Sheffield Lebanon War 2006 Newswire Archive

On Saturday night July 30th 2006, in the Lebanese village of Qana, 64 Lebanese civilians, comprising the members of two extended families were sleeping in an unfinished building. The families were seeking shelter from Israeli air raids in the ground floor of the building. In the early hours of Sunday morning, as the men women and many children slept, an Israeli jet hit the building with two US-made 'bunker buster' bombs. The choice of munitions seems appropriate because, after all, these people were taking refuge in a bunker of sorts. Unfortunately, these were not enemy soldiers but rather innocent civilians, 56 of whom were killed as the building collapsed on them, including 30 children, all under 12 years old. Among the dead was a one day old baby, whose mother was also killed.

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In the last few weeks, an increasing number of horrible, very upsetting photos of the massacres committed by Israel have been coming out of Lebanon.

The alternative media are doing everything possible to break the censorship of images that was enforced by the Corporate and authoritarian State media which only show a sanitized war, disinfected images of material destruction.

The smuggling and widespread dissemination of images from The Realm of The Real that are coming out out of Lebanon and Gaza now make all of us uncomfortable. For those of us who do editing and publishing work, they bring up the awful worry of "is this appropriate?"

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Capitalism hiding behind the veil of democracy, herding people into capitalism hiding behind veil of religious etremism - the black vs white division, the call to war - a battle that deletes any possibility of humane and socialist principles to find a voice and momentum either in the West or Middle East.

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If the Lebanon war were to escalate into a broader conflict involving Syria, Turkish ground troops could be deployed under the terms of the Israeli-Turkish military alliance. It is worth mentioning that prime ministers Recep Erdogan and Ariel Sharon in a 2005 meeting in Tel Aviv decided to set up a "Hotline for the exchange of intelligence" as part of their evolving military alliance. What this suggests is that Turkey is a potential partner in the ongoing war on Lebanon.

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The sharp escalation of the attacks against Lebanon Friday have made it abundantly clear that the objective of this US-Israeli war of aggression is to demolish Lebanon as an independent and sovereign country.

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A sample letter to send to your local MP

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A group of orthodox Jews arrived somewhat late at Thursday's rally for Lebanon In Sheffield and their Rabbi asked to speak. They were warmly welcomed by Palestinian spokesperson Musheir and all present.

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Despite short notice there was a good turn out of protestors in Sheffield on 3rd August 2006 at the Stop the War demo. The protest included a 5min sit down protest on the road in front of the Town Hall which blocked all the traffic.

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Hizballah, the Lebanese Shi‘i movement whose militia is fighting the Israeli army in south Lebanon, has been cast misleadingly in much media coverage of the ongoing war. Much more than a militia, the movement is also a political party that is a powerful actor in Lebanese politics and a provider of important social services. Not a creature of Iranian and Syrian sponsorship, Hizballah arose to battle Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon from 1982-2000 and, more broadly, to advocate for Lebanon’s historically disenfranchised Shi‘i Muslim community. While it has many political opponents in Lebanon, Hizballah is very much of Lebanon -- a fact that Israel’s military campaign is highlighting.

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London, 1st August 2006

The sheer brutality of the butchery of civilians by Israeli WMD –
bombs and fighter planes provided by the United States – on Lebanon
is firstly a warning to the rest of the world from the United
States: `accept US global domination, or else'; and secondly, it is
the beginning of a serious struggle for all-out control over Middle-
East, Caspian Basin and Central Asian oil and gas. It is not the
puppet Israel but the US itself who sets the tone of this
purposefully brutal war, a war which opens up a qualitative change
in US aggression and inter-imperialist conflict, a period that will
draw the whole world into intensifying horrors and suffering. At the
same time this new period opens a large window for the dramatic re-
appearance of world-wide mass class struggle bringing workers and
youth back into the centre-stage of global politics.

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QANA, Aug 1 (IPS) - Red Cross workers and residents of Qana, where Israeli bombing killed at least 60 civilians, have told IPS that no Hezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli air strike.

The Israeli military has said it bombed the building in which several people had taken shelter, more than half of them children, because the Army had faced rocket fire from Qana. The Israeli military has said that Hezbollah was therefore responsible for the deaths.

"There were no Hezbollah rockets fired from here," 32-year-old Ali Abdel told IPS. "Anyone in this village will tell you this, because it is the truth."

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The leaflet for the Sheffield Stop the War Coalition demo that has been called for Saturday 5th August, 12 noon, at the Town Hall steps is attached.

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What is going on here. A big demonstration took place in Leeds today against what's going down, and sideliners, West Yorkshire 911 Truth Campaign have to come here to report it. Anyway it was great. Highly energised and full of righteously angry people from all sections of the community demanding justice

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Videocast of the presentation to the Perdana Global Peace Forum by Michel Chossudovsky.

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Is there a relationship between the bombing of Lebanon and the inauguration of the World's largest strategic pipeline, which will channel more a million barrels of oil a day to Western markets?

Virtually unnoticed, the inauguration of the Ceyhan-Tblisi-Baku (BTC) oil pipeline, which links the Caspian sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, took place on the 13th of July, at the very outset of the Israeli sponsored bombings of Lebanon.

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ISRAEL'S US FUNDED AND SUPPORTED WAR ON LEBANON AND PALESTINE

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solidarity to middle east

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Govt sources confirm war with Iran is on before the end of the year. Multiple global crises are converging in the next few years, and we are faced with systemic collapse within the following 10-15 years.

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No, the abysmal failures in Iraq have not dissuaded Washington from embarking on yet another adventure. George W. Bush and his warmongering allies are preparing themselves for another major incident in the Middle East. This time Iran is the main challenge in the establishment of the new world order and a direct target.

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Some photos from the rally and march in Sheffield held on Saturday 22nd July 2006 against the war in Lebanon.

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