fiesta desviada

Meeting Ahmad on the Burnt Side of the Border!

I arrived to meet Ahmad after a high emotionally-charged trip through the destroyed villages along the Israel-Lebanese border. We stood there silently sobbing watching the forbidden land that we consider Palestine as we puffed our cigarettes along with our frustration and helplessness. On one side of the border total destruction, burnt land and graffiti of resistance; and on the other side, green fields and tidily arranged houses protected by Israeli military. All look serene rendering the scene more brutal and surreal. Borders never looked more ridiculous and painful, a winding barbed wire with fences and military roads marking the separation, cutting through a land that looks very much alike. A land that is one, a natural continuation divided by a war machine and ruthless bombing. We had to leave quickly; the feeling of helplessness and frustration in the face of such a ridiculous fence and such grave injustice was too intense to bear.

I met Ahmad in his village, Dayr Seryan, in the south of Lebanon while he was playing with his friends around plastic water tanks stacked in front of the village´s school. The tanks were waiting to be distributed part of relief programs and were the source of imagination for the kids game. They were playing war, using the water tanks as shelters, running around throwing little stones at each others then screaming “go to the shelter, go to the shelter” before they run laughing to hide between the lines of grey water tanks and stay still for a while before they storm out and start throwing pebbles again. Even as we sat to talk we were not spared few pebbles and laughs from the crowd inciting us to leave the interview and join the game. Ahmad is 12 years old and he spent 21 days in his village during the war before they left during the 24-hour ceasefire declared by Israel – a ceasefire Ahmad told me was restricted to aerial bombing while the Israeli cannons thundered in the distance. He caught my attention from the first minute, the way he spoke calmly with a smile and much confidence, and the way he stared at the ground and took time to think before he answered. His friends were all around us, teasing him to which he responded with a wide smile and closed eyes as he turned his head down. Ahmad´s father works in Qatar while he lives with his mother and two siblings, an older brother and a 5-year-old sister – in the village.

Where did you stay during the first 21 days of the war? and what do you remember of those days?

We stayed in our house, with our grandparents and our uncles and their families. We played all day as our parents watched the news or listened to the radio. At night there was a lot of noise from the bombs. The noise felt much louder at night and scared us a lot, during the day we could ignore it and play, but at night it was impossible. We also had to turn the lights off so the planes won´t know that there are people inside. I kept telling myself that if things become very dangerous my family will save me, this is how I went to sleep. We heard that some families had no food left, but we had grains and we were taking vegetables from our garden to eat. Sometimes there were people from the Civil Defense delivering bread, and when they did not come due to the bombing my mother would bake some. What scared me the most were the empty streets. It was very scary to look out anytime and not see anyone nor heard any movement. We felt all alone though there were many people in the village. This was the scariest part. My little sister was crying all the time, and we could not do anything to make her stop. Even letting her play with my toys did not work.”

How did you leave the village?

After they bombed the bridge connecting the villages in our area to the north of the country, the people of the village decided to leave during the ceasefire. People started going out of their houses bit by bit. At first I could see few families walking down the streets, then more and more till we became around 400 people walking. Immeh (my mother) told me not to be scared, and that everything would be fine once we leave, I believed her but still I was scared. You could hear the cannons in the background. All through the way I was thinking about what will happen if they start bombing us. It was all over the news that they were bombing caravans of people leaving their villages. I thought they will start bombing us any minute. We leaved at 8 am and walked till a village where we could find cars to take us to Beirut. We walked around 3 hours. There were a lot of people walking with their things, also from other villages. Some people were throwing away things they were carrying because they were getting tired. Some children like my sister were crying, I held Immeh´s hand and tried not to be scared.

What do you think of the UNIFIL?

They are here to protect us. Before they did nothing to protect us, but now they say they will. We will see.

There is a UNIFIL base very close to your village, why did not you go there to hide instead of walking for hours?

We did not want to be the only ones to go there, and the people in the village were scared that Israel might bomb the UNIFIL base if we went there. They did it before in Qana and killed a lot of people. It was much better to go far from Israel.”

You told me you went to Syria after you left the village, how was it there?
I was worried about my grandparents who stayed in Beirut. We were bored in Syria and did not have our toys with us. But it was good because my father met us there and we got to spend time with him though most of the time he was either waiting for the news or trying to phone the family in Beirut.

Did you want to leave the village?

I do not know. I did not think about it. We did not have the choice, and I was scared. Here we were sitting around waiting for the bombs expecting to be hit any time. We had to run away. If I was older I would have helped defend the village, but now I do not know how.

When did you come back, and what can you tell me about it?

We came back to the village few days after the final ceasefire. My parents were anxious to see if our house was destroyed. When we arrived the house was still there, but we were told that the Israeli soldiers stayed in it during the few days they occupied the village. A lot of furniture were broken, and there were a lot of mattresses on the floor and a bit of the food they left behind. We were scared that they might come back, it felt like the house smelled of them. My mother was crying when we entered, she thought we would never come back to see it standing. They threw our year-stock of grains on the floor, mixed all different kinds in a pile then poured oil on it. We had to throw it all. Immeh was very upset about that.

Why do you think they did it?

I do not know. I think to hurt and scare us. But maybe ask them, why did they kill all those children. It is very easy, give us our prisoners and let them take theirs, without the war.

Do you think they will start another war? and if so, what to do?

I do not know, but they will come back for their soldiers. We have to let them go anyway; but after they free our prisoners in Israeli jails. I do not like war and it scares me; but I feel for the prisoners, poor them we have to free them. Israel has been detaining them and torturing them for such a long time. If they start a war again, we have to protect ourselves, we have to support the resistance... they are the only ones defending the village.

Do you have any message to the world?
(smiles shyly) I do not know.

And to the resistance?
May god protect them, and grant them victory.

Do you think we won this war?
We stopped them this time, but maybe they will come back. There were a lot of destroyed houses and a lot of people died; they are all martyrs. The prisoners are still in jail; poor them. I do not know, yes I think we won.

Ahmad´s friends were getting restless around us, giggling and teasing him by chanting “Ahmad, the martyr”. He looked to the ground and smiled shyly - I left him at that point. There was nothing more I wanted to know, or could bear to ask. It was becoming harder for me to fake strength in front of his, holding back my tears was choking me in front of his words of defiance and the calmness of his voice. I did not live this past war, and did not feel entitled to break down in front of him while he held together so beautifully. I thanked him, and he ran to join his friends in throwing pebbles at me before they ran to hide behind the water tanks shouting to me to come to the shelter... I walked away towards the car. In Ahmad´s village there is not a single bomb shelter, a village contaminated with cluster bombs, few kilometers away from the Israeli – Lebanese border, few kilometers away from a green land packed with beautiful houses with red-brick roofs and lots of bomb shelters – those are Israeli settlements.

Photos by Sandy Chamoun, Big thank you, to Ahmad and his friends as well!

Stop "Autumn Clouds" from killing civilians in Gaza! ACT NOW!

The Israeli military is engaging in an continuous offensive in Gaza, which resulted so far in more than 300 injured, and more than 70 killed - mostly civilians. Please take action urgently to stop this madness named by the Israeli military “Operation Autumn Clouds”.

I just came from a candle vigil at the mass graveyard of the victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. The pain is unbelievable, it is the same story again and again with the civilian toll rising. More actions are planned in Lebanon in solidarity with the people of Palestine and those being massacred in Gaza. I do not know what to say... I chose to post an account from Beit Hanoun... please read on...

Appeal from the people of Beit Hanoun - click here


The Massacre of Beit Hanoun

From Electronic Intifada, Yousef Alhelou writing from Beit Hanoun, occupied Gaza Strip, 8 November 2006

One day after the Israel army declared that it had pulled out and completed Operation Autumn Clouds in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and the West Bank, 19 people were killed and at least 45 were injured as a large number of shells were fired at the town. Another five Palestinians were killed in Jenin, northern West Bank by Israeli army fire.

The series of incidents began at 6 a.m., when eyewitness said that dozens of tank shells and missiles landed simultaneously in a small and limited area in Beit Hanoun. Ambulances found it difficult to evacuate the wounded. According to Palestinian sources, some of the shells landed on a house, killing 11 members of one family called Al-A'athamein, including a nine-year-old child and a 73-year-old woman. Israeli sources confirmed that artillery shells were fired Wednesday morning. Incredibly, they said it was not yet known whether the matter was a technical error or a human one.

Sources in Gaza reported that some of those killed were hurt after shells hit a group of civilians who arrived to aid those hurt in the first barrage. Residents in the area were called to donate blood for fear that the number of casualties would be higher. Khaled Radi, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, said all the dead were civilians. He said seven children and four women were among the dead.

