>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >LEBANESE RESISTANCE FIGHTS ON AGAINST ISRAELI OCCUPATION >by Richard Becker, >Western Regional Co-Director, International Action Center > >Question: When is it all right to violate international law and United Nations >resolutions? > >Answer: When Washington says so. > >Case in point: Lebanon, February 2000. > >In early February, the Lebanese resistance stepped up its campaign to drive >out the Israeli occupation forces. They have been fighting to liberate their >country from the occupiers for more than two decades. That their cause is >just is not only undeniable, it is also supported by international law and >world opinion. > >In 1978, Israel occupied southern Lebanon as part of an imperialist- >orchestrated drive to crush the progressive Lebanese National Movement >and Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon's long civil war. > >The UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 at that time, demanding that >Israel withdraw from Lebanon, a demand the Israelis ignored. Four years >later, in fact, they launched an air, land and sea invasion of the rest of >Lebanon, killing more than 30,000 civilians in massive air raids that reduced >much of the country to rubble. > >By 1985, however, a fierce resistance movement had forced the Israelis to >withdraw southward. Israel established a border "security zone," covering >about 10 percent of Lebanon's national territory. Inside this zone, the >Israeli >army and its puppet militia established a reign of fascist- like terror over >the >population. > >At the same time, Israel diverted the precious water of the Litani River in >southern Lebanon for its own use. > >Those who resisted were subjected to torture, execution, assassination, and >imprisonment under brutal conditions. Resistance leaders and fighters were >hauled off to jails inside Israel, another in the long list of violations of >international law by the occupiers. > >In the face of extreme repression, the Lebanese resistance movement only >grew stronger with each passing year. Led by the Hezbollah (Party of God) >organization, but encompassing all Lebanese who wanted to fight back, the >resistance movement has inflicted a rising toll on the occupation troops. So >much so, in fact, that Israel has been forced to look for a way to withdraw, >while seeking to protect "its interests" in the area. > >The new Israeli government of Ehud Barak promised voters that it would >withdraw from Lebanon during the election campaign last year. > >Lebanon is also a major issue in the recently stalled negotiations between >Syria and Israel. Syria, its larger neighbor, has a strong influence in >Lebanon. >Syria's Golan Heights region is also under illegal Israeli occupation and has >been since the 1967 war. > >One of Israel's main objectives in the stalled talks was to get Syria to >disarm >and liquidate the Lebanese resistance, while guaranteeing Israeli water and >security interests in Lebanon. This is not the kind of "liberation" the >Lebanese fighters have shed so much blood for. > >There is no guarantee that Israel's pledge to withdraw from Lebanon will be >carried out. As resistance leader Hussein al-Khalil pointed out, Israel has >broken many promises and reneged on many "guarantees" in its talks with >the Palestinians. > >In early February, the Hezbollah-led resistance stepped up the struggle. >Several battles left seven Israeli soldiers dead and many more wounded. All >the attacks took place within the "security zone." > >This point is an important one because in 1996, following a period of intense >fighting and heavy Israeli bombing, including a deadly attack on Lebanese >refugees, an "April Ceasefire Understanding" was arranged by the U.S. and >other countries. The main points of the "Understanding" were: 1) >combatants, not civilians, were legitimate targets; and 2) all combat would be >restricted to the occupied southern zone. > >The new resistance offensive adhered to that agreement, but Israel's >response was to bomb many areas of Lebanon, targeting civilian facilities in >direct violation of the 1996 agreement. Three power plants were destroyed in >northern Lebanon, wounding 18 civilians and knocking out 50 percent of the >country's power supply for up to six months. > >U.S. RESPONSE > >Despite the new and on-going violations of international law and agreements >by Israel, Washington predictably blamed the Hezbollah and Syria for the >latest crisis. > >State Department spokesperson James Rubin said on Feb. 10: "We stand by >our previous statements that the initiation of these battles was by Hezbollah." > >Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated on the following day: >"Hezbollah is an enemy of peace ... I have talked to the Syrian Foreign >Minister about using all possible influence that they might have. They've >tried but I think they need to work harder" to restrain Hezbollah. > >This display of unbridled imperialist arrogance drew angry responses from >both Syria and Lebanon. > >Syrian state radio commented that "this biased U.S. attitude is all the more >extraordinary because it concerns a barbarous attack on an independent >Arab state." > >"It is Israel that needs to be reined in," the radio commentary continued, >"and prevented from launching fresh attacks before peace talks can resume, >and not a resistance group fighting its occupation." > >The Syrian Al-Baath daily newspaper wrote: "It is Israel's crimes and criminal >threats against Lebanon that are incompatible with peace. The crimes of the >Israeli government of Ehud Barak against Lebanese civilians and >infrastructure are intended either to drag the region towards an explosion of >full-scale war or to spread defeatism among the people of Lebanon and >Syria." > >In a joint statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al- Hoss and Syrian >Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara expressed their "astonishment and >annoyance at the statements of U.S. officials ... which presented as the >aggressors those who are there defending their people on their own soil, and >as the victims those who are continually pounding other people's territory." > >Despite its blatant violations of UN resolutions (40 in all), Israel has never >suffered international sanction. It has been protected by Washington and >much, much more. The U.S. officially gives Israel $3 billion to $4 billion >every >year, over half of it military aid. The Pentagon has helped Israel become a >high-tech, nuclear-equipped military power. > >U.S. taxpayers, i.e. workers, have been forced to fund the U.S./Israeli wars >of >aggression against the Arab people for more than half a century. Why? >Because Israel is Wall Street and Big Oil's indispensable cop in this key >strategic region. > >Many in the Middle East and around the world have noted the seeming >"double standard" of U.S. policy in the area. > >When Iraq occupied Kuwait in 1990, following a long and bitter dispute, the >U.S. responded with extreme action. First, it pushed through the Security >Council a total blockade of Iraq, and six months later launched a devastating >military attack on that country. Now, nine years after Iraq left Kuwait, the >blockade remains in place, bombing continues on a regular basis, and a >million and a half Iraqis have died as a result. > >All of this was done in the name of "international law," "stopping an illegal >occupation," "defending human rights," etc. Yet, just a few hundreds of >miles away, the U.S. supports and funds the continued illegal occupation of >Palestine and parts of Lebanon and Syria. > >All the U.S. rhetoric about peace, democracy and the rule of law is shown by >this contrast to be nothing but the most unbridled hypocrisy. From any moral >standpoint it is a double standard. > >But, of course, morality has nothing whatsoever to do with imperialist foreign >policy. > >The Washington national security establishment, and those it serves, have >only one real standard: furthering the interest of huge banks and >corporations, and making the world safe for them to exploit. > >But the Lebanese resistance is not intimidated. "As long as there are Israeli >forces in southern Lebanon our resistance will continue," stated Hussein al- >Khalil. "Our main aim is that Lebanon will be free of occupation. We will >conquer the Israelis, and they will be seen to be the big losers in this war." > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
