10 Years after the Qana Massacre |
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Mishmish
Senior Member Joined: 01 November 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1694 |
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Posted: 06 April 2006 at 6:32pm |
10 Years Later: Commemorate the Qana Massacre and Demand Israeli Accountability On April 18, 1996, Israeli Armed Forces shelled a United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Compound in Qana, Lebanon killing 106 civilians and wounding hundreds of others. Israeli and American pressures shelved a UN investigation, but legal actions are now being taken in the US under US law in an effort to redress this injustice. This provides a unique opportunity for US citizens to urge their Government to uphold human rights and international. Read more below to see how you can help. On November 4, 2005, nearly 10 years after the shelling of the Qana compound, the Center for Constitutional Rights in cooperation with several U.S.-based human rights attorneys, filed a class action lawsuit against Moshe Ya�alon, a retired Israeli general who served as Head of Israeli Army Intelligence during the shelling.ii The claims against Ya�alon include war crimes, extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The lawsuit is brought pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute which permits non-US citizens for violations of customary international law in U.S. federal courts, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which provides for damages for extrajudicial killing under color of foreign law. To read the complaint, click here. Israel denies its responsibility for the tragic massacre and instead blames Hizbollah forces. Israel claims that Hizbollah forces deliberately shielded themselves behind the civilians and in doing so forced Israel to mistakenly shell the UN Compound in its exercise of �self-defense.� The U.S. Administration at the time endorsed this claim despite a UN Investigation�s findings to the contrary. According to a UN investigation conducted in the shelling�s immediate aftermath, �while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts in the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of technical and/or procedural errors.�iii What you can do: (2) Hold a protest, vigil, or rally in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. or in front of one of the eight Israeli consulates in the United States, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta, and demand that it compensate the Qana survivors as demanded by numerous UN General Assembly resolutions. To find the address of the Embassy or one of the consulates, please click here. (3) Organize a teach-in on the Qana massacre in your community, university, or place of worship. To help you do so we can send you: (4) Encourage your Congressional Representative to attend a Press Briefing on Capitol Hill (5) Start a divestment campaign in your community, on your campus, and/or in your place of worship. For more information and/or help, please contact the US Campaign�s National Grassroots Organizer, Noura Erakat, at [email protected]. You can also visit the US Campaign�s web site for further information about the incidents of the Qana Massacre and the pending lawsuit filed on behalf of its survivors. Please click here to visit the web site. |
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