MANAMA, 12 August 2006 — Bahraini journalists in an open petition sent to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday said that they rejected any plans for a new Middle East that comes on the corpses of Arab children.
The petition that was signed by 125 Bahraini journalists accused the US administration of collaborating and keeping silent about Israeli attacks that systematically targeted Lebanese civilians.
“The words of condemnation are hardly enough to express feelings about what is going on in Lebanon in the form of systematic and barbaric killing carried out by the Israeli Army which is being given full and declared support by the officials in your administration,” the petition said.
The petition said that the Israeli Army was committing atrocities with the support of the US administration, including direct military assistance.
“The US-made weapons are used by the Israeli Army in committing the barbaric aggression against Lebanon and the Palestinian territories,” the petition said. “Your bias toward Israel which is committing all these massacres and aggression against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples and your continuous support for Israel makes you primarily and morally responsible and liable.”
Meanwhile, 36 Arab human rights societies filed a petition to the UN Human Rights Council that met yesterday in Geneva to discuss the Israeli violations in Lebanon, according to Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights President Muhammad Al-Maskati.
According to a copy of the petition, the rights organizations accused the Israeli military of targeting civilians (Lebanese and Palestinians), the civil infrastructure such as hospitals, electricity stations and water supplies.
The rights groups also said in their petition that the Israeli military has been attacking any moving vehicle, including ambulances, fleeing refugees, and humanitarian supplies trucks.
“All these acts are war crimes, for which Israeli state leaders should be prosecuted before an international tribunal,” the petition said.
“The Israeli pretext for launching this war of annihilation is the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah had captured the two Israeli soldiers to trade them for Lebanese captives in Israel, whom Israel should have released upon its withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000,” the petition said.
