My father’s house is a terrorist target

Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:25:35 -0500 Hayan Charara <hayan.charara@sbcglobal.net>

As you may or may not know, Israel is bombing southern Lebanon. I found out around 4AM—a phone call from my father. Apparently, he was driving with his wife and my 6 year old brother back from a trip in Beirut and he turned his car around when saw Israeli jets firing missiles at civilian villages. Nothing new, really—this is the second time in the last several weeks that my little brother has endured Israeli air attacks (it could be worse—he could be Palestinian). Anyhow, the last time, mortar shells fell about a mile from his school. But he’s used to it by now. The sound of jets streaming across the sky and of bombs falling to the earth don’t frighten him so much anymore.

In any event, here’s my letter to the President who doesn’t seem to know that anything is going on—or at least that’s how he acts. If you feel compelled, pass this on, or write your own letter.

______________________________

Dear Mr. President,

You need to do something about the destructive and extreme actions taken by the State of Israel against both the Palestinians and the Lebanese. Today’s early morning air and ground attack by Israel on southern Lebanon demonstrates yet again Israel’s disregard for human life (particularly if it is Arab) and for stability in the Middle East.

The reason Israel gave for striking civilian villages in Lebanon was the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Israeli Prime Minster Olmert called the abduction “an act of war” by Lebanon. Mind you, Mr. President, that the soldiers in question were captured on Lebanese soil, and also that they were not captured by civilians nor the Lebanese army, but by Hezbollah. It is odd that Prime Minister Olmert does not view the presence of a foreign army on another people’s soil as a precipitating action, especially when the army is Israeli and the soil is Arab.

Israel’s reaction—an all out onslaught against the civilian population—is not surprising. After all, it is strikingly similar to how it has handled the capture of an Israeli solider in the Gaza Strip. That is, collective punishment. Worse, the State of Israel expects the Lebanese and the Palestinians, or any other sovereign entity for that matter, to allow incursions by its military to go without incident. Israel wants the impossible: to enjoy the right of invading other countries and violating the rights of other people without question. As an American leader, Mr. President, you should be appalled. After all, there is nothing more American than to defend a civilian population from foreign attacks. Remember our forefathers? They did that. Also, that’s why we waged war on terrorism after 9/11, right?

I want nothing more than to see Arabs and Israelis to live in peace. After all, whether Jew or Palestinian or Lebanese, the people of these lands should not have to endure collective punishment either. However, Israel makes this nearly impossible. While terrorists should be dealt with, it is wrong for any state to punish an entire population for the actions of a few. Israel has been collectively punishing Palestinians in Gaza in order to secure the release of a single soldier, and it is now bombing civilian villages in Lebanon to secure the release of two soldiers. Israel has killed innocents—men, women, boys, girls—and justifies those deaths, or simply waves them off as “regrettable”—we expect this from terrorists, but from “the only democracy in the Middle East”?

What is regrettable is that this disregard for the rule of law and of sovereignty positions Israel among the rogue states of the world. And complicit in all of this is the government of the United States and its leaders, particularly you Mr. President, if only because you continue to pretend as if nothing is happening or that in some convoluted way it is right.

Do something. Don’t just stand around while the Israel continues to wipe out the lives of innocent people, some of whom, for your information, are members of my own family. My father, brother, and his mother are spending the night in Beirut because they could not get to their home after Israeli jets fired missiles on the villages in the south, destroying roads and bridges, and killing people, too. I can assure you, Mr. President, that my father (a former grocer from Detroit), his wife (a teacher and breast cancer survivor), and my brother (a six year old) are not terrorists. And their home is not a terrorist site. And regardless what Prime Minister Olmert says, they do not deserve to be punished in a “very painful” manner.

Sincerely,

Hayan Charara