Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has taken the heroic step of putting his life on the line in order to go visit the besieged city of Tyre in south Lebanon.
- “Our main concern is access to south Lebanon,” he told reporters in the southern city of Tyre, which he could only reach after walking along a thin log to cross the Litani River after two bridges were destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Desperately needed humanitarian aid has not been able to reach those in the south after Israeli strikes destroyed dozens of roads and bridges in the area.
“Our other main concern is the respect of basic rules of humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities,” he said, noting that 100,000 people in Lebanon were living in dire conditions.
“You cannot rid yourself of your responsibility by dropping leaflets,” he said.
The Israeli military on Tuesday dropped flyers on south Lebanon, warning it would strike any vehicle travelling south of the Litani river, an area that includes the port of Tyre.
Kellenberger insisted that all sides should make the “distinction between civilians and combatants, between civilian objectives and military objectives.”
You can learn more about the ICRC’s efforts in Lebanon by following the links on this page.
The ICRC is a key actor in internationational humanitarian affairs since it has been the “depositary body” for the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, and many other crucial treaties in the field of international humanitarian law. Very often, it works quietly and behind the scenes, careful to keep its ability to gain access to vulnerable populations, including POWs, by not angering the governments who control access to these persons.
Kellenberger and his secretariat must have decided that the need for humanitarian access to the scores or hundreds of thousands of beleaguered south Lebanese citizens whose entire region has now been declared a “free-fire zone” by Israel has become so dire that heroic, demonstrative action is necessary.
Another group seeking to create space for nonviolent, humanitarian action in south Lebanon is the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which has sponsored many previous heroic acts of witness in Palestine.
Today, a respected friend in Beirut sent me this important announcement:
- Press Release-Lebanon: An Open Country for Civil Resistance
Beirut August 7, 2006
Press Contacts:
Rasha Salti, +961 3 970855
Huwaida Arraf, +961 70 974452
Samah Idriss, +961 3 381349
Wadih Al Asmar, +961 70 950780
On August 12, at 7 am, Lebanese from throughout the country and international supporters who have come to Lebanon to express solidarity will gather in Martyr’s Square in Beirut to form a civilian convoy to the south of Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese and international civilians will express their solidarity with the inhabitants of the heavily destroyed south who have been bravely withstanding the assault of the Israeli military. This campaign is endorsed by more than 200 Lebanese and international organizations. This growing coalition of national and international non-governmental organizations hereby launches a campaign of civil resistance for the purpose of challenging the cruel and ruthless use of massive military force by Israel, the regional superpower, upon the people of Lebanon.
August 12 marks the start of this Campaign of Resistance, declaring Lebanon an Open Country for Civil Resistance. August 12 also marks both the international day of protest against the Israeli aggression.
“In the face of Israel’s systematic killing of our people, the indiscriminate bombing of our towns, the scorching of our villages, and the attempted destruction of our civil infrastructure, we say No! In the face of the forced expulsion of a quarter of our population from their homes throughout Lebanon, and the complicity of governments and international bodies, we re-affirm the acts of civil resistance that began from the first day of the Israeli assault, and we stress and add the urgent need to act!,” said Rasha Salti, one of the organizers of this national event.
After August 12, the campaign will continue with a series of civil actions, leading to an August 19 civilian march to reclaim the South. “Working together, in solidarity, we will overcome the complacency, inaction, and complicity of the international community and we will deny Israel its goal of removing Lebanese from their land and destroying the fabric of our country,” explained Samah Idriss, writer and co-organizer of this campaign.
“An international civilian presence in Lebanon is not only an act of solidarity with the Lebanese people in the face of unparalleled Israeli aggression, it is an act of moral courage to defy the will of those who would seek to alienate the West from the rest and create a new Middle East out of the rubble and blood of the region,” said Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and campaign co-organizer. “After having witnessed the wholesale destruction of villages by Israel’s air force and navy and having visited the victims (so-called displaced) of Israel’s policy of cleansing Lebanese civilians from their homes,” continued Arraf, “it is imperative to go south and reach those who have stayed behind to resist by steadfastly remaining on their land.”
If you are in Lebanon and want to sign up and join the convoy, contact either:
Rasha Salti. Email: convois.citoyens.sud.liban@gmail.com. Tel: +961 3 970 855
Rania Masri. Email: rania.masri@balamand.edu.lb. Tel: +961 3 135 279
or +961 6 930 250 xt. 5683 or xt. 3933
If you are outside Lebanon and want to sign up and join the convoy, you should know:
1) You need to obtain a visa for Lebanon and for Syria if your plan is to enter Lebanon from Syria.
2) We don’t have the funds to cover for the cost of your travel, however we can help with finding accomodations.
