<div> </div> <div>Just Foreign Policy News August 1, 2006</div> <div> In this issue: 1) Just Foreign Policy joins Brecher/Smith call for UN General Assembly Action on Immediate Cease-Fire 2) Doggett, Velazquez, Clay Join Kucinich Resolution for Immediate Cease-Fire 3) Cease-Fire Diplomacy in Lebanon - NYT editorial 4) Israel Expands Offensive to Drive Back Hezbollah 5) To Stay or to Go Isn't an Easy Choice for Many in Villages 6) Lebanese Race to Save Lives, but Find Death 7) Lebanese Premier Faces Impossible Job 8) U.N. Aid Convoys to Lebanon Delayed 9) For Lebanese, Calm Moment to Flee Ruins 10) Stop the Band-Aid Treatment - Carter op-ed 11) 'There is no ceasefire. There will not be any ceasefire' 12) 'No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana' 13) Republican Senator Criticizes US Policy on Middle East 14) Republican Realists Call for Major Course Change 15) Bush Baggage Could Cost Lieberman Primary 16) Mideast Conflict a Setback for Iran Reform Movement 17) Democratic Leaders Ask Bush to Redeploy Troops in Iraq 18) Iran's Leader Rejects U.N. Resolution 19) U.N. Gives Iran Deadline to End Nuclear Work 20) Lopez Obrador Backers Slow Mexico City Contents: 1) Just Foreign Policy joins Brecher/Smith call for UN General Assembly Action on Immediate Cease-Fire With the UN Security Council failing to take action to bring about a ceasefire in Lebanon, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith call on the UN General Assembly to take action under Resolution 377, "Uniting for Peace," to bring about an immediate unconditional cease-fire. ( <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-27.htm">http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-27.htm</a>) A similar call in the run-up to the Iraq war generated significant international pressure on the United States. Just Foreign Policy is circulating a petition in support of this demand: <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/lebanon.html">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/lebanon.html</a>. 2) Doggett, Velazquez, Clay Join Kucinich Resolution for Immediate Cease-Fire Rep Lloyd Doggett [TX-25], Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12], and Rep Wm. Lacy Clay [MO-1] have joined on as co-sponsors to the Kucinich resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, bringing the number of co-sponsors to 33, of whom 27 are members of the Progressive Caucus. The current list of Progressive Caucus members who have not yet agreed to co-sponsor the Kucinich resolution is at <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/prog_cauc_noceasefire.xls">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/prog_cauc_noceasefire.xls</a>. A form for contacting Members of Congress is at <a href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4697"> http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4697</a>. 3) Cease-Fire Diplomacy in Lebanon Editorial New York Times August 1, 2006 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/opinion/01tue1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/opinion/01tue1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin </a> It took the worldwide uproar over the Qana casualties to finally jolt the Bush administration into asking for something it should have sought many days earlier. Washington's instant turnabout and Israel's instant response has left the damaging impression that had America expressed similar concerns sooner, these and many other innocent Lebanese lives might have been saved. Israel is already rolling out plans for an expanded ground offensive, which Washington has done nothing to discourage. Before that happens, the temporary lull in Israeli attacks needs to be broadened into a full cease-fire and extended indefinitely while the United Nations Security Council works to create an international armed force to secure Lebanon's border. 4) Israel Expands Offensive to Drive Back Hezbollah Craig S. Smith And Steven Erlanger New York Times August 1, 2006 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/middleeast/01cnd-mideast.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/middleeast/01cnd-mideast.html </a> Israel sharply stepped up its ground campaign in southern Lebanon after the Israeli cabinet decided to expand its operations, aiming to push Hezbollah back from the border before a cease-fire is declared and a multinational force is deployed there. Israeli troops may push northward to the Litani River, some 15 miles from the Israeli border. Several thousand soldiers have been engaged in the operation, fighting house-to-house battles with hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanese towns and villages close to the border. The country's most influential columnist, Nahum Barnea, writing in Yediot Aharonot, raised questions about Israeli tactics and leadership. Mr. Barnea wrote about the government's decision to allow the army to attack civilian houses if Hezbollah rockets and war matériel were stored inside and the population was warned in advance to leave. He said Israel had to respond to Hezbollah's attack with military action, but added, "The question is how and at what cost." He criticized Defense Minister Peretz for describing "proudly how he relieved the army of restrictions on harming civilian population that lives alongside Hezbollah operatives." 5) To Stay or to Go Isn't an Easy Choice for Many in Villages Jad Mouawad New York Times August 1, 2006 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/middleeast/01lebanon.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/middleeast/01lebanon.html </a> Israeli artillery pounded this small border village on Monday, covering the hills with smoke, as the remaining residents tried to decide whether an Israeli promise to pause its air war would allow them to leave. Despite the promise, Israel's air force fired one missile around midday on a ridge east of the town, sending a huge mushroom of smoke and dust high into the sky. Another two airstrikes were heard within the next hour. 6) Lebanese Race to Save Lives, but Find Death Reuters August 1, 2006 Filed at 9:54 a.m. ET <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-lebanon-redcross.html">http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-lebanon-redcross.html </a> Rescue workers often can do nothing to help when they arrive at the aftermath of Israeli attacks, such as that on Qana, in southern Lebanon. The victims are either killed instantly or buried under rubble. The Lebanese government says dozens of bodies have yet to be recovered after such attacks, some of them in cars hit by Israeli missiles. The government has so far put the war's death toll at 750 including unrecovered bodies. "Often, they are dead. But there are wounded people,'' said Hussein Hudruj, a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer. "In one village, we found people alive under rubble after four days. They were wounded. We took them and now, thank God, they are okay,'' he said. 7) Lebanese Premier Faces Impossible Job Associated Press August 1, 2006 Filed at 5:03 a.m. ET <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Lebanese-Premier.html">http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Lebanese-Premier.html </a> Faced with the worst Israeli military onslaught in more than two decades, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has a nearly impossible job. The Western-backed leader is trying to keep good relations with Washington. He must keep Hezbollah politicians in his Cabinet to keep his fractured government from falling apart. After the conflict began three weeks ago, Saniora proposed ideas that included deploying an international force in the south. But his stance hardened after an Israeli strike in the southern town of Qana that killed at least 56 people, more than half of them children. He canceled a visit by Secretary of State Rice and praised Hezbollah leader Nasrallah for his ''sacrifices,'' even hinting that retaliation may be justified. Siding with Hezbollah while Lebanon is under siege ensures the survival of Saniora's government, at least in the short term, as he strives to end the conflict. The guerrillas are popular with many Lebanese for their role in pushing Israel to end its 18-year occupation from a self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000. [To view the rest of today's Just Foreign Policy News, go to <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html">http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html</a>] -------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a></div>