Radi also said at least 45 more were wounded, all civilians. Four hospitals are treating the wounded across Gaza. Emergency and first aid director in the ministry of health, Dr Moa'aweyah Hasanein announced that the latest round of Israeli war crimes in Gaza has resulted in a new massacre in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Nineteen innocent civilians, including seven children and four women, have been murdered brutally as they slept in their own house. This brings this week's toll alone to around 80 Palestinian martyrs and more than 350 have been injured.

In a huge demonstration outside the morgue at the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, thousands called for revenge. Hundreds of Palestinians began marching in the northern Gaza Strip, in protest of the IOF operation in Beit Hanoun. The protestors chanted slogans against Israel and demanded revenge.

President Mahmoud Abbas declared a three-day mourning period, closing schools after the horrific massacres against civilians in Beit Hanoun northern Gaza. "This is a horrible, ugly massacre committed by the occupation against our children, our women and elderly in Beit Hanoun," he said in a statement. "We urge and call the Security Council to convene immediately to stop the massacres committed against our people and to uphold their responsibility to stop these massacres." During an emergency meeting of the Palestinian cabinet, PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced that efforts to form a national unity government have been suspended after "this awful massacre."

The labor syndicate in Gaza called today for general strike and to urged citizens to visit the families of the victims and wounded people in hospitals. The government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, appealed to the international community to mobilize and stop Israel from carrying out such massacres against unarmed Palestinians. " Israel is a nation that has no human values and is a disgrace to the modern world," he said.

Palestinian Health Minister Bassem Naim referred to the trend of similar incidents, saying that killing constitutes a policy and a target for the Israelis. He stated, "I have no words to describe the ugly Israeli massacre in Beit Hanoun this morning." According to Naim, "This massacre is added to another massacre which the town has only just emerged from. This morning's operation only proves that killing is Israel's target, and this is proved by the massive fire at the medical teams arriving at the area." Naim added that more proof was the inclusion into the Israeli government Avigdor Lieberman, who openly calls for the killing Palestinians.

"The massacre in Beit Hanoun proves that the Israeli government is committing war crimes against civilians," said Israeli Knesset member Talab El-Sana after the incident. "Palestinian children and women are murdered in their homes and in their beds. Olmert, Peretz and Halutz are war criminals who failed the first war and are committing war crimes in the second war." He called for "the end of the ongoing slaughter" and said "tanks cannot kill the dream of a people aspiring to independence and freedom."

Mohamed A'athamnah, 37, said, "The Israeli army claims that they pulled out from our town. They are not physically here but their smells and their bad image still here, they continue their brutal, horrific massacres against civilians in Beit Hanoun and in all the Palestinian territories. They want to achieve victory here after they were defeated in south Lebanon. They only understand the language of force. They are vampires who don't know mercy; the bodies of children scattered everywhere in the site ... God be with us, the whole world turns a blind eye."

"It is the saddest scene and images I have ever seen," 29-year-old Majed Kafarnah said. "I saw people coming out of a house covered in blood. I started screaming to wake up the neighbors." Mona Al-Zanoiun, 41, said, "They destroyed the houses above our houses, killed women and children; they are criminals, they murder us in cold blood. Where is the international community and Security Council to see these massacres? We do not want them to send us food; we want them to take brave actions to stop these crimes." She described what happened to the town as akin to a tsunami and destructive earthquake.

Nidal Mater, 53, said, "Once again they commit massacres against civilians, but they will not break our sprit. We will not leave our land; all of us are ready to die for the sake of freedom." He added, "they use their arsenal to kill children and women. They are cowards; hatred has been engraved in our hearts and we will never forget. Where is their democracy? I wonder, are they just human beings like us? They destroy our agriculture fields, water, electricity networks and infrastructure -- we cannot recognize our streets. Destruction is everywhere, even mosques, which are considered holy places, destroyed!"

Noor Masoud, 14, stated, "My message to the Israeli army is, well done -- every day you prove to us that you are the most polite army of the world." She was crying when she spoke and added, "If you ask the trees and walls in Beit Hanoun they will tell you how merciful the Israeli army is! It's so funny when the Israeli government expresses its regret following this horrific, awful massacre."

Mahmoud Nasser, 33, said, "We rush from one mourning tent to the other because of the operation that only ended yesterday and already we have to deal with a new massacre. Difficult images, dead children, injured children with their faces torn. It's unbelievable." There was an ugly scene in the town's hospital as well, where mothers cried out as they carried their injured children. He added that all of Beit Hanoun "is busy with only one thing, moving the dead and wounded. All this between puddles of blood, lots of blood and body parts, next to some of the bodies were the schoolbags and sandwiches of children preparing to go to school."

Um Zeyad, 42, said that she had lost four of her children in the incident: Muhand, Mahadi, Arafat and Saad. "I am proud to be the mother of the Shahids [martyrs]; it is a great honor and we pray to Allah to compensate us," the bereaved mother said. She added two days ago "the Israeli army stole $1800 from my sister's house; another woman in the same house tried to prevent him from stealing the money, but he hit her by this gun to her head and she lost consciousness. The soldier refused to allow a woman to bring water, 42 of us were women and children trapped in one room."

I asked a man about what had happened and he started crying. Another man said, "It's normal to see a woman cry but it's very hard to see a man cry." He added, "We lost our houses, family members, loved ones and they destroyed our agricultural fields, citrus trees and olive trees, which are our only income. Today Palestinians united against one enemy."

Yousef Alhelou is a freelance Palestinian journalist. He can be contacted at ydamadan@hotmail.com.

When Rain Becomes the Nightmare: National Day Against Cluster Bombs!

When it comes to cluster bombs, rain was again an issue; a big tent was put up in Martyr´s square in downtown Beirut to host the event to avoid the pouring sky. Many NGOs, local and international, gathered to raise awareness about this indiscriminate weapon and to voice a demand for a ban on its manufacturing, distribution and usage. School children and adults toured the multiple sections of the event, an extensive photo exhibit revealing the perilous impact of these weapons in Southern Lebanon; a booth and area where specialists illustrated the stages in constructing prosthetics and artificial limbs, and where the public could also try them along with wheel chairs; a puppet show for children raising awareness amongst the children; a musical concert by handicapped children; a re-production of a contaminated zone and a display of the different types of cluster munitions coupled with demining demonstrations; an exhibit of products and crafts made by Lebanese victims of landmines. The event included signing a petition (sign online) against the production, trade, stockpiling, and use of cluster munitions.

The day was intense and very charged especially around the center of the tent where a re-production of a contaminated field was displayed. The display included a small tree branch with a cluster bomb hanging from it – a fraction of a scene reminding of more than a million unexploded munitions scattered around the south of Lebanon. A double crime according to Ms. Karine Gavand, Handicap International (HI) Project Manager for the National Day Against Cluster Munition. “They have to be banned, cluster munitions are a double crime. First during the conflict where they cover wide areas mostly civilian ones; and later after the ceasefire where they continue to kill civilians and have serious impacts not only on civilian lives but also high social and economical ones. Farmers cannot reach their fields, and they will not be able to plant the next year´s harvest. The scary thing is that a lot of people in the south live from agriculture and they need to go back, even if they are aware of the danger. If they cannot eat they will go even if it means risking their lives since for some it is the only income not just for this year, but for the year to come.”

HI Director of Mobilization and Political Action, Mr. Jean Marc Boivin, said “ we found out that 98% of the victims of cluster munitions are civilians with a third of that under the age of 18. Since the cease fire on August 14th, we have 158 civilian victims with twenty dead. Cluster bombs are a serious problem that can go on for years.” Mr. Boivin is working through HI alongside a wide range of international bodies to push for a ban on cluster munitions, something he said he is not willing to compromise. “We have to ban them, they are indiscriminate and their deadly effect can continue for years. Everyone should be pushing their governments to put a ban on such weapons. We get all kinds of excuses from governments against banning them, they are all unacceptable. Belgium is a good example - though the only one; a ban on cluster munitions came in action in Belgium despite the strong lobby of factories making them and businesses benefiting from the distribution. In France we managed to collect 300,000 signatures demanding the ban, and we called presidential candidates to ask them what position would they take in case they won. They all said they would support a ban except for candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.”