For questions and help for all internationals please contact Adam Shapiro at: adamsop@hotmail.com
You can also sign up on our website: www.lebanonsolidarity.org [They have Arabic and Spanish versions of their announcement there, too. ~HC]
This campaign is thus far endorsed by more than 200 organizations,
including: The Arab NGOs Network for Development (ANND), International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), Cultural Center for Southern Lebanon, Norwegian
People’s Aid, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Lebanese Association for
Democratic Elections, Frontiers, Kafa, Nahwa al-Muwatiniya, Spring Hints,
Hayya Bina, Lebanese Transparency Association, Amam05, Lebanese Center for
Civic Education, Let’s Build Trust, CRTD-A, Solida, National Association
for Vocational Training and Social Services, Lebanese Development Pioneers,
Nadi Li Koul Alnas, and Lecorvaw.
This looks like an extremely important initiative. Well-organized, nonviolent nationalist mass action is the very best way for Lebanon to win its liberation while guarding its national unity and building the basis for a sustainable, robust national society. I am going to find out what else all of us can do to help this initiative.
They would be much more effective advocates for peace if they formed a convoy to block Hezbollah from firing their missles. Maybe they can also organize a delegation to release the Israeli soldiers.
ISM is non-violent and humanitarian in the same way that a corner-man in a boxing match is non-violent and humanitarian.
I shouldn’t think anyone here is likely to be taken in by Joshua’s shoddy – and indeed, tawdry – wares. But if there are any naifs about – well, here’s a proper caveat emptor. It’s three paragraphs from George Monbiot’s piece in yesterday’s Guardian. The article is entitled: Israel responded to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, right? Wrong
Subtitle reads: The assault on Lebanon was premeditated – the soldiers’ capture simply provided the excuse. It was also unnecessary
I guess the other thing that might be worth mentioning is that this is a classic instance of Jonathan and co. being “counter productive”. I.E., he immediately rushes over here and sets out his stall with its usual assortment of threadbare, black-is-white prevarications. Result: I wheel out Monbiot and his devastating rebuttal of the Joshua “party line”. Which I wouldn’t have bothered to do if he had kept quiet. Conclusion: unless and until he can do better than this Joshua should leave well enough alone. But he can’t help himself.
Now here are the three paras from the Monbiot piece. The piece in its entirety can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1839282,00.html
There is no serious debate about why the two soldiers were captured: Hizbullah was seeking to exchange them for the 15 prisoners of war taken by the Israelis during the occupation of Lebanon and (in breach of article 118 of the third Geneva convention) never released. It seems clear that if Israel had handed over the prisoners, it would – without the spillage of any more blood – have retrieved its men and reduced the likelihood of further kidnappings. But the Israeli government refused to negotiate. Instead – well, we all know what happened instead. Almost 1,000 Lebanese and 33 Israeli civilians have been killed so far, and a million Lebanese displaced from their homes.
On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “more than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to US and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail”. The attack, he said, would last for three weeks. It would begin with bombing and culminate in a ground invasion. Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that “of all of Israel’s wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared … By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we’re seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it’s been simulated and rehearsed across the board”.
Doctors Without Borders has also been serving heroically in Tyre, passing medical supplies by hand across the Litani River, after all the bridges were bombed.
It is a little difficult to put up with the crap from those who feel compelled to disparage people who are putting their lives on the line to save innocent refugees. The war crimes on both sides are clear. Hizbollah rains random rockets on northern Israel, which are too inaccurate for any serious targetting — their purpose is pure terrorism, and they have killed many innocents, with no justification other than blackmail. However, the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon is much the same in intent. Because of its vast technical superiority, it is terrorism on a much grander scale, and it has killed and maimed far more innocents than Hizbollah — not because of more evil intent, but because of greater resources. The immorality is equivalent, but the scale is much larger. Apologists for the IDF under these circumstances are pathetic, at best.
Dear Helena,
Thank your for your last blog entry concerning humanitarian aid in Lebanon. Without your report on the large lebanese solidarity movement I won’t have heard about it.
Just a minor remark to your comment on the ICRC :she isn’t the repository of the Geneva Conventions. It rather like the executive arm of the Conventions. You will find more on the ICRC special status here
The repository of the Geneva Conventions (I’m not sure for the Hague) is the Swiss Federal Council (aka the Swiss government), as shown in the Final Provisions’ section of the Geneva Conventions (articles 55-64).
I’m not sure about what this means exactly. But 1) The countries signing to the different Geneva Conventions have to communicate it to the Swiss Government who transmits this information to the UN; samething if a nation withdraw her support to the treaties. 2) The creation of the ICRC in Switzerland results from the swiss repository role. 3) Recently, because of her repository role, the Swiss government has been asked to write a report on the Israelian wall built in the Palestinian Territories. It resulted in a condemnation of the wall.
