Dear friend,
Thanks to every one of you who contacted us at Ittijah, as we are based in Haifa, and asked for our safety. Your contact with us is very encouraging and reminds us again what friends are for.
My colleagues, family and I are safe and will manage to take care of our selves, but PLEASE keep one eye raised to the biggest crime being committed by the terrorist state of Israel in Lebanon and keep the other eye looking at the ongoing destruction of Gaza. Turn your ears toward to two voices: one ear toward Tel-Aviv where the Israeli decision-makers are choosing the path of war and destruction, while the other ear listens to the voices of the victims in Beirut, South Lebanon and Gaza.
In several villages and towns in South Lebanon and several neighborhoods in Beirut there are no more voices amidst the silence following the total destruction, the evacuation and destruction of entire villages, and âminiâ massacres which are acceptable to the ears of the G8 leaders, the EU and the international community and even to several Arab leaders. This Israeli terror is as usual fully supported by USA.
This is not a war, it is Israeli aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity. As the Israeli Head of Staff declared with big smile (16 July): âThe Southern Neighborhood of Beirut (Al-Dahiya) doesnât exist any moreâ.
81% of Israeli public opinion is urging the government to go ahead and to escalate the aggression.
The state of Israel behaves as terrorist entity and the Israeli government as well the Israeli media are overjoyed with the current position of the international community. The Head of Staff is using this international support as green light to continue with the destruction of Lebanon.
What about guilt? Guilt should be felt by the whole world. Lebanon is being totally devastated by the evacuation and bombing of entire villages and neighbourhoods and the convoys of those attempting to escape the Israeli onslaught. War crimes and acts of âminiâ genocide are taking place, with full US support and EU silence and understanding. On July 17, Tony Blair went so far as to declare the need for sending international forces to protect the Northern Israeli boarders!!
United Nations Resolutions have never been effective in restraining Israeli aggression. It has become a tool abused by Israel to justify their crimes. It is also abused in order to oblige the Palestinians and Lebanese to submit to US-Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.
I urge all of you donât accept the Israeli language and narrative which is trying to give the impression that a war between two equal sides is taking place. The media coverage which gives a semblance of balance between Beirut and Haifa in fact supports the Israeli aggression. The Israeli Foreign Ministry and media strategy is to focus international media attention on Haifa, not on Beirut and not on Gaza. This is the attempt to oblige the whole world to look through Israeli glasses.
I want also to make clear that WE, the Palestinian citizens of Israel, reject Israeli propaganda which is tries to portray us all in the same boat. We are not part of the Israeli public support for the Israeli war. We are not part of the Israeli media which has become a tool in the service of this war. We are not the victims of a Lebanese resistance to Israeli aggression but victims of Israel which is threatening us all the time through its internal and foreign policies. We are part of the Arab peoples, and specifically Palestinian people, and our people are suffering under Israeli aggression in both Gaza and the refugee camps in Lebanon. This is our âboatâ and our hearts are there these days not in Haifa where we are based.
So please keep asking about our safety, it is important to us and to you. But the most important thing is to keep your eyes on Beirut, South Lebanon and Gaza, and decide what you can do to stop these Israeli crimes.
Sincerely
Ameer Makhoul
Director
Ittijah â Union of Arab Community Based Associations
(UN ECOSOC Special consultative status)
P.O.Box 9577
Haifa 31095
Tel: +972 4 850 7110
Fax: +972 4 850 7241
Mobile: +972 54 4862 171
Website: www.ittijah.org