Ms. Gavand said that cluster munitions continue to be a problem in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo – to name a few, and even in Laos more than 30 years after their usage by US forces. Usually cluster munitions have a failure rate between 5 and 30 % but in Lebanon it was as high as 40. Ms. Gavand linked this among other reasons to Lebanese soil since the softer the soil is the less the chances are for these bombs to explode immediately. She also spoke of the way they were used by Israel by being launched too low adding “we do not know if this was intentional or not, but it must have contributed to the high failure rate.” She also spoke of Israel using outdated bombs going as back as the seventies, something supported by multiple reports from international investigations of the contaminated areas, and visible in the photos of the cluster-bomb shells in the exhibition in Beirut. She expressed deep concern over the rain season; “marked contaminated areas will be wiped out by the rain affecting all the mapping done, and cluster munitions will be moved from place, let alone be covered by mud and hidden away. All this will make cleaning the areas much harder adding to a lengthy, costly and slow process – all of which will have serious impacts on civilians in the area. The rain most probably will affect the agreed upon due-date for finishing the cleaning which is set for the end of 2007.”

Mr. Boivin stressed all through the interview on the urgency of banning such weapons; he mentioned scary stocks of sub-munitions worldwide going as high as 800 million bomblets only with the USA. He spoke of the international network working for a ban on cluster bombs, and especially in Europe. Yet these efforts, according to Mr. Boivine, are faced with a strong lobby of arms manufacturers supported by various governments, some of which still did not sign the Ottawa treaty banning landmines. He extended responsibility to businesses investing in factories of cluster bombs, and gave an example AXA, a worldwide banking and insurance group which was found to be investing in companies such as Textron and ATK who are known to be manufacturing these indiscriminate weapons.

Victims of cluster munitions in Lebanon, according to Ms. Gavand, do not only suffer serious injuries such as amputations, but also suffer shrapnels all over their bodies – a nightmare made clear in the photos displayed through out the event courtesy of the Norwegian People´s Aid. Photos that showed boxes piled with cluster bombs, contaminated fields with sheep and shepherds walking around, amputated victims, children with shrapnels going as deep as their lungs, cluster bombs in house vicinities, and even a bloodied stretcher used to transport an injured civilian. The images are so strong that no words can describe them, yet this is only a still reproduction of a much more horrid reality.

I spoke to Mr. Imad Khoshman from Al-Jarha Foundation, himself a victim of Israeli war on Lebanon in 1986 leaving him with an amputated leg. Al-Jarha Foundation (Al-Jarha translates into the injured) takes care of victims of the Israeli war on Lebanon from physical rehabilitation to vocational training among other concerns. Mr. Khoshman, also an activist for handicapped rights in Lebanon and participant in many national platforms for this plight, spoke of the lack of attention from the Lebanese government towards the handicapped. “We have noticed that their priorities do not include our rights despite them being inherent and urgent” said Mr. Khoshman, “we have been pushing for the application of law 220/2000 that secure a step towards equality and integration for the handicapped whether war victims or not since 2000, yet unfortunately the government only complied with the littlest of the little.” Mr. Khoshman stressed the importance of raising awareness around cluster bombs, and also the urgency of the clearance. He said “I urge the international community not only to ban cluster munitions, but to extend financial and professional aid to the Lebanese government and the NGOs working on the issue. Also I urge the Lebanese government and the international community to give attention to the plight of the handicapped, and bear responsibility of the victims of cluster munitions and war.”

The event in Beirut is hoped to be a launch for many to come in various Lebanese areas in an attempt to raise awareness around the issue of cluster munitions in a hope to undermine to a certain extent the associated risks. But will it be enough to save the lives and the welfare of the people is the big question. It definitely will with the visible bomblets, but there lies the danger of the hidden ones, those tucked under stones or covered with mud. Ms. Gavand said that though she saw quite a lot of pictures of clusters before heading to the south on a field trip, it still took her few minutes to visually locate one tucked away in dry branches though it was pointed out to her by one of the demining experts. Those few minutes that are more than enough to cost a person her or his life are another call for a total ban on this weapon. Awareness is indispensable and life-saving but is not enough - as much as demining and cleaning the contaminated areas are vital and a matter of life or death – yet it is still possible for some bomblets to escape expert hands especially with factors such as rain and the wide spread of the bomblets. This is what renders a ban on cluster bombs the most efficient way in terminating the danger of such indiscriminate weapons. Everyone I talked to at the event today had one message to the world, “ban it!”. More voices are needed and definitely more action against this outrageous crime. The toll is very high; it has been for a while and the horrid reality is that it will be on the rise for a long time.

According to the press release, the event in Beirut is also meant to “send a message to the international community prior to the Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Geneva, taking place from November 7 – 17.” A conference according to Mr. Boivin which is not meant to tackle the ban on cluster munitions but rather discuss the post-usage of such weapons which is by no way a solution, yet it poses a good opportunity for NGOs and groups working on the issue to coordinate and call for another international gathering to lay the foundations for a ban on the production, trade, stockpiling, and use of cluster munitions. How long will we have to wait? How high will the price be till the governments of the world reach such an urgent agreement? It is all in their hands, and ours. Act today!

Fotos by: Elsee Haddad

UNIFIL... out and about!

On the 15th of March, 1978 the Lebanese government submitted a complaint to the Security Council against the Israeli invasion and occupation of the entire southern part of the country except for the city of Tyre and its surrounding area. As a result, the Security Council adopted resolution 425 and 426 in which it called upon Israel to immediately cease its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory; and decided on the immediate establishment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) whose troops arrived in the area on the 23rd of March 1978.

According to the Security Council, the interim force was created for three purposes: Confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, restoring international peace and security, and assisting the government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area. UNIFIL claims success of the implementation of two of the objectives; confirming the withdrawal of Israel – which is not true since Israel holds military presence in the Lebanese Shebaa Farms and recently in the Al Gajar village; and assisting the Lebanese government in regaining control in the area – a role whose credibility and effectiveness are very ambiguous.

Before Security Council resolution 1701 in 2006 that raised UNIFIL presence in Lebanon to 15000 troops, UNIFIL operated with a force consisting of some 1,990 troops assisted by 50 military observers from the UN Truce Supervision Operation (UNTSO) based in Jerusalem and supported by 95 international civilian personnel and 295 local civilian staff. The force till that date included participation from France, China, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy and Poland; and operated with an annual budget of $ 94.2 million.

The UNIFIL presence in southern Lebanon proved useless in protecting the civilian population from the continuous Israeli attacks. This was obvious especially in the bombing of a UN compound in Qana in 1996 and the UN silence towards this crime. The compound was a concentration point for refugees who fled the heavy Israeli bombing of their villages. Around 800 civilians were present in the UN compound on the 18th of April, 1996 - the day of the shelling that resulted in 106 civilian deaths and 120 seriously injured including 4 Fijian UNIFIL soldiers. Israel claimed that it was responding to Katyusha firing from Hezbollah fighters from that area and that the presence of the civilian population was unknown to them though Lieutenant General Amnon Shahak, Israel´s chief of staff at the time, stated “I don´t see any mistake in judgment... We fought Hezbollah there, and when they fire on us, we will fire on them to defend ourselves... I don´t know any other rules of the game, either for the army or for civilians...”. The investigation conducted by the UN appointed military advisor Major General Franklin van Kappen of the Netherlands stated that “during the shelling there was a perceptible shift in the weight of fire from the mortar site to the United Nations compound.” It was found out in the investigation that “contrary to repeated denials, two Israeli helicopters and a remotely piloted vehicle were present in the Qana area at the time of the shelling” concluding that “while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors.” Amnesty International concluded after an on-site investigation in collaboration with military experts and using interviews with UNIFIL staff and civilians in the compound that “the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) intentionally attacked the UN compound, although the motives for doing so remain unclear. The IDF have failed to substantiate their claim that the attack was a mistake. Even if they were to do so they would still bear responsibility for killing so many civilians by taking the risk to launch an attack so close to the UN compound.” Despite all the investigations and the incriminating evidences against Israel, it was not held accountable beyond diplomatic condemnation. It is worth mentioning that Qana was once again targeted by Israeli army, among other villages, during this year´s Israeli war on Lebanon where Isaeli air strikes tumbled down a three-story residential building hiding refugees from nearby villages fleeing the Israeli war machine, leaving 28 civilian deaths out of which16 were children. According to the statement of the International Red Cross, the continuous Israeli bombing of the road to Qana hindered the rescue work; while Human Rights Watch reported that “... none of the dozens of international journalists, rescue workers and international observers who visited Qana on the 30th and 31st reported seeing any evidence of Hezbollah military presence in or around the home. Rescue workers recovered no bodies of apparent Hezbollah fighters from inside or near the building.” This Israeli massacre, as the rest, received almost no accountability beyond diplomatic scolding. On the contrary, the discourse of the United Nations, in the person of its Secretary-General Kofi Annan, stressed on the disarming of Hezbollah with a shy condemnation to Israel.

