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21 April 1996
Massacre at Qana
Despite the handwringing over the carnage at the Qana refugee camp last
week, the West and the United Nations still back Israel's offensive in the
Lebanon, writes Eve Anderson.
Many Western leaders have condemned the artillery attack that took the lives
of 101 Lebanese civilians taking refuge from the Israeli bombardment at
the United Nations camp. But the West still supports Israel's objectives:
to destroy Hizbollah, or to force president Assad of Syria to do it for
them.
In Moscow, Bill Clinton refused to condemn Israel and put all the blame
for the deaths on Hizbollah saying 'there is no way to contain the loss
of innocent life once the rockets start firing and the retaliation begins'.
An editorial in the Daily Telegraph put a similar argument:
'Few in the outside world can have any principled objection to Israel's
attempted destruction of Hizbollah.'
In fact anyone outside of the Middle East who has no vested interest in
the West's domination should object to the war against Hizbollah. The conflict
should not be mystified as an inexplicable 'cycle of violence' - it has
real roots in the
In 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon in an attempt to destroy the Palestinian
refugees based there. It has occupied southern Lebanon ever since. Hizbollah
was formed in 1982 to oppose the occupation. There is nothing surprising
in the fact that Hizbollah wants to destroy Israel - a state that has been
waging war on them for 18 years.
Those Western leaders calling for an immediate ceasefire and for peace negotiations
are crying crocodile tears. Among their number are the United Nations Secretary
General Boutros-Boutros Ghali. His organisation's record in the middle East
is shameful. United Nations Security Council resolution 425, passed in 1978,
calling for Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanon has never been acted upon.
Yesterday the United Nations quashed a resolution yet again calling for
Israel to withdraw to its borders.
Calling for peace without an Israeli withdrawal is nothing more than a call
for an end to Hizbollah resistance to the Israeli occupation. The call for
a ceasefire is in effect a call to agree Israel's domination of the region.
It is a recipe for war, not peace.
There will be a live chat on latest developments in the Lebanon on Wednesday
April 24 at 2200 BST in the Living Marxism chat rooms:
<http://www.informinc.co.uk/chat/index.html>
- There will be a live chat on latest developments in the Lebanon
on Wednesday April 24 at 2200 BST in the Living Marxism chat
room.
Join a discussion on this commentary
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