Chicago, IL - In a racist defense of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, the Jewish United Fund rallied here July 17 at the Federal Plaza. As the heat index hit 111 degrees, the Palestine Solidarity Group and other organizations gathered to challenge the Zionists and to oppose Israel’s actions.

The confrontation reached the boiling point as Zionists attempted to disrupt the anti-war rally. Palestinians and their supporters stood face-to-face with the bullies, who were forced to retreat to the Plaza.

Gihad Ali of the Palestine Solidarity Group helped organize the counter-protest, and led the crowd in chants of, “Israel out of Lebanon, Israel out of Palestine!”

The Arab and Muslim community organizations will follow this with a noon rally on July 22 at the Tribune Plaza.

![Counterprotest in Chicago](https://i.snap.as/3KIkn5XG.jpg “Counterprotest in Chicago Counter-protesters chanted, “Israel out of Lebanon, Israel out of Palestine!”

(Fight Back! News/Staff)”)

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #News #Palestine #Lebanon #2006IsraeliInvasion #Counterprotest #MiddleEast

Fight Back!: Israel has launched a war on Lebanon. What is the cause and what is at stake here?

Hatem Abudayyeh: The Israeli government and its military killing machine has again attacked Lebanon as they did in 1982, one of the most brutal invasions in the long history of their aggression against the Palestinians and Arabs. The war in 1982 led to a 22-year Israeli military occupation of the south of Lebanon, an occupation that was finally ended by the heroic resistance of the Lebanese people.

In this recent attack, planned ostensibly in response to Hezbollah’s capturing of two Israeli soldiers, hundreds of Lebanese civilians have already been killed, Lebanon’s airports have been bombed, and most of the roads leading out of the country have been decimated. The Israelis are causing a massive humanitarian crisis, as Lebanon’s civil society infrastructure is again being targeted for destruction, and the country is in danger of becoming engulfed in another long war and occupation. With its actions, Israel is basically making the racist argument that the lives of two European settler-colonialist Israelis are more valuable than the lives of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Arabs. It refuses to negotiate a prisoner transfer, while over 9000 Palestinian, Lebanese and other Arab political prisoners wallow in Israeli cells.

But the Lebanese resistance is bravely fighting back, defending its nation and its people from this massive aggression. It is also important to stress that a military operation of this size could not have been planned in a week, and that Israel, and the U.S. empire, are in crisis and incredibly concerned with the ‘Arab street’ – the mass movements and their will, strength and yearning for freedom and liberation. Israel has the fifth strongest military in the world, easily the strongest in the Arab world, with scores of nuclear weapons and warheads, but it is not ‘all-powerful’ or impossible to defeat. We must recognize the fact that mass movements can transform societies and political realities, and that the Arab people, especially the Palestinians, Lebanese and Iraqis, have a long history of resistance, and that they will resist Israel and the U.S. for as long as it takes to shed the Arab nation from colonialism, war and occupation.

At stake is the control of Arab human and natural resources – resources that belong to the Arab people. And regardless of what the U.S. puppet governments in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are saying, the Arab masses will not sit back and allow themselves to continue to be exploited.

Fight Back!: Is the U.S. encouraging Israeli aggression?

Hatem Abudayyeh: Of course the U.S. is encouraging Israeli aggression. President Bush publicly stated that Israel has the “right to defend itself,” and that Hezbollah is the cause of this war. The U.S. provides over $4 billion of aid to Israel every year, much of it military aid, and strongly supports Israel diplomatically, politically and economically as well. U.S. imperialist interests are safeguarded by the proxy Israeli state, and Israel does the bidding of the U.S., especially in regards to repressing the people’s movements, like in Palestine and Lebanon. The U.S. is directly waging war and occupying Iraq, the eastern front of the Arab world; and Israel provides the control and domination of the western front. This is the relationship between Israel and the U.S., and this is why we must transform American society and systems of oppression while supporting the national liberation struggles of the Palestinians and others throughout the world.

Also, it is important to realize that 25,000 American citizens are currently living in Lebanon, and facing Israel's bombardment. Although many refuse to leave Lebanon, the U.S. has been woefully slow to respond to the needs of these people, and still has not provided all of them with safe sanctuary, as other nations have done for their respective citizens.

Fight Back!: Are the threats against Syria serious?

Hatem Abudayyeh: Syria continues to be a nation that refuses to cower under Israeli and U.S. threats. It bravely protects its sovereignty and self-determination, and for this, may definitely be a target for the U.S. and Israel. I do not believe that the U.S. or Israel would attack Syria right now, especially since the U.S. already has military fronts opened up in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines, Haiti and in parts of Africa and Latin America. As we have seen in Iraq, where the resistance is standing up to U.S. power, the U.S. military is not indomitable.

Fight Back!: What has been happening in Gaza these past few weeks?

