This is how the US foreign propaganda ministry, the Voice of America, is
spinning US intervention in Lebanon. The latest report, from an eye-witness
at the Beirut airport is that seven US planes arrived carrying equipment for
the Lebanese army. Are trainers and instructors in using equipment not bound
to follow? There seems to be no problem for the Siniora "government"
accepting weaponry from the same country that less than a year ago provided
weaponry to Israel to kill over a thousand of its civilians and cause
billions of dollars worth of structural damage. If this doesn't call the
legitimacy of the present regime into question, what does?-JB
http://www.huliq.com/22782/us-confirms-military-aid-airlift-to-lebanon
From: Jeff Blankfort
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:19 PM
Subject: Interview with Rania Masri: Growing Refuge Crisis in Nahr el-Bared
Camp
"One question that we need to ask ourselves about the shipment of arms that
is coming, or if not has already been received in Lebanon is: Why would the
Lebanese army need more weapons to fight against a few hundred people,
regardless of how well armed these few hundred people are given that the
Lebanese army does have heavy artillery?
"There is no logic to this idea that the Lebanese army needs more weapons to
defeat this terrorist organization. Unless one, there were going to be an
expansion of violence; or two, this was a public relations ploy by the U.S.
government to show its support to the Lebanese government. Or three, that
this is a buildup of relations between the U.S. government and the Siniora
government in order to get more U.S. influence on security matters within
Lebanon and specifically within the Lebanese security forces that are
already strongly aligned with the U.S. government. So there is that we need
to keep in mind."
Growing Refuge Crisis in Nahr el-Bared Camp
Interview with Rania Masri
Christopher Brown (christo) reporter:
For nearly a week the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared has
been under siege by the Lebanese army, which claims it is battling militants
from a previous unknown group named Fatah al Islam.
As of this moment, conservative estimates have more than 100
Palestinians injured or killed. Thousands of residents from Nahr el-Bared
have fled to Biddawi refugee camp.
I spoke with Rania Masri, an environmental scientist, and asst
professor of environmental science at the University of Balamand, who had
traveled to the region of Nahr el-Bared.
Christopher Brown: Rania could you update us on the present situation
in Nahr al-Bared?
Rania Masri: Well as we speak, from what I've heard from a
photojournalist that is within the camp is that bombardment against the camp
has continued; approximately half of the refuges in the camp have remained.
So given that there were 40,000 refuges in Nahr el-Bared last week, we have,
at least, 20,000 Palestinian refuges that have remained within the camp.
This camp is approximately one square kilometer in size. And right now
the Palestinians are sequestered in half that area, trying to surround
themselves within the very heart of the camp to be as far as possible from
the Lebanese bombardment, but their not quite succeeding in that.
At the same times these thousands of Palestinian refuges that have
fled from Nahr el-Bared have gone to other refuge camps. Unfortunately there
is no single refuge camp in Lebanon that is operating in a healthy fashion,
in the sense that before this crisis had enough food, infrastructure to
sustain themselves. Now on top of that we have numerous camps that have
almost doubled in size being able to absorb the refuges from Nahr el-Bared.
So we have two sets of crisis': We have a crisis within the Nahr
el-Bared refugee camp where people are not only besieged having to live with
an extreme lack of food and medicine and at the same time trying to endure
under bombardment and sniper fire, we also have another crisis from the
refuges that have left Nahr el-Bared who are now trying to make it in other
refuge camps throughout other refugee camps that are already at capacity.
The humanitarian conditions in Nahr al-Bared were dire long before
this recent crisis. Has medical, food and other basic essentials been able
to get into the camp?
It's a big problem. I spent the day at the Biddawi camp, which is
approximately 15 kilometers from Nahr el-Bared camp, and is now housing
approximately 18,000 refuges from Nahr el-bared refugee camp.
Unfortunately 25 percent of the refuges are going into schools in the
Biddawi camp and 75 percent are going into private homes. Most of the aid,
approximately 80 percent of the aid, is going into the schools. Therefore we
already have a meager amount of aid going to a minority group of people who
happen to be in the schools. And the reason aid is going there is that the
easiest place to distribute aid is in these centers.
So we have the majority of the people, 75 to 80 percent of the
population of these new refuges, in an already refuge camp, not being able
to receive this assistance. And we're talking assistance such as bread,
water, and very basic medicine. And even that, even those who have been able
to receive assistance, all the individuals that we spoke to, spoke about a
lack of mattresses.
To have an idea about the situation, imagine that have thousands of
people leaving the camps with nothing but the clothes on their back. We
spoke to one individual who said he could not even afford the cab fare for
this short distance. So they have almost no money and with nothing but the
clothes on their back, now being thrust into a community, a situation that
already destitute and already impoverished. And this is what we see
happening beyond this camp. The refuges have not only gone to the Biddawi
camp, but other camps in Beirut and in other parts of the country. That as I
have been saying does not even have the capacity to support themselves, let
alone the capacity to support these new refugees.
Do we have any new information on who Fatah al-Islam is; clearly they
are not Palestinians; so who are they, where are they from, and how did they
get into the country?
Well Fatah al-Islam, if we are going to define an organization by its
membership, or by its cause or by its funding, fails on all three counts. It
is neither Palestinian in its cause, nor in funding, nor in membership.
And this needs to be repeated unfortunately because the corporate U.S.
media continues to present it as if it were a Palestinian organization; it
is not, it is unequivocally not Palestinian. Furthermore, it has received
absolutely no political support from any Palestinian faction. So, with that
we need to understand that it is not Palestinian.
