a name to its July war on Lebanon.

A great debate was waging in Israel these last weeks and days. Was the July war on Lebanon a war or an operation ? And if it was a war then it must be given a name. Israel has a permanent official commission for these matters presided by Yaacov Edri; commission for symbols and official ceremonies.

Initially the military leadership has planned the war on lebanon as an 'operation', a matter of two days to crush Hezbollah and occupy south Lebanon up to the Litani river, a river the zionists were coveting for a long time to satisfy Israel's scandalous needs for fresh water. Monday, the commission took an important decision and declared the operation as a WAR "en bonne et due forme". Then the commission moved on to name the war. You see, the Jewish state has so many wars behind and so many to come that they must name them, like Hurricanes. For instance, the 1982 war on Lebanon was named 'Peace In Galilee'.

Asked about a name on Ynet, Israelis gave different names to this war: 'The big shame', 'The stupid war', 'Operation defeat' or 'My last war, by Amir Peretz'. Lebanese, on the other hand have instantly given this war the name of 'The July war'. while Hezbollah named it 'The divine victory'.

Finally, it seems that Israel settled for 'The second Lebanese war' as a name. It seems that the name was already given by Israelis and the commission endorsed it. When you start numbering wars it means that you are no longer in a cyclical paradigm, it means that you are in a linear paradigm, total victory or total defeat.

Read 'Name Calling', UrShalim's bitter sweet post on the subject.

Israël choisit un nom pour sa "guerre" de l'été 2006 avec le Liban
LEMONDE.FR | 22.03.07

©