Lebanon probes “Israel’s” possible use of depleted uranium warheads…(1)

“ Lebanon has decided to probe “Israel’s” alleged use of depleted uranium warheads during an occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in May and during subsequent attacks against its northern neighbor, papers said Friday.

The government, in a session late Thursday, "ordered the ministries of health and environment as well as the National Council for Scientific Research and the army to draw up a report on “Israel’s” alleged use of depleted uranium in Lebanon," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi was quoted as saying.

On Thursday, the personal representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in southern Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, said he favoured an inquiry into “Israel’s” use of shells tipped with depleted uranium in Lebanon.

Mistura said Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri "is right to raise the issue of deplated uranium," particularly because it was a question that concerns not only Lebanon but the whole world.

"We should not make any alarmists feelings," he added. "We should be scientific here and elsewhere, and the studies conducted by the European Union and NATO could be compared with what we can do here.

"If it is depleted uranium, we should reveal it because it is something concerning other countries," he said.

Berri said Wednesday he was "convinced" that “Israel” has used shells tipped with depleted uranium in Lebanon and called for an international inquiry into the subject.

He said the “Israeli” media had talked of the use of depleted uranium as far back as 1985. As fighting was then on a daily basis, he said the Lebanese were convinced that “Israel” had used Lebanon to test the weapons as it had against Palestinians.

UN being mobilized in DU question…(2)

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud asked Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United Nations Salim Tadmouri to gather information from UN officials on “Israel’s” alleged use of depleted-uranium ammunition in its attacks on Lebanon.
Tadmouri was also instructed to ask the UN for assistance in the government’s probe.
The government on Thursday ordered an investigation into “Israel’s” possible use of depleted-uranium ammunition during its occupation of Lebanon.

Brothers of kidnapped “Israeli” soldier to lead Canadian rallies…(3)

“ Brothers of one of three “Israeli” soldiers kidnapped three months ago in an area near the “Israeli”-Lebanese border pleaded for international help here Friday to learn more about the fate of their 21-year-old brother.

Eyal and Avi Avitan, who flew to Canada at the request of “Israeli” interest groups here, plan to lead two rallies in Canada and to meet with Canadian and US lawmakers this week.

Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham, also 21, and Omar Souad, 26, were kidnapped October 7 by while patrolling in a jeep near the border area of Shibaa Farms.

The Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbullah, which spearheaded the struggle against “Israel’s” 22-year occupation of the region, has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and has repeatedly refused to provide information on the captured soldiers or allow access by Red Cross representatives.

"Our life stopped" on that day, Eyal Avitan, 24, said at a news conference here. He said for the past 105 days his family has struggled with the uncertainty of not knowing if Adi or the others were still alive.

"We want that in every corner and place in the world, a little will be felt (of) what we are feeling," he said in broken English.

The brothers will lead a rally here Sunday -- where they expect a few hundred demonstrators -- and another Tuesday in Montreal, where they hope to draw attention to the kidnappings.

On Monday, the two brothers will travel to Chicago to meet with US Representatives Mark Kirk and Janice Schakowsky as well as the head of Amnesty International to seek more international help.

"We think more pressure (from the international community) can help us" to learn more about their detainment and physical condition, said Eyal Avitan.

The Hizbullah's second-in-command leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, told a Lebanese paper in late December that the movement considers any information on the health of these “Israeli” prisoners to be "an element of the negotiations and to have a price."

Struggle for Al-Quds at heart of conference…(4)

Al-Quds will be lost if the Arab and Islamic worlds do not take the responsibility to counter Zionist efforts to procure the city, organizers of a conference on Al-Quds said Friday.
Several individuals concerned with the city’s fate, including leading personalities such as Arab Nationalist Forum head Maan Bashour, Hizbullah delegate Hasan Hodroj, and Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouq, recently decided to form the Al-Quds Foundation.
The foundation is organizing a three-day conference at the end of this month in an attempt to “save the city and preserve its Arab and Islamic character.”
“The fate of Al-Quds is at the root of the Arab-Zionist struggle,” Abu Marzouq, head of the foundation’s preparation committee, told a news conference at the Press Federation. “I hope that everyone partakes in the preservation of the Holy City.”
He said the struggle for Al-Quds was not strictly a Palestinian one, pointing to widespread global support for the conference from a number of sources, including the speakers of the Iranian and Yemeni parliaments, the assistant secretary-general of the Socialist Arab Baath Party, and the mufti of Al-Quds.
Abu Marzouq said that the status of Al-Quds had been postponed until the final-status talks during the peace process so that “Israel” could impose de facto conditions on Palestinians.
“Zionist policy has been aiming to widen the limits of the city of Al-Quds, at the cost of many cities in the West Bank, until its area reaches 500 square kilometers,” he said.
“It has also been putting pressure on our Palestinian sons through increasing taxes, demolishing houses, retracting identity papers, confiscating land, and uprooting trees.”
Abu Marzouq also drew attention to the digging of tunnels and excavations beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque as part of “the Zionist plan to eradicate the city’s history.”
While the digging will be one of the topics discussed at the conference, other subjects will include the streets of Old Al-Quds; Arabic, Islamic and Christian understandings of the limits of the city; the steadfast people of Al-Quds and the future of an “Israel” that ignores international law.
“If we are meeting today for the sake of … peace in the city of Al-Quds, then we have to know the city we are talking about and where its borders lie,” said Lebanese University professor Bayan Noueihed Hout.
She said that although Al-Quds’s founding civilization, that of the Caananites, intended it to be a peaceful city and named it as such, “history had it be a city that has witnessed more wars than any other comparable to it.”
Noueihed Hout doubted the city would see peace soon when “Israeli” Premier Ehud Barak was declaring “eternal presence and sovereignty over the Western Wall and Temple Mount.”
Organizers said the conference was only the beginning of this “struggle for Al-Quds.” Once the foundation’s official administration is voted in, it will work for Islamic-Christian understanding and increasing awareness of the struggle with Zionism, among other issues.
The conference’s opening session will be held at UNESCO Palace on Jan. 28 at 6pm. Lectures on Jan. 29 and 30 will convene at the Carlton Hotel.
“I’m looking forward to learning more about Al-Quds,” said 15-year-old Ousama Sheikh. “All you hear about these days is about the clashes going on there. It will be good to see another side of the city.”

