8/1 Press Release-protest Qana Massacre II

WE ACCUSE THE STATE OF ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES

Mobilize Now to Save Lebanese Civilians
PROTEST -8/1 Tues -5:00 P.M.  S.F. FEDERAL BLDG

ADC-SF and the Break the Siege Initiative condemn Israel's deliberate and wanton massacre last night in Qana, south Lebanon.  We further strongly denounce the Bush administration's calculated refusal to call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.

ISRAELI AGGRESSION AND U.S. COMPLICITY IN THE GENOCIDE MUST IMMEDIATELY STOP

Israeli IDF forces killed at least 65 Lebanese civilians, including 37 children, as they slept in basements were they had taken shelter in Qana.  The Qana Massacre II is almost  identical to the  Israeli IDF massacre of 106 Lebanese on April 18, 1996 in the infamous "Grapes of Wrath" assault.  The United Nations denounced the 1996 IDF attacks as violating rules of international humanitarian law.

The current atrocities being committed against the Lebanese people mirror the ongoing attacks of U.S.-Israeli colonial Imperialism in Palestine, Iraq and elsewhere.

 Fawzieh Saad, a survivor of the Qana Massacre I, described the horrors she witnessed:

    A man was lying in two pieces.  There was a woman who was pregnant and
            I could see the arm and leg of her unborn baby poking out of her stomach.
           There was a man who had shrapnel in his head.  He was not dead but you
           could see a piece of metal in his neck, like he'd had his throat cut.  He told
           his daughter to come to help and lift him up.  And I heard her say.  "Wait a
           minute, I'm trying to my brother together-he's in two pieces." There was
           another brother hold a child in his arms.  The child had no head.  The
           brother was dead too.

Despite yet again another  Israeli massacre on Qana, the Bush administration steadfastly refuses  to call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.   Speaking on behalf of the administration,  Condoleezza Rice could only say that "[w]e all recognize this kind of warfare is extremely difficult."

This "kind of warfare" is more than "extremely difficult" it is CRIMINAL and IT MUST STOP NOW.  Israeli officials are committing war crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian people and they MUST be held accountable.  Under the "uniting for peace" resolution of 1950, the UN General Assembly is empowered to act when the Security Council neglects its duty to maintain order and peace between states.

 WE CALL ON THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO IMMEDIATELY EVOKE THIS RESOLUTION AND FIND OR CREATE MEANS TO RESTRAIN THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND/OR EXPEL IT FROM THE UNITED NATIONS.