During the 28-year presence of the UNIFIL in the south of Lebanon, Israel did not once respond to any UN demands in holding back its war machine, nor in responsding to Security Council resolution 425 – still no measures were taken against it. Later this year, during the recent Israeli war on Lebanon, UN posts and personnel were repeatedly targeted by the Israeli army resulting in 4 deaths of UN military personnel from Finland, China, Austria and Canada, 2 deaths within the UN civilian personnel from India, and 12 wounded. In a briefing on 26th of July, 2006, Ms. Jane Holl Lute, assistant secretary general for the peacekeeping operations stated that “...events unfolded as follows... Patrol Base Khiyam, a long-established and clearly-marked UN position in the eastern section of UNIFIL´s area of operation... came under recurrent incidents of close firing.” The briefing explained that “UNIFIL reported that, in total 21 strikes occurred within 300 meters of the Patrol Base and 12 artillery rounds fell within 100 meters of the Base, four of which hit the Base directly. To our knowledge, unlike in the vicinity of our other Patrol Bases, Hezbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity of the Patrol Base.” According to the report, UNIFIL protested directly to the Israeli army each of these incidents of firing close to the base; and that the Deputy Secretary-General and Ms. Lute made several calls to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations reiterating these protests and calling for an abatement of the shelling. The UNIFIL confirms two final firings close to the base before communication with the position was lost. As a result of the direct attack the four UN military observers were killed. Other incidents of firing close to the UNIFIL positions were mentioned in Ms. Lute´s briefing and in the accounts of UNIFIL personnel present in the area. UNIFIL has reported, according to Ms. Lute, 145 incidents of “firing close” of which 16 were direct hits on its positions. Several positions sustained more than one direct hit, causing various degrees of damage to buildings, equipment and vehicles. UNIFIL also reported that Israeli artillery rounds impacted approximately 10 meters from its Headquarters compound in Naqoura. Nor UNIFIL nor the UN took any measure to hold Israel accountable for any of these incidents, nor for the almost total destruction of tens of Lebanese villages and heavy targeting of hundreds of civilian areas through out the country; of course nor for its direct responsibility for the 1191 civilian deaths, 4407 civilian injuries, a million displaced, around 10,000 tons of fuel oil spilled in the Mediterranean, severe damage to the infrastructure and a left-over of hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster bombs scattered in residential areas and agricultural fields.

Despite of all what was mentioned above, resolution 1701 instated a zone extending between the previously set Blue Line and the Litani river in Lebanon free of “any armed personnel”, meaning the Israeli army and Hezbollah since both the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL forces are armed and present in this zone. Though Israel is responsible for atrocities against humanity and the environment, the United Nations failed to put any restrictions nor blame on it. The establishment of the zone free from any armed personnel on the Lebanese side poses a clear biased stand in support of the demands of the Israeli war machine in putting the full blame on the Lebanese resistance represented by Hezbollah. This did not take into account international and local voices calling for the halt of Israeli aggression against Lebanon continuing since 1978, nor the numerous international and local human and environmental rights organizations and activists that held Israel accountable for numerous crimes against humanity and for intentional ecological devastation. Resolution 1701 ignores, apparently deliberately, the investigations held not only by the United Nations itself, but also independent investigations conducted by international celebrity organizations like Human Rights Watch, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International - only to name a few – which held Israel accountable of serious violations on many levels, some irreversible. The 1701 equates between an act of invasion and aggravated damage to the Lebanese infrastructure, environment, and population both Lebanese and Palestinian, with the legitimate response and (in-comparison to Israel´s military power) microscopic military power of Hezbollah. All this, raise a big question mark on the UNIFIL presence in Lebanon and their hidden agenda. It is clear that they are not here to halt Israel, and without a halt to Israeli terrorism there is no solution in the region... so what are they here for?

Soon, Lebanese and Palestinian grassroots activists reflect on the UNIFIL presence in Lebanon. Stay posted.

Eyes on Aita El Shaeb!

Fotos from Aita El Shaeb - a village in the south of Lebanon close to the border with Israel/Palestine hosting around 10,000 inhabitants. The destruction is unbelievable, this is a small example of what you might see keeping in mind over 1.2 million unexploded bomblets as the result of Israel using cluster bombs during the war on Lebanon. An estimate of 80 percent destruction in Aita El Shaeb.

The village witnessed a battle between the Israeli occupation forces and the villagers joined by Hezbollah fighters.

Thanks for Blue Pi for providing the pictures.

"Popcorn" bombs

It is estimated that Israeli bombings of Lebanon left more than a million unexploded cluster bombs and anti-personnel weapons. Few lie around in Yasmine´s garden. Yasmine is 11 years old from a small village in the south of Lebanon and a good tour guide around her family´s garden showing you the remaining unexploded cluster bombs. Two to give a count, one is hiding high in the grape vine and the other next to a little rock. They look nonthreatening, just little odd metal canisters calling to be removed. But Yasmine is good at protecting you; she asks you firmly not to touch them nor get close to them only to laugh later as she teases you that you can never know when the one on the grape vine would fall; "so you´d better be ready to run". “Sometimes brown vine leaves fall and we would run thinking it is the bomb... it is very scary. But after we run and hide and notice it is just a vine leave we laugh a lot. Only Allah knows when will it fall; I hope it falls when we are out on a visit, this way it will explode and we will get rid of it without getting hurt.”

Everybody speaks of the cluster bombs in the south. Ask anyone and you will get stories of where they were found, or how someone died or got amputated as a result of one. A daily fear that we are living with these days turned into a nightmare with the begining of the rain season – rainwater covering the bomblets with mud. Rain can smoothly push some bombs under rocks, can pat the grass on top of others and even bury it totally with mud. The rain started, and so did the nightmare. It is you and your luck with your life in your hand for years to come. So walk, move, touch and look carefully... it can be anywhere, and one tiny mistake is fatal. Read on!

The summer is towards its end and many harvests are getting due while some already are. These harvests of olive, tobacco, wheat or fruits that supply the farmer with a considerable annual income are being wasted to rot. Fields are feared to have cluster bombs, and many do. People are sieged away from their gardens and the look on their faces helplessly watching their crops wither and rot in is unforgettable. “There isn't a bigger crime. Haram. Everything is rotting and we cannot harvest it..." Abu-Ahmad tells me as he sits on his balcony smoking his water-pipe and watching his field. "We are done away with for the year to come as well, it is running late to plant the winter crop. It is a disaster, how will we manage through winter? and even after that. All we can do is sit and watch it all die and our land go bare.” The agricultural communities in the south suffered serious blows and devastating damage for the infrastructure, machinery and harvest. Those with cluster bombs in their fields are expected to still be suffering economically the year to come even if the bombs were totally removed. The winter harvest will not see the light, there is no way of seeding or planting with cluster bombs all over.

Over a hundred civilian casualties since the cease-fire thanks to the unexploded cluster bomblets. According to Handicap International an estimated 3 civilians daily fall victims to unexploded clusters; a nightmare that is not exclusively Lebanese. Lebanon is not the first terrain where cluster bombs were used; it has been used in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Western Sahara, Kosovo, Sierra Leon, Chechnya, Cambodia... and the list goes on. It is estimated that, yearly, around 300 people still die in Vietnam as a result of cluster bombs and other US-army leftovers. It is likely that a child who was not born at the time of the bombing, would die from a still-unexploded cluster bomb. Israel has been using cluster bombs in Lebanon since as back as 1978 and people continue to suffer from them till today. Only now we have few hundred thousand more to watch out from, or simply blow us to pieces.

“Popcorn”

“Popcorn” is the US-military slang name for cluster bombs. A successful yet brutal parody. A basic design of cluster bombs is a hollow shell hosting hundreds of “small bomblets” varying according to model and design. These little bomblets are scattered over with a possible affected area getting as wide as three football fields. Cluster bombs are known to have a high rate of leaving unexploded bombs behind - still they are in use. Absurdly enough some manufacturers of these bombs decided to give them bright colors in an alleged attempt to undermine their risk by making the leftovers more visible to civilians. Not-surprisingly, it turned out that the new introduced bright colors are only worsening the situation because they are attracting children. A nightmare well-known to Afghani and Vietnamese children to name a few, let alone to the governments of the world. Still cluster bombs are among the “legitimate” weapons.

Israel admitted dumping more than 1,800 cluster bombs over Lebanon carrying more than 1.2 million bomblets – noting that Israel like any state cuts down the number of bombs it uses; still 1.2 million bomblets are hellish enough. Following United Nations estimates, 40 % of the cluster bombs thrown by Israel during the recent war on Lebanon are unexploded, you do the calculation. Jan Egeland, UN undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that “what's shocking and I would say completely immoral is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution, when we knew there would be an end.” An Israeli reservist quoted in Israeli newspaper Haáretz on the 8th of September 2006 said “ In the last 72 hours we fired all the munitions we had, all at the same spot, we didn’t even alter the direction of the gun. Friends of mine in the battalion told me they also fired everything in the last three days – ordinary shells, clusters, whatever they had.”

