The Human Cost of Turning a Blind Eye to Lebanon

This morning, I found a website called

fromisraeltolebanon.info

about the violence between Israel and Lebanon. The website contains some very graphic and disturbing pictures of civilian casualties of Israeli bombing.

Also disturbing, but on a very different level, are the now famous pictures of Israeli girls writing or drawing on heavy artillery shells. The website suggests that these Israeli girls are writing messages to the future Lebanese victims of Israeli shelling. This claim may well be pure propaganda. Nevertheless, I find it deeply sad that parents permitted their children to write or draw anything on an artillery shell. Such an act teaches children to make light of instruments of death and destruction. I agree with the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu, who wrote that

Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them. Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use them only with the utmost restraint. Peace is his highest value. If the peace has been shattered, how can he be content? His enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself. He doesn't wish them personal harm. Nor does he rejoice in victory. How could he rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men? He enters a battle gravely, with sorrow and with great compassion, as if he were attending a funeral. (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 31)

In addition to presenting pictures of some of the consequences of this war, the website links to a petition to save the Lebanese civilians and points out that these civilians include Christians, Muslims, Druzes, and Jews. As of the time of this writing, the petition has received almost 200,000 signatures since July 15, 2006, including my own. The petition says that

Up until now more than 500 Lebanese civilians have been killed and thousands missing under the rubbles, thousands wounded, bridges and infrastructure destroyed, refugees are leaving Beirut in droves and worst of all the enforced siege might lead to a human catastrophe in the next few days. There must be an end to this cycle of violence and continuous violation of international laws and basic ethical behavior.

If you believe that the factual basis of the petition is correct and share its concerns, I encourage you to act right now and add your signature to the petition as well. Better yet, after you sign the petition, tell others about it, too! (An easy way to do that is to click on the envelope icon at the bottom of this post, which will let you email this post to a friend.)