This is taken from the Ceasefire Campaign website. I've signed it and I hope you will too. However, I'm aware that it's easy for the situation in Lebanon to become the latest media frenzy, forgetting Afghanistan and Iraq. The world feels like a messy place at the moment.
Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or wounded in the bombings in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel and the death toll is rising every day. If the US, Syria or Iran get involved, there is a chance of a catastrophic larger war. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border, and been strongly supported by almost every world leader. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but the US, the UK, and Israel have refused to accept it. I have just signed a petition calling on US President Bush, UK Prime Minister Blair, and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to support Kofi Annan's proposal. If millions of people join this call, and we advertise our views in newspapers in the US, UK, and Israel, we can help pressure these leaders to stop the fighting. Please go to Ceasefire Campaign and sign up now!
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8 comments:
It's at times like this I remember a poem we studied at school.
I recently discovered it was actually written in 1939 before the start of world war two, and has illustrations... it's out of print but someone kindly put it on their website .
http://pages.zdnet.com/storysocks/library/id58.html
Thank you for drawing my attention to this. I've signed it.
Sarah,
I know that "stop the killing" sounds wonderful to everyone, including me, but will a ceasefire stop the cycle of violence? We see a slain child on TV and we are all hurt, but there were slain children before and after this.
I propose a simple answer to the problem, that can be summed up in two questions:
1) What would happen if all of the Arab militias and antagonistic governments gave up all of their arms today?
2) What would happen if Israel gave up all of its arms today?
The difference in answers identifies the problem, and it is not the current fighting.
I love your heart for peace, but I cannot support a symptomatic solution that leaves us right where we were before this round of fighting began.
I don't think a request for a ceasefire is as naieve as just saying 'stop the killing'. It's a request for a ceasefire while the political solution is worked out, rather than a license for Israel to keep killing people while the politics are worked out. When I hear that they are telling people to stay in their homes or they will be killed, and stopping aid getting through to innocent people by threatening to attack ANY wehicle, I imagine the fear people in Lebanon are living in. And when I hear that a UN base which has been around since 1948 (I think) is destroyed by Israel, the lack of respect for international law concerns me. I appreciate that the politics of the middle east are very complicated. But I don't think it's unreasonable to ask both sides to agree to a ceasefire and to ask governments which have influence to push for this.
And I'd be interested to hear what your answers are to those two questions rather than just assuming they're obvious to everyone.
I want a solution for peace but I also want to avoid any more loss of individuals' lives.
I'm also deeply worried about the US solution to leave the israeli troops in lebanon as an occupying force. The last thing the world needs is *another* occupied territory. We still haven't sorted out the last one yet.
What has this invasion solved? It started a war. Not only the middle east but half the west now dislikes israel, and there are *more* rockets being sent into israel because, well, they're fighting against an invading army now. Instead of strengthening and supporting the lebanese government so they had the power to stop hizbullah (which they simply were unable to do politically and militarily) israel practically destroyed it. So the solution is further away than ever.
I bet syria is really loving this - they only left last year and if the lebanese government collapses they'll be straight back again... with their (comparitively) well equipped army - including an airforce that can do a hell of a lot more damage than throwing a few cheap rockets at buildings.
This is like the UK invading northern irelend and reducing it to rubble simply because of IRA bombers - would that have solved the problem? No. Of course not (in fact we tried something like it in the early stages with predictable results). Instead we kept our resolve not to become terrorists ourselves and eventually the bombers simply gave up because they realised they couldn't win.
What does one do to protect themselves? Is there anything worth fighting for? Was the terrorist group, Hezbollah right when they lobbed missles at Israel? Should Israel just forget about it?
When was the last time Hezbollah, or other terrorist groups (such as bin laden's followers) came to the table to sit down with a nice cool glass of iced tea to discuss peace?
That's just creating a false dichotomy.
Israel are not simply defending themselves they are invading a sovereign country (actually two - lets not forget palestine, where they've also kidnapped most of the government).
Being against that does not mean that everyone has to sit on their hands and less still that we think Hezbullah are somehow nice people. Peace is *hard* - a lot harder than war, and it might take an army to enforce it. It's 100% certain that Hezbullah will have to be involved in the political process for it to work long term. It's not going to happen at all if Israel keep invading every time they get pissed off.
To quote an oft-used phrase in South Park: "Things certainly are fucked up right here."
I thought Hammertime's response was simplistic. I was disgusted that Blair did not call for a ceasefire. I understand the reasons why he didn't call for one - he is very good at playing what he things is the "long game" - but once again we are in this little US/UK enclave as we distance ourselves from the reasonable voice of the UN.
Oh I'm all annoyed now. Are there any more petitions I can sign?!
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