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GUEST: Bassem Chit, Coordinator for Field Operations with the Sanayeh Relief Center

Israel continued its offensive into Lebanon today, with troops moving deeper into Lebanon to besiege the biggest town close to the frontier. Hezbollah has continued its barrage of missile attacks on northern Israel. Hundreds of Lebanese and tens of Israelis have been killed so far. At least 600,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, according to the World Health Organization. Lebanon’s finance minister puts the number at 750,000, nearly 20 percent of the population. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Beirut earlier today where she met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. The Bush administration has resisted pressure for an immediate cease-fire, saying that any peace agreement must come with the “right conditions.” These include an end to Hezbollah-domination over the southern part of the country. Rice is also due to visit Israel. According to one media commentator in the most widely-read Israeli paper, Yediot Aharonot, “The secretary of state is not coming to put pressure on the Israel government to declare a cease-fire. On the contrary, she is coming to make sure that things are going well, that we are not missing this opportunity to be the long, strong arm of the US.” According to an AFP report, the Israeli air force is under orders to blast 10 buildings in south Beirut for every rocket that Hezbollah fires at the northern Israeli port of Haifa. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said earlier today that the priority is for a cease-fire and that he was open to discussing ideas on ending the crisis.

Reprinted from http://sanayehreliefcenter.blogspot.com/

URGENT APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH LEBANESE SOCIETY

Relief Center – Sanayeh

17/7/2006

The Israeli offensive against Lebanon is an act of aggression against the whole Lebanese people. The IDF claims to be attacking an “infrastructure of terror”, but the attacks on bridges, roads, airports and ships are cutting the country into pieces, threatening to create a disastrous situation by impeding the transportation of food and medicines, and terrorizing everyone. Besides the hundreds killed and injured, thousands of people are fleeing the country, and thousands of people are fleeing from the areas where the bombing is heaviest into central Beirut. Even here in the “safe” parts of the city we can hear the bombs throughout the day and night, and electrical and water supplies are tenuous.

Political and civil society organizations here are organizing to help people deal with the effects of the invasion, but there is only so much we can do on our own. We are calling on our brothers and sisters in the rest of the world to do two things to help us.
First we call on you to protest at Israeli embassies and consulates, as we hear some groups are already doing. The Israeli government must be held accountable for its criminal and terroristic actions here and in Palestine. We also ask you to send us information about any such protests you carry out.

Second, we are asking you to help us with our work with displaced people here in Beirut. The group we are part of, the Relief Center – Spears, is working in 32 displacement centers in the central areas of Beirut, which were housing more than 6,000 people as of the night of July 16th (we don’t know how many thousands more are in other areas). People there are sleeping 10 or 15 to a room without enough mattresses, and they are only receiving food and water irregularly from the government. Many are children or elderly.

Besides the humanitarian aspect of the situation, helping displaced people is crucial to the reconstruction of Lebanon after this crisis ends. One aspect of the Israeli offensive is an attempt to foment tensions between different cultural groups in Lebanon. This is the only way they can hope to achieve their goals without an all-out war, but in the end it would do more damage to Lebanese society than any amount of physical destruction. A broad relief effort is an essential part of avoiding such a disaster.

We urgently need money to buy the supplies we need to help the internally displaced population here. We ask everyone who can to send donations, however small, the Relief Center – Spears in the care of the following two people by bank transfer. Please contact your bank to find out how to do this.

CLIENT NAME: GREENLINE ASSOCIATION
ACCOUNT NMBR: 6189003
BANK: BANK OF KUWAIT AND THE ARAB WORLD
SWIFT: BKAWLBBE

Greenline Association address:

3rd floor, Yamout building, Spears 174,
Sanayeh, Beirut, Lebanon
Telefax: (+961 1) 746 215 or (+961 1) 752 142
E-mail greenline@greenline.org.lb

These are difficult days for everyone in Lebanon, but we are confident that with your support we can overcome this situation as we have others before.

For more information, please contact: +961 3 647 605, +961 3 670 783, sanayeh.center@gmail.com

http://sanayehreliefcenter.blogspot.com/
http://lebanonupdates.blogspot.com/