Hatem Abudayyeh: As Palestinians have predicted for many months, the Israeli ‘pullout’ from the Gaza Strip was nothing but a ruse to consolidate its control over the West Bank and Jerusalem, and to continue to steal Palestinian land in those areas for Jewish-only settlements. Its military still controlled the airspace, the water resources and the economic sovereignty of the Palestinians in Gaza. And, using the capture of one soldier as a pretext, the Israeli military, poised and ready to re-invade, did so three weeks ago. Over a hundred Palestinians have been killed, including an entire family just yesterday; and the main power plant was destroyed, cutting off electricity and water to most residents, causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The hypocrisy of Israel and the U.S. is in full view of the world, because, while they demanded that the Palestinians take part in full and fair democratic elections, once the Hamas political organization took control of the Palestinian Authority in these elections, both the U.S. and Israel refused to acknowledge its victory.

The U.S. and Israel will continue to describe Hamas, Hezbollah and the other Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations as ‘terrorists,’ but the real terrorists are the governments and military forces of the U.S. and Israel. The vast majority of the world sees and understands this, and are in full support of Lebanese, Palestinian and worldwide resistance to Israel and the U.S.’s naked aggression, war, imperialism and occupation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting and stating this very strongly over the past two weeks, and millions more will join the chorus if Israel continues its brutality. This mass movement against war and imperialism must continue, and the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance must be supported.

#Palestine #Interview #Interviews #Lebanon #2006IsraeliInvasion #HatemAbudayyeh #MiddleEast

Minneapolis, MN - 250 people protested here to defend the people of Gaza and Lebanon July 20. The demand was made to stop spending tax dollars to occupy and destroy Palestine and Lebanon.

“Currently Israel is the number one aid recipient, receiving over $13 million per day. That’s more U.S. tax dollars per Israeli citizen than the average U.S. citizen receives for their own tax dollars!” said Sabry Wazwaz, who helped organize the protest.

Israel’s attacks on Gaza in response to the capture of one Israeli soldier constitute collective punishment of the entire population. These attacks have killed over 100 Palestinians, wounded hundreds, left thousands homeless and without water and electricity in an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. Since June 27 Israel has attacked Gaza, starting by destroying power and water supplies and closing the borders to all food, medical and petrol supplies.

Moreover, Israel’s massive assault on Lebanon after the capture of another two Israeli soldiers amounts to collective punishment of the entire Lebanese population. More than 300 people, the vast majority civilians, have been killed; more are wounded every day and close to a million have been made refugees.

“For many in southern Lebanon, this is the second or third time that they have been forced from their homes becoming refugees,” stated local Lebanese activist Kathy Haddad. People are trapped in Lebanon with no means of escape as the Beirut airport was bombed, the sea is barricaded, roads are blocked, and many bridges and roads have been bombed. As in Palestine, civilian infrastructure, electricity and water supplies have been destroyed. People are told to evacuate, but at the same time moving vehicles are shot at. The U.S. government is the main military supplier and funder of Israel and it is the main backer of Israel’s two-front war.

The protest drew support from people driving by and from pedestrians. The crowd chanted, “Free, free Palestine! Free, free Lebanon!” making the connections between Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and with the 58 year of occupation of Palestine. The protest was organized by the newly formed Coalition for Palestinian Rights, which includes several Twin Cities groups like Women Against Military Madness, Middle East Peace Now, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Anti-War Committee and others.

#MinneapolisMN #News #Palestine #Lebanon #2006IsraeliInvasion #MiddleEast

The All India Anti Imperialist Forum organized protests across India July 24, against the attacks of Israel and the U.S. on Palestine and Lebanon. The West Bengal Committee of the AIAIF staged a large protest demonstration at Calcutta The following are excerpts from statement of the All India Anti Imperialist Forum giving an account of the event: “Before the start of the rally, Shri Manik Mukherjee, Vice-President, All India Anti-imperialist Forum, addressed a gathering at the Subodh Mullick Square. He said that, in one voice with the militant anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist forces of the world, the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum expresses bitter condemnation of the dastardly attack that the Zionist Israel has brought down for the last few days on Lebanon.” “Mukherjee also said that triggered on the flimsy pretext of demanding release of Israeli prisoners and combating terrorism, the bestial belligerence of the Israeli Zionist rulers forms nothing but a part of their long-pursued expansionist, aggressive policies against the Arab countries, more so Palestine. Thus, violating all norms of national sovereignty and civility, they have launched an all-out offensive indiscriminately killing innocent civilians, destroying civilian properties, facilities and constructions and thus damaging the very economic infrastructure of the country of Lebanon. The world stands astounded, albeit not for the first time, at the support and patronization that the warmonger US imperialist rulers have extended shamelessly to the war-maniac Israeli rulers, pleading for the right for self-defence for the barbaric attackers themselves. The AIAIF unequivocally denounces this act of the US imperialists and their cohorts, as well as the Israeli Zionists, which smacks of machination for escalating aggression over the people of the entire Middle East, in the face of ignominious defeat the US imperialism is experiencing on the soil of Iraq.” “Thereafter, the city witnessed a rally come out of the Square, resplendent with colourful banners and vibrant with resolute slogans against the barbaric imperialist attack and reached the venue at Metro Channel, Esplanade.” “The rally ended with burning of effigy of Israeli Prime Minister.”

