Local activists rally to protest Israeli attacks

Yawu Miller

Every time Caline Jarudi turns on the news, her heart quickens as scenes of Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon flash across the television screen.

“This has been the worst eight days for me,” she said. “I’m afraid to look at the news. This whole thing is a horrific nightmare. My extended family is there and they can’t leave.”

Last Friday, Jarudi, the executive director of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts, helped organize a demonstration in front of City Hall that brought together an estimated 500 Muslims, Christians and Jews to protest Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

Among those present was poet and activist Gary Hicks, who said he came out in support of peace.

“You read between the lines in all the articles about this conflict and there’s an absolutely juvenile message — ‘They started it,’” he said.

“I used to pull kids into the principal’s office when I was a substitute teacher and tell them it has nothing to do with who started it. It’s about what will it take to bring an end to this crisis.”

This latest crisis in the cycle of Middle East violence began more than two weeks ago after the military wing of Palestinian organization Hamas captured an Israeli soldier following several Israeli assassinations of top Hamas officials.

Israel responded by invading the Gaza territory where the soldier was captured, sealing its borders and cutting off supplies of water, food and electricity.

Next, fighters from the guerrilla organization Hezbollah entered Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel initially responded with air strikes hitting roads, bridges, power stations and water supplies — leaving much of Lebanon’s population without access to food and water.

Lebanon’s prime minister, Fouad Siniora, appeared on the news last week in tears, pleading with the United Nations to intervene in the conflict which most observers acknowledge Lebanon is powerless to stop.

Israel has rejected calls for U.N. intervention, but said it would allow a force made up of European Union members into southern Lebanon.

On Saturday, Israel launched its ground assault on southern Lebanon, fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in an attempt to take the town of Maroun al-Ras.

Israel says its objective is to stop Hezbollah from launching rockets into Israeli cities, but Hezbollah has continued its bombardment of northern Israel.

While 19 of the 34 Israelis who were killed in the conflict as of last Friday were soldiers, nearly all of the 380 Lebanese killed have been civilians.

Hezbollah is calling on Israel to release Lebanese prisoners and a Lebanese-born Israeli prisoner who was jailed for having contact with Hezbollah.

Israel’s attack on Lebanon, which has left blocks of southern Beirut flattened, has drawn strong condemnation from United Nations officials and human rights organizations.

Jan Egland, the U.N.’s emergency relief chief, told the BBC that Israel’s flattening of entire blocks of Beirut is a “disproportionate response” to the Hezbollah attacks and a “violation of international humanitarian law.”

In the United States, which regularly sides with Israel in its conflicts with Palestinians and its neighbors, the Bush administration has defended Israel’s attack on Lebanon.

Congress voted 410 to 8 in favor of a resolution backing Israel’s aggression.

Locally, more than 120 prominent politicians and civic leaders signed a petition in support of Israel’s “right to defend herself against unprovoked acts of terror.” The names included in a Boston Globe advertisement taken out by the group last Thursday included Mayor Thomas Menino and every gubernatorial candidate except Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross.

Prominent black and Latino politicians signed the statement, including Sheriff Andrea Cabral and state Sens. Jarrett Barrios and Dianne Wilkerson.

Citing sympathy for both Arab and Israeli victims of the conflict, City Councilor Felix Arroyo joined last Friday’s demonstration.

“I’m glad to see that a lot of people came here to protest,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who does this. A crime is a crime. Support for any country cannot be support for her wrongdoing. Innocent people have been attacked in a way that is unnecessary for the basic defense of a country.”

While Jerudi’s parents were able to make their way to Istanbul, Turkey, she waits every day to hear that the members of her extended family in Lebanon are safe. And as she looks at the news, the photographs of flattened blocks of Beirut haunt her.

“It’s a beautiful city,” she said. “The fact that it’s been taken back 20 years in the last few days is unreal. This really breaks my heart. There’s no other way to say it.”