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BY THE
INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY AND PARLIAMENTARY PEACE MISSION
Press conference,
Beirut, August 14, 2006
We, the members of the international peace delegation comprising
India, Philippines, Brazil, Norway, France, and Spain express our
solidarity with the people of Lebanon in their resistance to Israeli
aggression.
The victory of the Lebanese resistance over Israel has
inspired the peoples of the world who see in this a reassertion of
peoplešs power. The resistance has for the first time broken the
myth of Israeli invincibility, its supposed military and political
superiority over the region. This victory is a defeat for the
US-Israeli designs for "New Middle East" that is another term for
Zionist expansionism and US hegemony that are integral parts of the
global imperialist project.
The courageous Lebanese National Resistance led by the
Hizbollah and its secretary general Hasan Nasrallah has led to this
historic victory. The unity of the Lebanese people across religions
and classes, and the resistance of the civil society have also been
central to the victory over Israel and the United States.
We join Lebanon in mourning the death of all innocent
civilians. We condemn the Israeli policy of widespread targeted
killing of civilians as an instrument of state terror. The Israeli
attack on civilians is a grave violation of international laws and
should be treated as a war crime.
We also express sympathy with the plight of foreign migrant
workers in Lebanon who have been displaced in this aggression. We
demand that their governments give all necessary assistance. This
is an important part of the large-scale displacement of one million
Lebanese creating a major humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli policy of "collective punishment" has destroyed
civilian infrastructure including residential complexes, entire
villages in south Lebanon, bridges, roads, power stations, gas
stations that will require billions of dollars to reconstruct. We
call on the international community to help the people of Lebanon in
this gigantic task of rehabilitation and reconstruction.
We welcome the ceasefire and call for immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from South
Lebanon. Israel must pay reparation for the victims of the
aggression. We call upon the global peace movement, including the
Israeli peace movement, to resist the Israeli-US aggression.
We condemn the partisan
role of the international media that has been part of the US-Israeli
disinformation strategy.
We recommend:
- the setting up of an international war crimes tribunal for
the trial of Israeli policy makers and the military for crimes
against humanity; the international peace movement must facilitate
this process;
- withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon including the Shebaa
Farms;
- the establishment of a
sovereign and independent Palestinian state;
- withdrawal of Israeli
troops from the Golan heights;
- release of all
prisoners in Israeli jails;
- end of US occupation
of Iraq and Afghanistan;
- end to all US and
Israeli threats to Iran and Syria.
Mission members:
Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South, Philippines
Mohammed Salim, MP, Communist Party of India (Marxist), India
Kjeld Jakobsen, CUT Brazil and Hemispheric Social Alliance, Brazil
Mujiv Hataman, MP, Anak Mindanao, Philippines
Seema Mustafa, Resident Editor, Asian Age, India
Kamal Chenoy, All India Peace and Solidarity Organization, Coalition
for
Nuclear Disarmament, India
Kari Kobberoed Brustad, Norsk Bonde-Og Smakbrukarlag, Norway, La Via
Campesina Gerard Durand, Confederation Paysanne, France, La Via
Campesina
Feroze Mithiborwala, Forum against War and Terror, Mumbai, India
Vijaya Chauhan, Rastra Seva Dal (Youth Organization), India
Herbert Docena, Focus on the Global South, Philippines
German Guillot, interpreter, Spain
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