#India #News #Palestine #Lebanon #2006IsraeliInvasion #AllIndiaAntiImperialistForum #MiddleEast

Right now Israel is carrying out a war on the Arab peoples on two fronts. Lebanon is one and Palestine – particularly Gaza – is the other. The Israeli authorities have kidnapped Palestinian legislators, cabinet ministers and mayors. No one is safe from Israel's ceaseless shelling. Not old folks in their homes or children by the seashore. Occupied Palestine has been turned into an open-air prison. The medical system is in shambles and the hand of hunger is touching the majority of families. On one day, July 26, the Israeli authorities killed at least 23 people.

None of this would be possible without the complicity of the United States government. Israel is a client state, created on stolen land and existing on borrowed time. Israel is a country brought into being by Western imperialism, and it is armed and financed by the U.S. The Bush administration is doing much more than 'giving a green light' to these attacks. In fact the two parties have arrived at of crude division of labor. American diplomats are charged with preventing a ceasefire while American-made bombs and artillery rounds are being rushed to the Israeli army. The Israelis' role is to carry out the actual bloodletting and murder of women and children.

The United States has built an empire for the purpose enriching the corporate elite by looting the land, labor and natural resources of others. Israel serves as a thuggish enforcer of this empire in the Middle East.

At this point it should be clear to all that full-scale war unleashed in Gaza and Lebanon has little to do with that the capture of a few Israeli soldiers by Lebanese and Palestinian resistance forces. According to a number of press accounts, active planning for the invasion of Lebanon began five years ago.

To understand what Bush and the Israeli authorities are doing, several important factors need to be kept in mind. First, a profound radicalization of the broad masses of people is unfolding across the Middle East and Israel is in a position of relative weakness. Hezbollah defeated Israel and forced it leave south Lebanon in 2000. The Palestinian resistance is strong and broad based. Additionally, Israel's main backers, the rulers of the United States, are facing a defeat of historic proportions in Iraq. The U.S. government and its outpost in Israel are trying to break out of the cycle of defeat and decline though the war on Lebanon. The have lifted a rock that will end up on their feet.

Both the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance deserve the support of peace movement, progressives in general and all people of goodwill. The men and women who are giving their lives to resist Israeli/U.S. aggression represent what is best in humanity: a willingness to sacrifice for the collective good, a commitment on the part of the oppressed and exploited to achieve national freedom and a determination in the face of adversity to right a long history of wrongs. The best way we can support these movements for justice is to unite all who can be united to end the occupations of Palestine and Lebanon.

If a movement weakens imperialism it should be supported. No one wants to live under the shadow of an empire – that's a matter of fair play and justice. Also, whatever weakens the rich and powerful who rule the United States is good for us, the working and oppressed people who live here.

The people of Lebanon and Palestine are heroes. They are farmers and grandparents, moms and factory workers, scholars and people from all walks of live who are stepping on to the stage of world history. They know what hell is like and have decided to destroy it. They deserve solidarity and support of the American people.

U.S. out of the Middle East!

End all aid to Israel!

The Arab peoples are sure to win!

#Lebanon #AntiwarMovement #Editorial #Palestine #Imperialism #Editorials #2006IsraeliInvasion #Zionism #Arabs #MiddleEast

Washington, DC – People from around the country gathered here on August 12 to demonstrate against Israeli/ U.S. wars in Lebanon and Palestine. The demonstrators, mostly Arab-Americans, demanded an end to US aid to Israel and the end of Israeli occupation in Palestine and Lebanon. Families, with children and grandmothers, joined with students in front of the White House, chanting “No justice! No peace! US out of the middle east!” and “Israel is the terrorist – occupied people have the right to resist!” Organizers stated that about 30,000 people were in attendace.

“One of the best things about this protest was the solidarity showcased by all different nationalities. People were carrying Venezuelan flags, flags from Latin America, Lebanese and Palestinian flags. People from all different nationalities were there for different reasons, but all were there to support the people of Palestine and Lebanon” said Lara Elborno, a Palestinian-American student activist from the University of Iowa.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #News #Palestine #Lebanon #2006IsraeliInvasion #Zionism #Arabs #MiddleEast

On Saturday, August 12th, thousands of people marched through the streets of San Francisco chanting “One-Two-Three-Four, We don’t want your racist war! Five-Six-Seven-Eight, Israel is a terrorist state!” to protest the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Thousands of Arab Americans, waving flags of Lebanon and Palestine, brought both a militant and mass character to the march.

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