For almost one month now Israel continues its unrelenting and brutal attacks against the people of sovereign Lebanon. Israel has killed so far according to the most recent count 973 Lebanese civilians, injured 3369 and displaced 915,762 Lebanese. It has created a sea blockade, destroyed the capital city of Beirut, the international airport, and infrastructure( including major roads) and is now occupying almost a strip of 20 Kms. in south of Lebanon.
Israel has committed crimes of aggression against civilians and war crimes, in violation of Geneva convention IV, the ICC Rome statue and other international conventions. Not to mention the shelling of unarmed civilians with tanks in Gaza. As such Israel has now created a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and in Gaza.
Today the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outraged by the killing of innocents in Lebanon and the flagrant Israeli violations of the laws of war, has declared that Israeli air strike on the southern town of Qana, which killed 28 people, may be part of a larger pattern of violations of international law.
However, Mr. Blair in his speech in California before the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles last Tuesday the first of August, lamented the predicament that is facing Israel now and the sense of insecurity that the population in northern Israel is feeling because of the rockets of the Lebanese resistance and also the crisis for Israel in Gaza sparked by the kidnap of a soldier by Hamas. Mr. Blair in an emotional speech appealed to the audience saying: “put yourself in Israel’s place!.” Maybe this is why Mr. Blair and the British cabinet have deliberately delayed reaching an agreement for an immediate cease-fire at the UN. Security council and avoided describing the Israeli military action in Lebanon as disproportionate.
As simple as this for Mr. Blair, the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers justifies the destruction of another nation. All the killing of civilians, the destruction of Lebanon, the attacks against UN. Soldiers in Lebanon, did not stop Mr. Blair from declaring before the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles that the struggle is one about values, our values are worth struggling for. They represent humanity’s progress throughout the ages and at each point we have had to fight for them and defend them”.
The battle is one for Mr. Blair and it has to be won. Mr. Blair sent British troops to Iraq in order to stop the threat of Iraq’s weapon of mass destruction to humanity and now he backs up the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in order to eliminate the emergence of an “arc of extremism” in the Middle East region.
We need not to remind ourselves that British foreign policy in the world was historically at the origin of open wounds which are still bleeding today and causing the suffering of civilians in different parts of the world such as Kashmir, today Palestine and Lebanon. Mr. Blair today is adding insults to injuries by his biased attitude and refusal to condemn the disproportionate Israeli action against Lebanon.
We condemn the position of the UK. Government towards the Israeli aggression against an independent and sovereign Lebanon, in violation of Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter, the Geneva conventions and other international humanitarian law.
We urge the government of the United Kingdom to head the calls of peace loving people in the UK. who marched in Central London last Sunday to call for an immediate cease-fire and to protest the killing of children in Lebanon. Moreover, we call on the British government to recognize and condemn the excessive, disproportionate attack and the Israeli aggression against Lebanon. We take the opportunity to remind Mr. Blair that the value of any virtuous and just cause, stems from the integrity of the people fighting for such cause and values. Only a moral and ethical leadership is capable of salvaging our planet from the woes of wars.
Prepared by:
Razi A. Diab Esq.
Member of the Damascus Bar Association
LL.M. International Commercial Law UKC. UK.
LL.M. American Law Boston University MA.USA.
Damascus 8/8/2006