FRANCE/ARGENTINA: International condemnation against ongoing violence in the Middle East

Thousands of angry demonstrators in the French capital Paris protested against Israel's offensive in Lebanon on Sunday (July 30). The protesters brandished placards showing dead civilians with the caption ' 'Human rights according to Israel' and asking Israel to 'Stop the Massacre'. Many of the protesters had come specifically to voice their anger about Israel's air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Qana which killed 54 Lebanese civilians. 37 of those killed were children, and most were asleep when the bombs hit at 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT on Saturday). "We wouldn't be human beings if we wouldn't feel pain when we see the images that we're seeing," said Issam Yassim, a 51-year-old doctor of Lebanese origin who lives in Paris. "And anyone who doesn't have those feelings needs to wake up." "It is an injustice," he continued. "Why do our people have no right to refuse the U.N. [Security Council] resolution 1559 [which calls for Hizbollah to disarm], while others get away with rejecting many other resolutions passed by the U.N.? We're the only ones who have to accept our duty, and we would do it, but we need more time. They are heartless. They are animals." Among the protesters was American writer Marc Cramer, who heads the organisation 'Americans Against the War'. "Israel has no control over this bulimia of arming and bombing and buying more arms, and the United States is profiting economically from all this," Cramer told Reuters. "Every dead Lebanese, every dead Palestinian, means more money in the pocket of the American arms industry." There have been several demonstrations against the war in Paris in the past weeks, but today, the crowd was bigger - and angrier. One of the placards likened the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi Swastika, and the offensive in Lebanon to a genocide. "Israel won't be able to guarantee its security through the corpses of Lebanese children," said one protester. "We've just come to say 'Stop the killing'," said another. "Stop killing innocent people, stop killing children, stop killing women." The crowd chanted "Israel Terrorist, Israel Murderer" and some protesters held up Hizbollah flags. Towards the end of the demonstration, the entire crowd sang the Lebanese national anthem. French President Jacques Chirac has condemned the air-strike and repeated "the need for an immediate ceasefire", according to a statement issued by his office on Sunday. France has drawn up a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to prepare for the deployment of an international force. The Council was meeting on Sunday to discuss Lebanon at 1500 GMT. Hours later, Israel agreed to suspend its aerial activities in south Lebanon for 48 hours to allow for an investigation into the Qana attack. Israel will also coordinate with the United Nations to allow a 24-hour window for residents in southern Lebanon to leave the area if they wish, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told a briefing in Jerusalem. The strike on Qana on Sunday was less than a kilometer from the mass grave of more than 100 Lebanese killed in Qana in 1996 by Israel's shelling of a U.N. base. Killed in Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" bombing campaign, they too had been sheltering from bombardment. Israel's military said it had warned residents of Qana to leave and said Hizbollah guerrillas bore responsibility for using the village to fire rockets at the Jewish state. About 63 civilians had been sheltering from Israeli air strikes in one of the destroyed buildings in Qana, witnesses and rescue workers said. Some of them had come from surrounding areas, seeking shelter from the daily bombardments in Qana, located about 11 km (7 miles) from the border with Israel. In Argentina, hundreds of people took to the streets to join in the international condemnation against the ongoing violence in the Middle East. Some 350 demonstrators, mostly from the Arab community, carried flags and marched through the neighbourhood where the Lebanese embassy is located in the capital Buenos Aires and held a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the conflict. "We are here to raise our voices for the Lebanese people that are suffering total genocide. Lebanon is completely destroyed, there is a humanitarian crisis in the region," said Ninawa Daher, a youth leader in the Argentine Arab community. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep sorrow" about the deaths but he said rocket attacks on Israel came from the area. He wants 10-14 more days to finish the offensive. Lebanon says 750 people have been killed since the fighting started. Fifty-one Israelis have also been killed.

ITN Source | July 31, 2006

Tags:. .km. .chanted. .massacre. .drawn. .condemned