Second as to the question of funding, as Seymour Hersh himself has
stated, and as Alistair Crooke has stated -- Alistair Crooke is a former
British intelligence agent with more than 20 years -- both these individuals
have stated that Fatah al-Islam have received indirect funding from the
United States government and received direct funding from Saudi Arabia and
certain elements in the Lebanese government. The very same elements that are
working to destroy Fatah al-Islam.
Fatah al-Islam is a radical, fundamentalist Sunni organization
composed primarily of Saudis, Yemenis, some Afghanis and some Lebanese whose
primary objective is to defeat Shias, be they in Lebanon or elsewhere. The
primary objective is not to end the Israeli occupation in Palestinian
territories.
So when we look at it that way, there could have been some logic
behind creating this organization as a faction against Hezbollah. By which
then defeats the second accusation presented in the corporate U.S. media,
which is, Fatah al-Islam is supported by Syria. There is no evidence to say
it has received funding from Syria. Nor would it make logical sense to claim
that the Syrian government would support an organization whose main function
is to destroy the primary Syrian ally in Lebanon, which is Hezbollah.
So on that grounds again it fails. So again, let us emphasize that
Fatah al-Islam is neither Palestinian in funding, nor in cause, nor at the
same time can we claim it is Syrian in funding.
The Bush administration stated it would be willing to give military
aid to the Siniora government if needed. Condoleezza Rice, U.S. secretary of
state, said, "The Siniora government is fighting against a very tough
extremist foe. But Lebanon is doing the right thing to try to protect its
population, to assert its sovereignty and so we are very supportive of the
Siniora government and what it is trying to do."
However, this is does not seem like a quick fix solution. The West has
failed to see a more pressing issue of Right of Return for hundreds of
thousands of Palestinian refugees whose families were displaced 59 years ago
as a result of the creation of the state of Israel, Rania Masri your
thoughts on this?
Well of course that Right of Return will be a question that the U.S.
government will completely ignore. But let me go back to a few other
statements that you posed.
One question that we need to ask ourselves about the shipment of arms
that is coming, or if not has already been received in Lebanon is: Why would
the Lebanese army need more weapons to fight against a few hundred people,
regardless of how well armed these few hundred people are given that the
Lebanese army does have heavy artillery?
There is no logic to this idea that the Lebanese army needs more
weapons to defeat this terrorist organization. Unless one, there were going
to be an expansion of violence; or two, this was a public relations ploy by
the U.S. government to show its support to the Lebanese government. Or
three, that this is a buildup of relations between the U.S. government and
the Siniora government in order to get more U.S. influence on security
matters within Lebanon and specifically within the Lebanese security forces
that are already strongly aligned with the U.S. government. So there is that
we need to keep in mind.
Also, if we are going to talk about the U.S. government trying to make
appeals to the Lebanese population, forget the Palestinian population, even
with just in regards to the Lebanese population the continuous bombardment
of these camps is a detriment to the entire country not only to the status
of the Palestinian population. Because so long as we have a segment of the
people live in Lebanon being attacked, then we have a buildup of animosity
in the country.
If we're going to put everything else aside, we're going to put law
and ethics and history aside, whenever one segment of any country feels
under attack then there is only a time limit before this segment of the
population starts to defend itself. And if this is going to happen then we
are going to have an escalation of violence. And if the violence escalates,
we all know from previous historical examples how easy it is to start a
violent conflict and how extraordinarily difficult it is to contain that
conflict.
So even if the U.S. government is only claiming to support Lebanon and
cares nothing for the Palestinian population, as a Lebanese I would tell the
U.S. government, "Please do not get involved. Take your weapons and go back
to the United States." Because this kind of involvement will prove
detrimental to all the people living in Lebanon, be they Palestinians or
Lebanese.
Furthermore, if anyone is truly concerned to deal with the heart of
this matter, to deal with the situation of the Palestinian refuges, that we
have to be strongly working on two fronts. One: the Right of Return of the
Palestinians to their homes and second, the implementation of civil and
political rights for the Palestinians in Lebanon for which they have been
deprived of.
But what we need to understand and what, unfortunately, has been
understood thus far by the Palestinian population in Lebanon is a conspiracy
that is happening against the Lebanese army, against the Palestinian people,
and against the Lebanese people.
Christopher Brown is an independent journalist living in San
Francisco, Ca. He produces and hosts a weekly podcast titled, Crossing The
Line: Life in Occupied Palestine (http://ctl.libsyn.com).
2007/05/27
© 2007 Ohmynews
***
Join VETERAN'S FOR PEACE this Memorial Day Weekend
at the Arlington West Memorial, located just next to/North of
the Santa Monica Pier
All Day Long Saturday, Sunday and Monday
May 26th, 27th and 28th
3,444 Reported American Deaths in the War against Iraq.
Over 25,000 wounded.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's have been killed.
Join us this Memorial Day Weekend as we enter the Days of Remembrance.
What makes one man's sacrifice for their country any greater than another's?
This memorial day weekend we take time to reflect up on the reality that,
"We are not worth more. They are not worth less."
Arlington West Santa Monica will remain up for the duration of the weekend -
2 nights, 3 days - with a candle-lit vigil placed at the foot of each cross
at dusk - weather permitting. Help is needed for the preparation of the
candles, and the take down on Monday evening.
Special events during the day on Sunday.
Any questions call 818-424-6470
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