International bodies such as the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch have serious criticism and opposition to the usage of these bombs. Handicap International embarked in 2005 on an international campaign to ban these weapons, yet Belgium is the only state that has banned cluster bombs.

Recently Human Rights Watch issued a concern over Hezbollah's usage of cluster bombs for the first time during the recent Israeli war on Lebanon. It is stupid to use this as a justification for Israeli crimes. The spread of these bombs is rather another case for supporting a world ban on them, and holding all users accountable.

The alarm is urgently sounding in Lebanon, it has been for a long time. Many organizations are working on cleaning cluster bombs in the south of Lebanon, and dealing with the consequences. This is not the solution as no one can guarantee total cleaning of the bombs. Banning them is a step towards one, and definitely holding those who use them responsible, not only of the crimes committed, but also of cleaning them and dealing with the consequences.
People suffering from amputations and life loses as a result of unexploded cluster bombs cannot recuperate what they lost. Who would deal with this? Their families and their loved ones, let alone them themselves. War does not end in their lives, it lives on while the rest of the world prepares for another war, another cluster.


Action against Cluster Bombs

The upcoming Saturday will witness a national day against cluster bombs in Lebanon (stay tuned for updates). Still, manufacturers and states using and supporting these weapons are spread all over, here are few hints to let out your anger

Israeli and US embassies and NATO offices (for the usage and supply of cluster bombs in Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo ...etc.)

Top manufacturers of cluster bombs (not inclusive list)

United States

Textron (http://www.textron.com/)
Textron World Headquarters
40 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
U.S.A
Tel. (401) 421-2800

England

INSYS Ltd. (http://www.insys-ltd.co.uk/)

Located approximatly 40 miles north of London. As stated by INSYS website “INSYS Ltd is located near Ampthill, a picturesque Georgian market town in Mid Bedfordshire. Ampthill is located approximately 40 miles north of London and is served by train networks, bus services and the nearby M1 and A1 motorways.”

Hezbollah - The Beauty and the Beast within

Armed resistance against Israeli occupation and Israeli aggression on Lebanon and in affinity with the Palestinian struggle has been a mark in Lebanese modern history and society since as back as 1948. There have been communist, socialist, Lebanese and Arab nationalist, Palestinian, and Muslim parties and individuals in Lebanon that picked up arms against the Israeli war and occupation machine. Hezbollah is not the first to use armed struggle nor will it be the last as long as Israel continues its political and military agenda in the region; yet in recent years there is a noticeable absence of leftist and progressive groups from the resistance front. The absence of leftist and/or progressive armed resistance cannot be attributed to lack of support or conviction in such strategies but rather to the lack of arms and needed financial resources within leftist groups. The support for armed resistance against Israeli occupation within radical leftists groups in Lebanon is strong and is blended with serious criticism of Hezbollah´s political discourse on the internal Lebanese front - an intricate discussion that takes up a lot of space in the Lebanese society.

Before Hezbollah came into existence mid eighties, there existed a long line of armed resistance against Israel. There have been as well many operations with the objective of capturing Israelis for prisoner-exchange attempts whether for Lebanese prisoners, Palestinians or both. Hezbollah assumes a continuation for this extended line of armed resistance that was backed by a wide popular support strengthened by a diverse participation of Lebanese and Palestinian political parties. For example, one of the key figures in the current prisoners exchange equation, Samir Kontar, is imprisoned by Israel as a result of his active role in the resistance against Israeli occupation years before Hezbollah came into existence. This line linking Hezbollah´s armed resistance to an adorned herstory of struggle contributes today to its popular support outside its Shiite base. Yet it is important to note that Hezbollah´s popularity outside Muslim Shiite circles feeds on a leftist frustration - and a general Arab one - when it comes to confronting the Israeli war machine. The differences between Hezbollah´s armed resistance - both ideologically and in practice - from the precedent currents of resistance and from the discourse of a wide base of the supporters of Hezbollah´s resistance today, are clearly and strikingly marked by both sides. Yet the collective frustration resulting from the helplessness of leftist and progressive parties in the face of Israel, added upon by international criminalization of the resistance, both silent and vocal support for Israeli crimes, and the lack of viable alternatives, play an important role in shaping people´s views of the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Though Hezbollah enjoys respect and support for carrying what is considered the popular will and an inherent right of the people to fight occupation and terrorism in the face of international silence; it is clear for progressive forces in Lebanon that its right-wing Islamist agenda and ideology are something to be fought against and confronted – but the way it is, locally and politically. Even within sectors of the Lebanese population opposing Hezbollah´s armed power, there exists a notable current that views this disarmament combined with a non-existing criticism or discussion about Israel´s weapons and military force as unjust and as vocal support for state terrorism on the expense of a terrorized and butchered population in Lebanon.


Hezbollah, a state within a state – a party facing challenges of a state.

Hezbollah managed in the past 20 years of its existence to build an infrastructure of services in underprivileged areas in the suburbs of Beirut and in the south of Lebanon. The party has its own schools, hospitals and clinics, businesses, banks, and even traffic wardens; which in turn created a lot of employment opportunities and met a sever need. This infrastructure exists in areas that lived in the oblivion of the Lebanese government and the international community. Hezbollah provided drinking-water tanks in the streets of Dahieh (southern suburb of Beirut) when drinking water was not available; the party´s clinics continue to meet the people´s right to medical care – at affordable prices - when the government and the private health sector in Lebanon were leaving people to die at hospital doors if they could not provide the financial means. This popular base that Hezbollah invested so much in, portrays the new state within a state that they settled for. A smart political move on the national political scene in Lebanon which is ¨legitimately¨ divided according to religious sects and affiliations.

This state within a state, is strengthened by the fact that the majority of the impoverished Shiites in the suburbs of Beirut come from the south of Lebanon, mostly as a result of continuous Israeli aggression on and occupation of their villages. This intersection between meeting the economical needs and the role of the sole defender against Israeli aggression feeds Hezbollah´s popular support within the Shiite population. In the lack of alternatives both economically and on national resistance levels, Hezbollah´s popular base cannot be easily challenged. This differs gravely when the political agenda of Hezbollah is put to discussion especially after Hezbollah joined the government. Many Shiites disagree with Hezbollah´s hard-line approach to human rights and liberties, and many express disappointments of Hezbollah´s compromises within the government.

Though Hezbollah´s initial agenda included a call for the rise of an Islamic state in Lebanon, their political line started taking a different course over the recent years. Coming to a conclusion that it is an unattainable goal, and viewing the reality and diversity of Lebanese politics, Hezbollah started settling down for a strong Muslim Shiite representation in the government and a reinforced presence within the Shiite popular base. Though this shift of objective demonstrated through Hezbollah´s participation in the Lebanese government - something they were ardently opposing - was smart; it came at the cost of taking some of the blame for the incompetency and corruption of the Lebanese political class. Hezbollah´s previous refusal to take part in the Lebanese government and rather posing an alternative to the government´s active oblivion of the impoverished Shiite areas, granted the party much wider public support and less criticism over disastrous economical policies implemented by the Lebanese government.

Further criticism is facing Hezbollah´s governmental performance, which meets to great ends the political crises and popular dissent facing Hamas after they joined the so-called Palestinian government. This political maneuver came at the expense of serious compromises to the commitments made to the popular bases of both parties, and challenges exceeding their powers. Hezbollah´s participation in the government translated into a lenient speech towards the Lebanese government´s corruption and trespasses. This was clear during the fuel uprising of April 2005 during which 5 demonstrators were killed by the Lebanese army in Hay El-Sellom, one of the strong public bases of Hezbollah. Hezbollah´s reaction was a shy and diplomatic condemnation of the Lebanese government´s repression, while it is known to everyone that it would have been a hard-lined attack few years before when Hezbollah was an ardent objector to and abstinent from the government.

All these compromises along with the challenges facing Hezbollah in meeting its commitments to a growing base of support, especially among widening Shiite poverty-stricken population, and in the light of a worsening economical situation aggravated by the high toll of Israeli attacks, pose a serious challenge to Hezbollah´s future. Hezbollah acclaimed - and previously met - role as a caretaker of impoverished Shiites, is on a downfall economically, yet the political support is still multiplying mainly for Hezbollah´s impressive response to Israeli terrorism. It is clear that if Israeli terrorism ceases to exist – though a far fetched proposition, Hezbollah will lose its strongest pole for popular support. It is clear from the recent Israeli war on Lebanon, that the harder the strike is on Lebanon, the wider the support for Hezbollah grows. It is only logical, defensless civilians who are not supported by anyone while they are being massacred, reach out for the first straw, let alone the only.