Switzerland has this repository role because of history : it is a neutral country since the Middle Age and the first Redcross organisation was founded in Geneva at the end of the XIXth Century.
Christiane, thanks so much for those clarifications and links. The important thing, imho, is to note that the ICRC is not just simply another well-meaning internatinal NGO but that it has real responsibilities in the monitoring of compliance with international humanitarian law.
The first official declaration of Swiss neutrality was made by the Swiss Confederation Council (Tagsatzung) in the year 1674.
Red Cross founder’s name is Henry Dunant.
Joshua: if Hezbollah could have been stopped by a convoy Israel might have sent one.
Helena, you may be interested in knowing that the Magen David Adom intends to participate in the ICRC relief mission and is advocating for the ICRC with the Israeli government.
Upharsin, I hate to say it, but Monbiot’s argument seems pretty weak. The existence of a contingency plan doesn’t mean that Israel wanted to go to war. It’s part of an army’s job to develop contingency plans for foreseeable confrontations, and whatever else may be said of a confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah, it was certainly foreseeable. At one point, the United States had a contingency plan for war with Canada, but that doesn’t mean it wanted such a war.
I could say more, but I’ll refer you to Helena’s post entitled “High command problems in Israel,” which I think is dead-on in its analysis of the evidence and which concludes that the current fighting was not pre-planned.
I’m also not sure where Monbiot gets the figure of 15 Lebanese prisoners of war. Most pro-“resistance” sources I’ve seen (e.g., the Samir Kuntar Official Website) say there are four: Kuntar, Yehya Sekaf (who Israel denies holding), Nasim Nesser and Mohammed Faran. Nesser and Faran were captured on Israeli soil after 2000, and were thus not included in the prior prisoner exchange agreement. Kuntar has been held since 1979, but he wasn’t captured in arms fighting for Lebanon; instead, he is under sentence of court for murders committed when he infiltrated Israel on behalf of a Palestinian organization.
I’m not saying these prisoners shouldn’t be exchanged someday – that’s up to the relevant governments – but Israel isn’t violating any agreements by holding them, and more to the point, their detention wasn’t a valid excuse for HA to conduct a raid across the border. I’d be interested in knowing who the other 11 prisoners are, and whether their situation is different.
“the Magen David Adom intends to participate in the ICRC relief mission”
Oh, now THAT will be well received!
“their detention wasn’t a valid excuse for HA to conduct a raid across the border.”
Agreed 100%. Nor is there any valid excuse whatsoever for Israel to do even one percent of what it is doing.
Jonathan,
You might want to remind people of what Samir Qantar did.
JES,
You might want to remind people of what Samir Qantar did.
You might to remind yourself what Israelis did in Sabra-Shatila, QanaI and QanaII and others in 1948 those gangs what war crimes did before you ask to remind us of what Samir Qantar did….
Salah,
With all due respect, we’re not talking about Sabra and Shatila here. We’re talking about Samir Qantar, who committed his crimes on Israeli soil four years before Sabra and Shatila.
As a reminder, Samir Qantar infiltrated Israel with a group of terrorists. After killing a policeman, they holed up in an apartment building in Nahariya, taking a family hostage. Samir Qantar shot and killed the father of the family in front of his four yearold daughter. He then smashed the little girl’s head against a wall.
This is one of the three Lebanese prisoners that Nasrallah wants released in exchange for the two Israeil soldiers.
JES,
Thanking you for your brief details which I knew before.
But with all due respect of your view I think you miss my point, here you talking about crime done by individuals from Arab/ Palestinians / Lebanon’s towards Israelis, you should beer in mind what Israel as a State and as a force driven by wars did with her neighbours and the amount of crimes done to other side of Arab/ Palestinians / Lebanon’s in name of the defending themselves.
This is the point I highlighted or I concerned when I made my comment, standing and put all the cause on one side I think this is far from the truth JES.
Jonathan Edelstein,
concludes that the current fighting was not pre-planned,
There are few reports came and said this not right Jonathan Edelstein, take this one for start.
Crisis in Lebanon
Also I think some singe tells us that Israelis were well prepared before this war despite the war might be not went or going like what they thought in first place, the singe I think its related to ” pre-planned” war is using the South African animals with that quantise and prepared to use them from day one, I can not find answer why Israeli planed to use this specific animals which isn’t native to the land they using.
but Israel isn’t violating any agreements by holding them, and more to the point,
You might be you are right about those few, but as we know there are thousands of Palestinians and Lebanon’s Israelis are holding them unlawfully and those I think the demands made at first place.