Hands Off Gaza and Lebanon !

End US-backed Israeli Occupation and Genocide!

Israel is threatening to expand its bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon into a full-scale war - and the toll of casualties continues to rise as the entire civilian population of these areas face the US-sponsored muscle of the Israeli Army. Israel , and George Bush too defend the aggression as Israel 's justified ‘self-defence' following the capture of a couple of Israeli soldiers. But the fact is that Israel itself holds the entire Palestinian nation captive, having turned it into a virtual prison - and the present assault is part of an older game-plan to crush the self-defence and struggles for freedom of the people of that region. Under the garb of various “peace plans”, Israel and US have in recent years pursued what Noam Chomsky calls a “program of annexing the valuable lands, most of the resources, including water, of the West Bank and cantonizing the rest and imprisoning it.” The present assault, far from being ‘retaliation', is in fact part of the US-Israel game-plan to establish unchallenged sovereignty in the region.

As Israel continues to hold elected Palestinian representatives hostage, as the Israeli war machine (funded by the US and with the entire arsenal of US military corporations) continues its bid of ethnic cleansing of the people of Lebanon and Palestine, and as India is forced to evacuate thousands of its own people, the Indian Government's response has been one of shocking silence. Out of concern for India 's growing strategic embrace with both the US and Israel , the UPA Government has failed to express outrage against Israeli aggression, and against US attempts to extend the war to Syria and Iran . We, the people of India , must resist this shameful betrayal of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people, and we must demand that Israel end its attacks, and also its long reign of racist colonialism.

We reproduce below, a statement issued by various Left groups in Lebanon .

Appeal from the left:

The Israeli war machine continues with its war for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and Lebanon . Attacks against civilian targets are continuing, resulting in scores of dead and wounded in Gaza , the West Bank, and Lebanon , with the vocal and tacit support of the international community. For the past three days, attacks on Lebanon resulted in the destruction of major civilian roads cutting-off whole areas and hindering relief efforts.

Whole families are being trapped under rubble in South Lebanon . The southern suburbs of Beirut , one of the most densely populated and poor neighbourhoods in the country, are currently witnessing intensive bombardment with the majority of civilians trapped due to the bombing of bridges and roads. Just as in Gaza , Israel is attempting to ethnically cleanse a population under the pretext of replying to the legitimate acts of the resistance.

The issue for us is clear. It is the presence of a fascist and racist regime in Israel . US imperialism, its allies and military power in Israel , proves that the issue has nothing to do with democracy or freedom. Their democracy is nothing but murder, destruction of houses, bombardment of electrical and fuel installations, and the indiscriminate targeting of children. The Israeli regime has indicated that they will not stop. In these days, there is no space for compromise. It is either resistance or collaboration.

The international community is fully responsible for the massacres against the peoples of Lebanon and Palestine . Our reply is a full scale popular resistance against imperialism and its allies in the Arab regimes and the west. In the past several days, a group of organisations in Beirut initiated an open sit-in in the centre of the city to mobilise for actions against Israeli aggression against Gaza and in support for the legitimate acts of the resistance. With the targeting of Lebanon , the sit-in has turned into a meeting point for mobilisation of relief and solidarity actions.

We call on all our friends in the world to act in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon through demonstrations and rallies outside Israeli and US embassies calling for an immediate and unconditional end of the occupation, the release of all prisoners of war in Israel , and the right of people.

No to Imperialism and Occupation!

No to the Indifference of the “International Community”!

No to Dictatorships!

Leftist Assembly for Change, ATTAC Lebanon, Ajial Community Center, Lebanese Communist Party Youth, Union of Democratic Youth in Lebanon, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Youth Section), Fatah (Youth Section), Palestinian Cultural Clubs (American University of Beirut, Lebanese American University, Beirut Arab University, Lebanese University), No Frontiers (AUB), Pablo Neruda Group (LAU), Independent Left Group (LAU, Byblos), AUB Women's Rights Club, Helem LGBT