This monopoly of the resistance is exploited by Hezbollah to maintain control over certain areas of Lebanon justified by security. This control trespasses to right-wing hegemony over human rights, a hegemony that is once again justified by twisting the war into a confrontation between ¨the west¨ and Islam. Unfortunately, with the lack of trust-worthy and viable response to Israeli terrorism from secular sides including the Lebanese army and the international forces, and the presence of strong propaganda for the so-called clash of civilizations, it is hard to challenge the hegemony of Hezbollah nor their political agenda. The Lebanese army does not have any public support beyond its role as another job provider, and in anyway it never engaged in any active defense of Lebanese population against Israel. While the international forces are known as another scam by the United Nations that pose no threat nor impediment to Israel but rather for the resistance against it; not to mention the more radical and critical view of the UNIFIL viewing them as another form of occupation.

Further examining the Lebanese political scene and the divisions after the assassination of Lebanese x-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the new coalition between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement (Atayar Al-Watani Al-Hor) lead by Christian leader Michael Aoun, supports the new agenda of Hezbollah and negate any doubts of Hezbollah´s desire for an Islamic state in Lebanon. Such new affiliations and the clear new objectives of Hezbollah on the internal front, and their obvious understanding of the Lebanese politico-religious divisions undermines any possibilities or risks of Hezbollah using their arms on the internal front. The civil war in Lebanon from (1975-1990) proved to be a losing equation and the impossibility of one homogeneous winner, a fact known to many including Hezbollah. This Christian – Shiite coalition and affiliation between two previous opponents highlights the new equation of the internal Lebanese politics, and as much as it rules out fears of armed civil war, it poses a threat of a stronger blow posed by right wing and regressive agenda affecting human rights and their impact on governmental local policies. This is the beast within Hezbollah which is building on and exploiting an extended line of just resistance in favor of its right-wing agenda.

Hezbollah, one of the war-lords of the "war of civilizations".

Challenging Hezbollah´s political agenda is indispensable in the struggle for social justice and for empowering social sectors that are undermined and oppressed by religious ideology and practice, such as women and homosexuals to name but a few. Yet the continuous interference of terrorist states such as the US, and of biased bodies such as the United Nations, allegedly on behalf of such rights, feeds Hezbollah´s interest and claim that any move for women liberation - or for example homosexual rights - falls in the agenda of the imperialist and cultural war waged by the US and its allies; and that the rejection of any progression in this direction is a duty in the fight against US cultural hegemony. This is clearly demonstrated by the increase in veiled women for example, not for mere religious belief but rather a show of anti-imperialist struggle and allegedly in defense of “Arab culture.”

It is deliberately hidden by both the US administration and Arab regimes that Bush´s internal agenda on women liberation and other human rights does not differ much in objective from that of Islamic political parties such as Hezbollah. Rather the Bush agenda is portrayed as an ardent defender of such rights, something used by the Bush administration in a double hit to progressive movements in Arab states. For example any discussion on homosexual rights in Lebanon is shunned by the popular opinion mostly as a defense against the imperialist cultural war waged against Muslim and Arab societies. This stance is ignorant of Bush´s internal policies in hindering any active move towards attaining these rights in the US and on the global front.

This joined complicity among right-wing political currents worldwide is hidden from the continuous talk of a war of civilizations. And parties like Hezbollah uses this imperial-benefiting discourse to maintain political and religious hegemony on the region. All of which feeds into a complex situation facing the real sufferers of this new world order, the continuously and increasingly impoverished and oppressed populations.

Hezbollah, the double-faced coin. While one should be slapped, the other is indispensable and just.

It is important to be aware of the complexity of Hezbollah´s public support, and its relation to the international political scene and Israeli state terrorism. While the internal opposition to Hezbollah´s right-wing agenda is clearly marked yet still diplomatic, the support for armed resistance against Israel cannot be questioned without a proactive solution to the Israeli war machine and apartheid state.

Examining the disarmament of Hezbollah cannot be approached justly without a look at and criticism of Israel´s military power. In the Israel – Hezbollah equation, Hezbollah is the national resistance in the face of foreign and military aggression. It is true that some of their strategies can be criticized and condemned, but that is a different point from their disarmament in the face of continuous Israeli military aggression supported by international silence. The United Nations and the Security Council are not impartial in this conflict, nor they bear precedence in proactive approach to a solution. For example the recent security council resolution 1701 fails to address Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity which are documented worldwide by celebrity organizations as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. It addresses the resistance, led by Hezbollah, while failing deliberately to address the need and the frustration of a butchered population.
The international double standards in looking at Israeli war and occupation both in Lebanon and Palestine leaves the population to choose between silently receiving Israeli massacres and supporting Hezbollah´s armed resistance; in a time where the death and destruction tolls are high, the choice is obvious.

Under such circumstance, it is war-biased and unacceptable to support any international move towards the disarmament of Hezbollah´s armed resistance, which is clearly directed towards Israel and not internally. This discourse of disarming the resistance further supports Hezbollah´s political agenda as the voice of the oppressed fought against by the imperialist lobby – something progressive groups worldwide should be aware of and for this should refrain from supporting resolution 1701 or any other move towards the disarmament of the resistance. We all want an arms-free world, but not disarming the weak to give advantage to the aggressor - and definitly not by another agressor. Disarm the world including Hezbollah, but start by disarming Israel. Stop the reaction by halting the action, not by stripping the people of their, unfortunately, only way of resistance.

Roundtable on the Borderline

compiled by Qursana!

You are welcomed to post, distribute, and print this text as much as you want as long as it is for non-commercial use and with conditional free-distribution! Please pay attention not to alter people's statements.

According to the Lebanese and Israeli governments (though more applied in Lebanon), communication between Israeli and Lebanese citizens is prohibited and in some cases punished with a court-martial. For this, this is an illegal roundtable – part of it was a defying, challenging and painful conversation that did not go smooth without tears, rage, apologies, pain, guilt, affinity, discussion, smiles, and tight embraces. This conversation is not representative of the mass majority of both populations; it is rather an anarchist worm-eye view of the latest Israeli war on Lebanon. Taking part are anarchists who had direct contact with this war on both sides of the border, their meeting was facilitated by networks of global solidarity within autonomous spaces in Europe, and also through the growing global anti-capitalist anti-authoritarian movement. A movement that is witnessing crises, but also signs of life! Anarchists who took part are Eyal and anat, holding Israeli passports; and Hazem and Imad holding Lebanese passports.

Hazem “We have been at war with Israel for as long as I can remember. We lived in an era of fear where each time something goes wrong it’s either the Mossad’s fault or an international Zionist conspiracy (though now it’s the turn of Syria). It is the same story with every totalitarian regime, the never-ending need for an enemy, an enemy that is different from us - with a different culture and different looks. This enemy was always and still is the strongest tool in the hand of such totalitarian regimes in order to install fear and paranoia to shift people’s attention away from the real problem and the meaningless of war. One of the best examples would be the US; at first there was the “commies” and now there is Al Qaeda and “terrorism”, and as a result, US citizens are willingly being stripped of their liberties for “security” while supporting state terrorism. The funniest thing about it is that we as Arabs endlessly criticize U.S. generalizations and ridiculous stereotyping; but when it comes to our “enemy”, we stereotype and let ourselves be blinded by fear and hate.

Do I believe that working with Israeli anarchists is wrong? Hell no! As an anarchist I believe in neither borders nor nations, but not only that; I believe that everyone should know that the road to peace and justice starts locally with people connecting with each other, and only if people knew their rights and practiced their responsibilities through direct democracy. Many Arab regimes have established contact with Israel, Lebanese traitors collaborated with Zionists, and even members of our government did that. So if our oppressors on both sides could arrange among themselves ways to divide power; I do not see a reason for us as militants who are not restricted by borders and nations not to join hands to destroy both of them. I rather see that as a responsibility.”

Imad “Back during the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 , Israel said it wanted to uproot the Palestinian resistance, and the result was severe damage to everything from humans to the environment to infrastructure to the economy. Today, I am 26 and I still do not know what to say about the war. You cannot explain war especially if you have lived it. It is these little moments of mixed feelings of rage, fear, burning urge to fight back, helplessness, nausea, nasal congestion from crying too hard, a driving anger to kick back and as hard as possible. It is all this. This is war for me. The hardest about being away this time was the moment I hang up the phone with my family knowing that in this moment my life goes back to normal and their life goes back to war. My cousin who lives in the southern suburb of Beirut told me on the phone "We know what is coming next; we have our suitcases packed and ready by the door. I am sleeping with my clothes on (she laughed here)! Do not be worried, we have done this before. It is just that sometimes its hard to remember what to do, I mean after such a long time (laughed again)!”

