Human rights activist addresses Sligo meeting

Israel's supposedly "defensive" attack on Lebanon last year and its assault on Hizbullah, in which more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed in a massive aerial bombardment that ended with Israel littering the south of Lebanon with over a million cluster bombs supplied by the U.S., was cast in a definitively different light last week by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ms Caoimhe Butterly, the Irish human rights activist told a public meeting in Sligo this week.

“The Israeli Prime Minister’s leaked testimony to the government commission  investigating the month-long war – confirms that he and his government had been preparing for such a war months before the capture by Hizbullah of two Israeli soldiers from a border post on the 12th July 2006.   It is now clear that Lebanon's devastation was clearly designed to teach both Hizbullah and the country's wider public a lesson."she said.  

She added: “The Israeli Prime Minister’s account now clarifies the confusing series of justifications for the war. 

“Last year, the official lines of the US and Israeli governments was that the destruction in Lebanon was due to two Israeli soldiers being taken prisoner and that a"shock and awe" campaign was needed to secure their release. 

“Then the Israeli army claimed that it was trying to stop Hizbullah's rocket strikes. But the Israeli bombing campaign targeted not only the rocket launchers but much of Lebanon, including Beirut, leaving most of the critical infrastructure of Lebanon in smoldering ruins.  The bombings included electrical stations, fuel storage depots, gas stations, hospitals, ambulance convoys, ports, factories, bridges and roads. 

“And finally we were offered variations on the theme that ended the fighting: the need to push Hizbullah and, incidentally, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians away from the Lebanese border with Israel. 

“It was very clear that when Hizbullah captured the two soldiers, the Israeli government could have negotiated their return.  Hizbullah made clear from the outset that it wanted to exchange the soldiers for a number of Lebanese prisoners still in Israeli jails.  But, of course, as we now know, Israel was not interested in talks or in halting its bombing campaign. That was not part of its plan.  

“Articles in the U.S. press published last year soon after the outbreak of the war, revealed that the Israeli army had been readying for a wide-ranging assault on Lebanon for years, and had a specific plan for a "Three-Week War" that they had shared with Washington think-tanks and US officials.” Ms Butterly said. 

Sligo’s former Mayor, Cllr Declan Bree, told the meeting that energy production and consumption were at the centre of America’s international relations.  

“The US depends utterly on the access to essential energy resources and untapped markets secured over years of aggressive imperialism.  It will not give this up without further struggle, despite recent setbacks. With oil production expected to peak in as little as a decade, and developing countries demanding an increasing share, America’s need for unrivalled control over energy-rich regions and their economies is more critical than ever. 

“Its need to consolidate its power in the Middle East and Central Asia through a policy of divide and rule will prolong and deepen divisions in the region and especially place further obstacles in the way of a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.  

“Essentially, energy production and consumption are at the centre of America’s international relations. Indeed people now fully realise that the real reason for the war in Iraq and for the continued American support for the Israeli regime, is that the US wants to control the oil supplies of the Middle East.” said Cllr Bree.