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GUESTS: Rania Masri, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Balamand (Lebanon) and the assistant director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Balamand, Bilal El Amine, writer based in Beirut, Lebanon, currently in Tyre.

An international conference to reach agreement on a cease-fire plan in the Middle East failed earlier this week. Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon told media, “We received … permission from the world … to continue this operation, this war, until Hezbollah won’t be located in Lebanon and until it is disarmed.’” He added, “all those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah.”

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who recently visited the region announced that the United States wants Hezbollah forces to be disarmed, to be followed by the deployment of NATO forces between the border region of the occupied territories of Palestine and the Litani river. Many Arab media commentators see this move as an attempt by the US to reshape the Middle East in it’s own interests.

Meanwhile, the southern Lebanese city of Tyre has been the focus of some of the worst Israeli airstrikes. Israel says that one of its targets was a building which housed Hizbollah offices. But among the 13 people injured were six children. So far more than 430 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict erupted. More than 50 Israelis have died. Israeli warplanes also bombed radio masts and other targets north of Beirut overnight. The combat has caused massive internal displacement in Lebanon, with over half a million people fleeing.

House Resolution 945 was recently proposed by Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee [D-TX-18]. To date, there are only 13 co-sponsors for the resolution.

HR 945:

(1) calls for the cessation of the targeting by any side of infrastructure vital to non-combatants, which also increases the likelihood of the loss of innocent civilian life;

(2) calls for a secure humanitarian corridor to be opened immediately via the seaports and airports of Lebanon to alleviate the unnecessary suffering of the people of Lebanon;

(3) calls for an immediate cease-fire in line with the urgent appeals of the Government of Lebanon and the United Nations Secretary General; and

(4) urges a comprehensive and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict to ensure that the peoples of the Middle East can live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.

List of Current Co-Sponsors for H. Res. 945:

Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-14]
Rep Davis, Danny K. [D-IL-7]
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [D-NY-22]
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9]
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [D-MI-13]
Rep McDermott, Jim [D-WA-7]
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [D-CA-6]
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [D-MD-7]
Rep Hall, Ralph M. [R-TX-4]
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [D-TX-30]
Rep Kildee, Dale E. [D-MI-5]
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [D-OH-10]