Home Page

Recent Headlines
Articles
Campaigns
Events

Why We Don't Emphasize "Ceasefire"

Several hundred people demonstrated in the rally and march on August 5 in New Haven. There was a great mix of people of all colors and religions and creeds. The highlight was a talk by Dr. Antoine "Tony" Sreih who told of his anguish for his family in Lebanon and his country. The rally received quite decent coverage in the media, particularly in the Hartford Courant.

The rally was called by a number of groups and individuals including the Middle East Crisis Committee. Among the many slogans and signs there was one slogan that was not featured, "Ceasefire Now". There was no vote to exclude it, but none of the groups and people attending chose to emphasize it. Why not?

We in MECC don't pretend to speak for everyone, but we met on the subject ourselves and did decide that slogan was not something we would advance. [See our full statement below.] We obviously want the violence to stop, but not if it would just solidify Israeli ethnic cleansing in Southern Lebanon and make even greater violence in the future inevitable.

The activity at the UN the past week backs up our position. US Ambassador Bolton has crafted a cease-fire resolution. If the thrust of our message was cease-fire then we'd have to support it. Never mind the fact that it leaves all Lebanese ports blockaded. Never mind the fact that it lets all Israel troops in Lebanon stay there. Never mind that it demands Hezbollah stop all attacks while calling on Israel to suspend only "offensive operations".

Let's put it another way. Should that be our slogan in Iraq be "Ceasefire Now"? Or should it be "Bring the Troops Home". The answer is obvious in Iraq and it's obvious in Israel/Lebanon/Palestine.

While the random Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel must be criticized, the root of the problem is the Israeli government which holds Arabs in contempt, which steals Palestinian land and walls them in ghettos and which makes war on their neighbors with no regard for international law.

Stop Israel.

The Current Situation -
Resolution of the Middle East Crisis Committee (CT, USA)

The Israeli government and the Bush Administration have never ceased in their dream of subduing the entire Middle East. Since the winter Israel has tried to destroy the Palestinian Authority by assaulting Gaza through a combination of sanctions designed bring about massive hunger and poverty along with shelling and assassinations. This led to a Palestinian attack on a tank base shelling Gaza in which a soldier was captured. The massive violence against civilian targets in Gaza that followed can be properly termed state terrorism.

In Lebanon, Israel has refused to end its occupation of the "Shaba Farms" area that it seized in 1967. There are 400,000 land mines in Lebanon that were left by the Israeli army when it left most of Southern Lebanon and the Israeli government hasn't provided the Lebanese maps to its locations. Israeli overflights and sonic bombs are constant. Lebanese prisoners remain in Israeli jails. Israel has never paid compensation or punished guilty officers or governement officials for its invasion in 1982 or Qana massacre in 1996. Israel and Lebanon remain in a state of war.

It seems probable that the Hezbollah raid was at least in part designed to take the pressure off of Gaza. Whether it was a wise thing to do will be debated, but any account of the invasion of Lebanon that leaves out Palestine is without merit. The oppression of the Palestinians is at the heart of the Middle East wars and occupations.

The fascist levels of violence directed at the entire nation of Lebanon by Israel with the active support by the Bush Administration and its Democratic Party lap dogs is appalling. Israel has driven hundreds of thousands of people of out southern Lebanon and mostly likely wants that to be a permanent situation, a sudden and awful example of ethnic cleansing.

What Should We Be Calling For

Stop Israel. No Aid, No Trade, No Guns.
Shut Down Bush's War Against the Middle East
Protest Any Politician That Supports the Devastation of Lebanon
End the Savagery Against the Occupied Territories

On the slogan "Ceasefire Now"

While we certainly want an end to violence on all sides the slogan of "Ceasefire Now" is problematic. It implies that both sides are equally to blame for the situation and ignores that U.S. tax money is being used to fund the Israeli onslaught on a sovereign country.

We reject the notion that South Lebanon should be filled with NATO troops or soldiers from quisling Arab monarchies and dictatorships. It is Israel that has the mad dream of walling Palestinians into ghettos and reducing all its neighbors into compliant puppets. The energies of the peoples of the world need to be directed at stopping the designs of the Israeli and US governments and making them stop their violence.

U.S. Groups that Support Israeli Invasions

Corporate interests in this country have had their designs on the Middle East for decades, particularly lusting after its oil. In addition Zionists (Jewish, Christian and secular) have demanded blind support for Israel and have grown increasingly powerful. While we, of course, condemn violent attacks like the shootings at the Jewish Federation in Seattle we will expose and protest any group that explicitly supports Israeli oppression and invasions.

adopted August 1, 2006