A Dream Comes True
(Lebanon's Parliament Building in Downtown Beirut where the sit-in is taking place)Am I dreaming? Has a mosquito with a "national unity" virus stung Members of Parliament (MPs) forcing them to actually do something right for the country hand-in-hand? I just can't believe that our MPs are undertaking an open ended sit-in to protest the continuation of the 7-week Israeli air and sea blockade. I just can't believe that MPs may also launch a hunger strike. I just can't believe that MPs would risk their lives by boarding a plane taking off from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport and fly over Lebanon in a symbolic gesture to break the blockade. And I just can't believe that the unifying sit-in was called for by the Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Amal Movement, Nabih Berri.
Be it the March 14 Forces, Future Movement, the Tripoli Gathering, the Democratic Gathering, the Phalange Party, the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, the Baath Party, the Reform and Change parliamentary bloc, to name a few, nearly all of the 128 MPs will be gathering at Parliament today to protest the blockade.
Meanwhile, the Higher Shiite Council Vice President Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan urged Lebanon's MPs, ministers, politicians, foreign ambassadors and diplomats of states cooperating with Israel to stage a sit-in in the Rafik Hariri International Airport and board Lebanese and foreign airplanes in an attempt to break the blockade.
According to Riad Salameh, Governor of the Central Bank, if the Israeli blockade is not lifted immediately, Lebanon's economy will recess by at least 5% compared to 2005.
I say bravo to the MPs for undertaking such a bold move and showing solidarity and unity during Lebanon's darkest hours. Maybe we should learn from these experiences for the better of Lebanon's future.
posted by beirutlive at 9:13 AM
9 Comments:
yeAH RIGHT AS İIF İT WOULD CHANGE SOMETHING...
well gabrielf most probably it wont, but these are the sort of things that make a tiny difference in the horrible political system of Lebanon.
let us praise the right, and critisize the wrong, if we dont we will all sink together...
ok but the changes wont come from the parliement...
oh... amazing. IF it works. but the statement alone is already something.
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Ok, ok, now the next step would be for the parliamentarians to organise with all the airline carriers around the globe a day of civil disobediance to break the blockade, all at once, everybody. The Israelis probably wouldn't know who to hit, if anyone for that matter, then we would continue life as usual after that.
Excellent first step, all we have to do now is to take it further..
Doc, I don't think you read UNSC 1701 carefully. The Israeli blockade is practically a requirement of the cease-fire agreement!
Look at points 6, 14, and 15a. It is up to the international community (which includes Israel) to open up Lebanon's harbors only if the government of Lebanon sets up controls over arms shipments, otherwise other governments are ordered to prevent "using their flag vessels or aircraft" the shipments of such weapons from the territories or seas they control, no matter what their country of origin.
Therefore, until the goverment of Lebanon starts controlling arms to Hezbollah, it is the OBLIGATION of the foreign navies present in Lebanese waters to do so, and for the IAF (which controls Lebanese airspace) to keep out aircraft that may contain such arms.
Really, the clearest violation of the cease-fire agreement has been Lebanon's refusal to release the Israeli soldiers (paragraph 3), that the resolution cites both as a cause and (ominously) what needs to happen for there to be "an end of violence". The wording practically gives Israel carte blanche to make war upon Lebanon otherwise. I would guess that Lebanon has very little time left otherwise.
tell me something people. if israel's sole interest is to use the blockade to stop the illegal entry of weapons to hizbollah, then why are there absolutely no foreign airlines flying into beirut? you mean to tell me that an Air France flight from Paris or a Lufthansa flight or a British Airways flight or an AlItalia flight will be carrying weapons from European airports to Lebanon? I thought European nations had tight security at their airports. i can somewhat understand that israel would have some reservations about an Iran Air flight coming in from Tehran, but I really doubt that the Iranians are stupid enough to send a plane packed with weapons directly to the airport. They would send it to Damascus by air, and then to Lebanon by land.
The air blockade is being used as an economic punishment to Lebanon...well at least for flights from european nations.
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