I will never forget the feeling of helplessness that took over me when she refuted my desire to go back by saying “what will you do to help us here? You will be another burden, another person in the car, another person to worry about! There we know you are safe! I told you we have our suitcases ready and just waiting… anytime we will have to move. Stop this nonsense.” This is war for me!

My mother refusing to leave her house in the south at 65 years old, though she was alone with no car nor electricity nor phone, because as she said “I’m too old to move around, there is no electricity anywhere, at least here in my house I know where everything is - even in the dark. I promise if things go really bad, I will leave, I promise. For now they will not drive me out.” This is war for me, this moment of empowerment that my mother felt in staying put despite the danger. It is a rage that this is happening to you again. My family left, and now they return to find property damage, but as they say in the village, thank god it is just the house, good that no one got hurt! This is war, this is the game with Israel, you always try to leave with the least damage and be grateful for it; this is what outrages me the most.”

Eyal “This was the second time that I was in a war in which I actually had some chance of getting hit - the first time was the first war on Iraq in 1991. I was 11 years old then and there was this big public scare. Everybody would wear masks and huddle in sealed rooms for fear of a chemical warhead attack – which fortunately did not occur. This time it was less scary because it was just usual ordnance, though it should have been scarier, since this time more rockets fell. Strangely enough, I sort of blocked that, and didn't feel very afraid. My brother would ask me whether I thought it would be better if he stayed in the hallway near the elevator in our apartment building, and I would tell him "yeah, you go there" so that he would leave me alone. However a lot of other people I know got pretty scared, and some even left town for a while. Unfortunately for them the war dragged on for almost a month and most had to come back without the rocket threat being over.

It was also the first 'actual' war Israel initiated that I experienced, since the conflict with the Palestinians isn't much of a war, it's more of a continuing colonial policing operation with some occasional military campaigns. It was very weird for me to see how the government can simply, like, 'push a few buttons' and people actually just go and fight for it, invade for it, and support it. That was kind of depressing.”

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Why is this war being waged? And what did it mean for you?

Imad “why!!! does it matter? Nothing from this equation will ever make sense! what matters is how! How can Israel after all that it is doing in Palestine, continue to go as far as it did in Lebanon and do it without even a slap on the hand?”

anat “Million reasons, the military always wants to wage wars and especially now that they were planning to make a cut in the defence budget, this was an opportunity to prove the need for a strong military rule over our lives. Olmert and Peretz come from civilian backgrounds, unlike the mass majority of the political strata in Israel, they did not have a military history. They were always criticised about it, and they wanted to prove they are strong. Basically, having taken part in wars is an important key to political jobs in Israel. I also think they were trying to get Syria involved and have an excuse for a US attack on it. They also thought they can terminate Hezbullah and Hassan Nasrallah , as if terminating Hezbullah will kill the chance for another party rise against Israel. To be honest, it is hard for me to see why they did it. It is so ridiculous that it is hard to imagine that anyone could even think of doing that. I feel that this war is about who has the biggest dick. I am being shot at and people are killing in my name and with my money all for this patriarchal honour shit. This war made me sick, and as a woman even sicker.”

Eyal “Actually, I can't say for sure. On one hand, you could say this war got Israel some limited political achievements. Such as an obligation, at least on the official level, of the Lebanese army to go into the south of Lebanon and make it appear as though it was the only armed force there... but otherwise, the war was quite a disaster: Hezbullah was quite effective in many of its forms of attack - in hitting infantry, tanks, and even in some cases special forces and a helicopter. It was shown that Israel could make Hezbullah stop firing rockets - the Israeli leadership made a lot of ridiculous claims when the war started, such as "Hasan Nasrallah will never forget the name Amir Peretz" and I think Olmert said something about wiping Hezbullah off the face of the earth, although maybe it was not as absolute sounding as that. And now there's quite a fallout in Israel on the political level. There's a lot of recrimination amongst the higher-ups, many people are calling for the resignation of Olmert, Peretz and Halutz. Many people see them and this government as a failure.

An important question here is why the U.S. did not restrain Israel - it didn't prevent it from starting the war, nor did it make any effort to curb Israeli military actions or to bring the war to a speedy conclusion - they basically cheered Israel on. Should all this be seen, then, as some preliminary proxy war between the U.S. and Iran? I can't say. I have more questions than answers on this matter.”

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What about Hezbullah , how do you see them?

Eyal “Well, for a fundamentalist Islamist, pro-Statist and not anti-Capitalist organization, you could say Hezbullah is kind of neat.

No, seriously, I definitely agree with the policy of actively resisting the Israeli military presence in Lebanon, including the use of guerrilla warfare. The fact that a lot of the military and probably also financial and logistic support is coming from the Iranian regime doesn’t sit all that well with me; but had I been a deeply religious Shiite I wouldn't have had any trouble taking Iranian aid. I object to most of Hezbullah’s policies - reinforcement of traditional social relations and especially the family, support for the continued existence of the state of Lebanon (albeit not necessarily in its current form) and states in general, but to be honest I don't really know that much about Hezbullah’s position on internal social issues, so maybe they're better (or worse) than I think.”

anat “I support Hezbullah in the way I support the people who are oppressed, but if the current division of power changes I am not going to be able to support them because they are a hierarchical patriarchal power who want to maintain the oppressed and oppressor dichotomy. They want to be the oppressors; because of this I am against them as much as I am against Israel being run with the same dichotomy. But they are very different from Israel, because here it is clear who are the oppressed, and I am always with the oppressed. Israel is different, Israel is not worse than any other capitalist state, the difference is that it is my problem. As someone from an Ashkenazi Israeli background, it is my fucking responsibility”

Imad “Despite my strong ideological and structural disagreements with Hezbullah; it is impossible to condemn the capturing (not kidnapping as mainstream media reports) of the two or put any blame on them concerning the Israeli-waged war. Hezbullah is a religious fundamentalist patriarchal party that I am against like any other. We might meet on using armed struggle against the Israeli war machine, but still we have serious disagreements on numerous levels that¨were manifested during my activism in Lebanon in various political confrontations with them. Even at a personal level, as a person who comes from a Muslim Shiite family, we have had our rounds of conflicts. I can criticize Hezbullah endlessly, and also some of the strategies they used during this war, but I cannot condemn the capturing of the two soldiers, nor their armed struggle against the Israeli military force as much as I will not support any calls for their unconditional disarmament. The capturing was declared as a maneuver to exchange the Lebanese prisoners still held in Israeli prisons since as far back as 1975. What was Israel’s “reaction”? More than 1000 civilian casualties, more than 4000 injured, around a million displaced, estimates of 15000 tons of heavy fuel oil spilled in the Mediterranean , and damage to the infrastructure exceeding 2.8 billion euros… and the meter is still rolling. The amount of damage is unbelievable and the reaction is ridiculously outrageous. And on top of that, because of this war, Hezbullah, unfortunately, were given more public sympathy than they ever had - and funnily enough, it was well deserved to a certain extent. ”

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Can you give us some first-hand overview of the anti-war movement that took place in your respective countries? And what can you say about the responses to the war?

Eyal “What anti-war movement!? It was just the non-Zionist left like it usually is – along with the Palestinian parties, the various progressive NGOs, the miniature Marxist groups, and assorted anarchists, pacifists, LGTBQ activists… etc. (some of the above categories overlap of course). Maybe after the 3rd week some people started to become disillusioned with the war, but there wasn't really any spontaneous mass anti-war activity.”

anat “I want to start with the hardships; the major hardship in these actions was that the amount of hate skyrocketed in the face of not-so radical slogans. We were a very small and mixed group of people, though we were trying to make a committee as wide as possible and have as wide support as possible against the war. We were trying to find the minimal consensus and find the minimum base lines that we could all agree on; so we decided to use an “anti-war” message, Stop the Bombing, Stop the War, Release All Prisoners, Cease fire now with no preliminary demands; very bland message not the most radical thing to say like anti-Zionism. It was a very simple message to stop the war and that Israel is responsible. For example this basic message was a legitimate political opinion at the end of the previous war on Lebanon not a majority opinion but part of a legitimate mainstream political discourse. Suddenly it became the most treacherous thing to say, the most offensive thing you can say to an Israeli. The majority of the people who stopped to react to our actions where wishing we would die. People were coming ready with eggs to throw at us. One of the demonstrators who parked her car near the demo was followed home by some right wing people who beat her mother with sticks when she opened the door. Some received phone calls threatening to throw a grenade at the demonstration reminding us of a previous incident in 1983 where they actually killed an anti-war demonstrator in that way. This was the amount of hate shown against a mere anti-war statement; they saw it as a real threat. The mainstream was narrowed, the people understood the Stop the War slogan as kill all Jews. The reactions were ridiculous. For them everything in this war, that they think Israel got caught in, was justified. If there is a doubt that some civilian area is linked to Hezbullah, this is enough to bomb it. Everyone acted with the mentality of Nikolai Yezhov, head of the NKVD (Soviet secret police) during Stalinism, who said in response to the news about the terrors of the Stalin regime that “better that ten innocent people should suffer than one spy get away, when you chop wood, chips fly.” For Israel, everything was and still is, when you chop wood, chips fly.