Palestinian kids express their despair and ‘right to dream’ to UN officials…(5)

UNESCO representatives received an earbashing on Friday when some 50 Palestinian youth reminded them of the responsibility of the United Nations to help refugee children.
The children made emotional appeals for Palestinian independence, and for the UN to help Palestinian children, to officials at UNESCO offices in Bir Hassan.
Similar discussion sessions organized by UN agencies in Jordan and Palestine gave refugee children the opportunity to vent their anger as well.
In Beirut, a “Black Book” detailing the deaths of 95 children killed during the ongoing Palestinian intifada was presented on behalf of all Palestinian refugee children by some 50 residents of Chatila to UNESCO director Victor Billeh.
The book also focused on the refugees’ right of return to their homeland.
“It’s hard to live without an identity,” said Mona Zaaroura, 13. “The UN says we have a right to this.
“Why don’t you hear our cries? Why don’t you listen to us? How would you like us to believe that the UN works for ... justice and equality in this world?” Mona said, quoting a passage from the book she presented to Billeh.
The children used the book and the meeting as a vehicle to inform the world that “we’re not numbers. We have names with dreams, hobbies and aspirations.
“Don’t we have a right to dream and just live even if we’re Palestinian refugees?” asked Mona.
About 15 pages listed the names of children who were killed during the current intifada, their villages of origin and how they died. Other parts of the “Black Book” drew attention to the everyday life of refugee children.
“We can hold a stone and throw it, but our hands can also play the bagpipes,” said Mona, pointing to a picture of a child doing just that.
A question-and-answer session following the book’s presentation lasted more than an hour, with most of the children raising their hands to vocalize long-held complaints.
“If you happened to be born a Palestinian refugee and saw all these kids being killed and saw that the United Nations wasn’t doing anything, how would you feel?” asked 14-year old Rabi Zaaroura. “That there’s no justice in the world?”
Another eager participant, Safa Khatib, refuted Billeh’s contention that the reason UN resolutions concerning Palestinian rights have not been implemented was because “it takes time to implement resolutions.
“Why is it then that if the resolutions are for “Israel”, they get implemented immediately, but if they’re for Palestine, it takes 53 years?” Safa said.
Carried away by the opportunity to have their grievances listened to for the first time, the outspoken teenagers could not relax during a refreshments session but instead engaged UNESCO representatives in a discussion on how to return Palestine to the Palestinians.
Many held the UN responsible for the world’s passivity on the issue.
“You passed the children’s rights convention, and it’s your responsibility to punish those who violate this convention and to help children, all the children of the world, to live in peace and to enjoy their rights,” said Mona.
“But the children don’t seem to understand the difference between UNESCO, UNRWA and the Security Council,” said Billeh. “To them it’s all the UN.
“The children feel bitter about the killings of kids and need to express themselves to let out some of their anger,” he said.
“I plan on contacting UNRWA to draw their attention to the kids’ concerns about the education system and will pass on the book to headquarters in Paris and other UN agencies,” he added.
Billeh agreed to the meeting organized by the NGO Forum, a conglomeration of non-governmental organizations working in Palestinian refugee camps, and Aidun, comprising a group of activists in the country working on the right of return.
Before leaving, Mona requested that “100 more sessions like this be organized so that Palestine will finally be liberated and because we didn’t vocalize all that we have in our hearts.”

Footnotes;

1-       AFP, 19-1-2001.

2-       The Daily Star, 20-1-2001.

3-       AFP, 19-1-2001.

4-       The Daily Star, 20-1-2001.

5-       Same source.