Lebanese wounded turn cold shoulder on Jordan aid http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-28T163736Z_01_L28658460_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-LEBANON-JORDAN.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-worldNews-13
Fri Jul 28, 2006
By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tent after green tent stands just off one of Beirut's fashionable shopping areas, part of a field hospital sent by Jordan to treat Lebanese wounded.
Jordanian soldiers sit idly in the shade nearby and a peek into one tent reveals the beds are empty.
Lebanese casualties are rejecting aid from Jordan in protest at what they view as its failure to press for an end to Israeli air strikes in the 17-day-old war against Hizbollah.
"They've been here three days and we have seen no casualties treated here," said a parking attendant near the field hospital in the Verdun area. "They cannot give the green light for this strike against us and then show up to treat us. We don't want their sweetness or their bitterness."
Beirut airport opened for the first time since July 13 to allow in three Jordanian planes bringing the field hospital and meant to take out Lebanese wounded.
The planes returned empty, as have two other flights carrying humanitarian aid from the kingdom.
"I asked casualties to travel to Jordan for treatment but they refused either because they feel everything is available here or because they don't want to leave their country," Lebanese Health Minister Mohammed Khalife said.
"They said ... if the Arab countries want to do something, they should use their influence to stop the aggression against us.
"This was shocking to us -- even those who had lost their legs refused." Up to 600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon. At least 51 Israelis have also been killed by Hizbollah attacks since the war was sparked on July 12 when the guerrilla group captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
IMMEDIATE END
Arab countries have called for an immediate end to the hostilities and Jordan and Egypt, which both have peace treaties with Israel, have condemned the Israeli air raids.
But U.S.-allied Arab countries partially blame Hizbollah for the crisis and privately worry that Shi'ite Muslim Iran is fuelling the conflict with its support of the guerrilla group.
The humanitarian crisis is biting in southern Lebanon where many casualties still lie buried under the rubble.
The Jordanian field hospital cannot reach those areas without guarantees of safe passage through roads that have been severed by Israeli air raids and remain under fire.
Even if Jordanian aid did reach the south, it is not clear that the Lebanese there would accept it.
Some Lebanese say Arab condemnations of Israel have been half-hearted and aimed mostly at allaying domestic anger.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Shi'ite Muslim Amal movement allied with Hizbollah, told Al-Jazeera Television of one of the wounded who declined a seat on a plane to Jordan.
"One woman with an amputated hand was invited to go to Jordan to fit a prosthetic limb and she said: 'My house is gone, my son and husband are gone, what do I need my hand for?'.
"The plane returned without a single casualty."
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