People of Lebanon abandoned by international community
Issued : Tuesday 8 August, 2006
The Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Aodhan O'Riordain, has said that the the people of Lebanon have effectively been abandoned by the international community in a most shameful and disgraceful manner. Cllr. O'Riordain was speaking at an anti-war demonstration outside of the Israeli embassy.
Israel has the same right as any other state to defend itself from external attack, but it has no moral or legal right to inflict the sort of death, destruction and suffering that the Lebanese civilian population has been subjected to over the past few weeks.
The attacks show no sign of relenting and it now seems that Israel is intent on destroying the entire civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. It will take Lebanon decades to recover from this level of destruction and, as usual it will be the civilian population and children in particular, who will suffer most.
Israel is behaving like a rogue state, showing contempt for international law and for all humanitarian principles. It has done so with the active support of the United States, while the European Union has turned away and effectively ignored the grave breaches of international law. There is no other country that would have been allowed by the international community get away with such savage attacks on a neighbouring country.
The draft Security Council resolution cobbled together over the weekend is unlikely to be acceptable in the Arab world as it fails to call for the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Ireland must take a much more assertive role at both the EU and UN in calling for strong international action to ensure a ceasefire by both Israel and Hisbullah. If the international community fails to act, not only will many more people die but international law will be further damaged.
