Yes, Mr. Saniora, Hezbollah Has Committed War
Crimes
By: Elias Bejjani
LCCC Chairman
September 2/07
We denounce the hysterical outcry in Lebanon against the “Human
Rights Watch" report which discussed with objectivity, transparency,
and total neutrality Hezbollah’s military actions which violated
international law during the destructive war it started last year at
the behest of Iran and Syria. These actions were defined as war
crimes against civilians. The report stated that during the 2006 war
Hezbollah launched thousands of missiles indiscrimately, and
sometimes in a premeditated manner, against civilian areas in
Northern Israel killing at least 39 Palestinian and Jewish citizens
of Israel. Hezbollah’s justification that it was retaliating against
Israel's indiscriminate shelling of South Lebanon and to entice
Israel to enter a land war is illegitimate and unfounded, according
to international conventions on wars. All Hezbollah’s explanations
regarding its bombardments of Israeli civilians have failed and are
completely groundless.
The report stressed that Hezbollah's leaders had threatened
repeatedly in statements and communiqués to attack Israeli towns and
villages "in revenge to Israel’s attacks against Lebanese villages”.
The report stated that this does not justify indiscriminate attacks
against civilians, according to international and humanitarian laws
in this arena. The Hezbollah leadership’s public declarations and
actions in attacking civilians are proof that it committed war
crimes.
In addition, Hezbollah and its allies made threats to the Human
Rights Watch organization and forced it to cancel the press
conference it was slated to hold in
Beirut on the publication of its report. Also, dozens of supporting
communiqués were issued against the organization, including the
strangest of them all which came from the office of Prime Minister
Saniora. It reminded us of the era of the Syrian occupation when the
Syrian Intelligence Chief would snap a finger triggering a flood of
similarly worded positions from Syria's Lebanese collaborators and
mercenaries.
For Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian agents to protest such a report
is expected, but for Lebanese Prime Minister Saniora to join them
with an official statement from his office can only be described as
self-debasement and a harmful cowing to criminal elements. Has Mr.
Saniora forgotten that his cabinet has been described by Hezbollah
as the "Olmert and Feltman" cabinet (in reference to the Israeli
Prime Minister and the US Ambassador to Lebanon, respectively)? Is
the Lebanese Prime Minister ignoring the fact that the “Party of
God” continues to accuse it daily of treason, conspiracy, and of
obeying the American Satan?
We ask PM Saniora to explain to us the problem he sees with the
Human Rights Watch report. Can he contest any of its documented
facts and research pertaining to Hezbollah’s violation of
international laws and its war crimes? Is it reasonable to reward
Hezbollah’s crimes by continuing to support it so that it destroys
what is left of our institutions and force our people and homeland
into exodus and return us to the dark ages and barbarism?
No, and a thousand no to self-debasement, fear, lies, dhimmitude and
catering to this Iranian fundamentalist group.
Of course Hezbollah is a terrorist organization according to all
humanitarian norms of justice, laws, and principles. And yes, it has
certainly committed war crimes, not only against Israelis last year,
but also against Americans, French and other Westerners in the
1980s, and against thousands of Lebanese citizens who are still
refugees in Israel today due to Hezbollah's rule of terror in South
Lebanon in the 1990s. Through its war last summer, Hezbollah has
caused the death of 1,500 Lebanese citizens, 25 billion dollars of
destruction and damages, and the dislocation of a quarter million of
our citizens. These actions are certainly war crimes and Hezbollah
should be banned and its leadership tried for treason and for each
and every crime they committed.
Therefore, the Prime Minster's communiqué criticizing Human Rights
Watch is highly objectionable. Our PM has been overwhelmed by his
“Arabism” and has forgotten that he is the PM of a cabinet that is
supported by all the free world nations. Those nations provide aid
to him and his cabinet for the simple reason that he
opposes the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah terrorism which is attacking our
freedom and democracy in Lebanon and are trying to force us to join
their axis of evil and terrorism.
We ask PM Saniora: Shouldn't he consider as terrorism and criminal
the possession of 40,000 missiles, the creation of private security
zones to which the government has no access, the establishment of
unauthorized telecommunication networks and underground financial
networks, the occupation of downtown Beirut, the arming of a
20,000-men private army, the opposition to international
resolutions, and the refusal to recognize Lebanon’s civil society?
Isn’t Hezbollah’s attempt to control all Lebanon by military force
terrorism? If this is not terrorism, what is?
Lebanon's Prime
Minister has no right to cover up and justify Hezbollah’s actions,
and it is becoming clear daily that he has not learned and that he
continues to
cajole the snake that will soon bite him.
Our criticism of PM Saniora’s actions is intended to correct the
course and to avoid falling again in the trap of Dhimmitude. It is
not a criticism that is meant to bolster Hezbollah or the
Syrian-Iranian “coup d’état” in Lebanon. We therefore renew our
support to this 100% legitimate government, but Mr. Saniora’s
mistakes, or near sins, are unacceptable. They escalated from his
opposition to enact Security Council Resolution 1701 under Chapter
7, then his rejection of the deployment of UN troops along the
Lebanese-Syrian border, then to his cajoling of Parliament Speaker
Berry and of Hezbollah, and his laughable criticism of US aid to
Israel, and ended with a number of bad decisions his cabinet took
such as the elimination of Holy Friday as an official holiday, and
the adoption of the Muslim Child rights
treaty.
We hope PM Saniora treats Hezbollah for what it is: A deadly cancer
attacking everything Lebanese, as well as our existence, our
freedoms, our way of coexistence, our democracy, and our civil
society. It is time for PM Saniora to stop cajoling fake “Arabism”,
and start being proud of being “Lebanese First”.
Finally, we wish that PM Saniora remember, before making debasing
statements, that he is no more “Arab” than the Egyptian president,
the Jordanian and
Moroccan kings, and the rulers of the Arab Gulf countries, whose
nations all recognized Israel and signed peace treaties with it, and
ended the state of
war, and even conduct diplomatic, economic, and intelligence
relations with Israel.
**Elias
Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site
http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com |