The police were real bastards but it also depends on where the action was. In Tel Aviv for example they were beating people. But in Haifa, where it has always been the case that the police there are less violent than those in Tel Aviv, they did not beat us, but rather they encouraged the right wing demonstrators to beat us. In Haifa they were excessive in detaining people and trying to put them under house arrest just for holding an anti-war vigil. Later they started to protect us more and not let the right wing attack us much; on the other hand they escalated the violence in Tel Aviv where for example during the demo at Dan Halutz’s (Israel´s chief of staff) house they were beating the demonstrators and violently chasing them. There were several fainting cases and people who needed to go to a hospital.

The Israeli media had it all the same, this was a justified war and Israel was caught up in it. They wanted it to appear as a war against Israel and that Israel was forced to react. That was the common discourse, no discussion on whether the war was right or wrong just technicalities: such as if they go into Lebanon as far as Litany or where they were later, or if they let infantry troops in or not. It was o.k. to be critical about how the frontline fighting was handled but not talking about an end to this madness. When we did get some coverage it was very little, for example we had a demonstration almost everyday, and the media would tell us that they cannot cover today’s demo because they covered yesterday’s demo. We got more interviews from foreign media, and even Arabic media which was something we really wanted. We were mentioned several times on LBCI (Lebanese satellite TV channel). I even heard that Hezbullah’s Radio, El Nour, mentioned that they condemn the brutal treatment of the demonstrators in Tel Aviv.

In Haifa, on what the Haifa people call the first day of war, when a Katyusha hit the train station and killed 8 people, on the 16th of July four days after the war started for the Lebanese, a group of women who decided to start a women anti-war group went to the train station to protest and send a message through the mainstream media that was present. They were told by channel ten that they cannot report this action because there is no such thing as an anti-war movement. They had the nerve to deny us even when we were there. In Tel Aviv there were 4000-5000 people in one demo , and in Haifa maybe 300, not to mention other places, but still they acted as if we did not exist.

What was inspiring was that the weekly demos at the Apartheid Wall continued, organised by Palestinians along side with the ISM , Anarchists Against the Wall and others; and so did the repression even though Israel managed to shift the world’s attention from what was happening in Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon. Just recently, on the 11th of August, they shot an Israeli lawyer and activist Lymor Goldstein in Bil’in with rubber-coated bullets at close range, sending him into coma. We cannot forget what is happening in Gaza and also that the wall is continuing its path! During the recent war on Lebanon they killed around 23 people in Gaza in one day but no one was talking about it. The people of Gaza are being starved and denied urgent medical care. It is completely crazy - Gaza is a huge concentration camp where they are slowly killing people.”

Hazem “I remember having a great laugh listening to my dad asking himself where are the Arabs while we are being bombed? Wondering where is the whole world and how can they accept this? Well they accept this and do not react the same way we did not react to the war on Iraq or the way we don’t give a flying fuck about people starving to death in Africa. Most of the Lebanese anti-war movement was based on nationalist and/or economical/political interests. As for the small amount of leftist activists or pseudo-parties they were too weak to make a real statement or take a proactive position without taking into consideration the reaction of the blinded population.

The Lebanese anti-war movement’s work focused on the relief efforts that in majority did not differ from the mainstream political mentality. The mainstream political parties did their usual routine by sending their members to show face in refugees’ centres bargaining on more public support for their party. These same parties that forced their presence and flags on independent relief centres started their work a week after the war started. They began spending big amounts of money on their publicity while asking people to donate before they even started doing work on the ground. For example the World Food program donated 10 tons of food to one of the relief centres who had paid employees delivering the food with more than 20 camerapersons filming the food distribution on refugees.

Many mainstream organisations said they cannot reach south of Lebanon and thus cannot deliver aid. We proved this wrong with our actions. 7 activists from RASH managed to get to the south and deliver food on their feet. The parties did not want to risk their lives. At first everyone took us as a joke especially when we refused to take donations unless it came from individuals or radical organisations and still managed to deliver around a ton of food to people in the south who were under siege. I have to note all respect to the Samidoun(stemming from the Sanayeh relief centre) that managed to create a grassroots coalition for people whose intention is to help out.”

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On the Lebanese side, there was a communiqué issued recently by the so-called “Libertarian Communist Alternative” from Lebanon that was circulated on certain anarchist/anti-authoritarian websites/lists and created a stir, what do you think about that?

Hazem “I find it shameful. It describes the current government that recently took power as pre-revolutionary, which is crap. This government is based on the common interest of - strangely enough - extremely different parties on the ideological level; parties that feed on anti-Syrian racism. I’m not discussing the retrieval of the Syrian troops, but about the forms of violence that faced Syrian civilians in Lebanon who anyway were already being exploited and discriminated against. The Libertarian Communist Alternative never showed up to any actions, we never saw them anyway on the field, and they refused to meet with us. I can write pages criticising them, but I will not waste my time, they are insignificant, it is not the brand of your organisation that makes you an anarchist.”

Imad “Have to say I never heard of them as a group, for example the name of the group was new to me. I heard about one guy in Beirut who is part of this so-called group but I do not know if it is for sure, nor who the rest are… that is if there is a rest. As for the communiqué, it does not represent me nor the politics I define as libertarian or anarchist. On the local front, it sees hope in the 14th of March alliance which is a capitalist alliance between the ruling class in Lebanon which is corrupt, capitalist, and feeding on people’s misery and actively contributing to it. Many from this alliance can be easily linked to parties and political currents responsible for crimes against humanity, not just during the Lebanese civil war, but also against the Palestinian population in Lebanon. Such an alliance, so-called “movement”, can never be something to look forward to nor see any hope in but rather fight against. This communiqué reminds me of the Iraqi opposition outside of Iraq that was supporting that US war, those were the same ones that opposed the Ba’ath regime from their air-conditioned homes in Europe and North America, and now installed their ruling class in Iraq collaborating with every state and multinational to plunder and terrorise the Iraqi people just like Saddam did.”

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Though that this war is clearly not over, it seems that the whole world shifted attention away from what just happened, and is now focused on the positioning of the UN “international peace force” in the south of Lebanon as the saviours of the day, how do you see that?

anat “It all seems ridiculous to me, what are they going to do? It is some kind of a media thing, Bush and all these leaders want to show that they are doing something, but obviously the agenda is for war not for peace. Obviously what we are dealing with here is the foreplay for the next U.S. war in the Middle East. The U.N. forces will not stop anything, they were there when Israel was occupying Lebanon for 18 years and their headquarters have been bombed by Israel several times.”

Imad “Ridiculous, the least to say! What for? Even if they are meant to do something, why in the south of Lebanon? Israel is the aggressor, why not position themselves in the north of Israel/Palestine. To protect who and from who? Israel bombed a UN base in 1996 in Qana , Lebanon , massacring over a 100 refugees, that took refuge in that base believing that the highly visible UN post would be spared the Israeli attacks; and what happened, an apology and some political charade. They did it again in this recent attack killing four UN personnel by bombing a UN base in the south of Lebanon. The "international peace troops" are like the UN, a hypocritical lie and another way to waste money and efforts. The UN is a hierarchal body, used to domesticate the world and one that supports state-terrorism and the plundering of impoverished people. It´s worthless and needs to be held accountable. I would not expect any good from them nor their troops.”

Eyal “They are foreign Imperialistic invaders who should leave immediately; I will not have any reason to complain if somebody puts bullets through their heads. Really, if those asshole European states had any concern for the lives and the safety of people in this region they could have sent some anti-aircraft batteries and stationed them in Lebanon to prevent any attack on Lebanese villages and towns.”

Hazem “After all, what is the United Nations other than a tool in the hands of the powerful to make the weakened weaker. I refuse any sort of cooperation with this structure. It’s like stopping to smoke on your death bed.”

The questions stopped here, but they did not end. This was the beginning - the beginning has been happening for a while now and this is the first written discussion between us. It is reflections, rage and solidarity; it is nothing but the beginning for a deeper discussion, wider reflections and louder rage. Many is still left to be answered and discussed. The war had just begun… again!