Congressman Dennis Kucinich has recently returned from a fact finding mission to Lebanon and Israel and it is interesting to see the contrast of the damage done in the recent violence…
“Village after village was reduced to piles of rubble. We saw thousands of destroyed homes. We also saw bombed out hospitals, schools, factories, churches, mosques, fire stations, gas stations, cars, bridges, roads, water systems, electric systems, banana plantations, and lemon groves,” Kucinich said.
“In several villages we stopped and walked through piles of concrete and dust from what had once been homes. Public areas were littered with unexploded cluster bombs and land mines. The smell of death was everywhere. Homes still standing upon closer inspection had holes in the walls from artillery shells.”
After the Israelis suddenly canceled their flight from Beirut to Tel Aviv , Kucinich found a car to drive from Beirut, through Syria, Jordan and across the bridge into the West Bank.
The Kuciniches had hoped to visit the affected areas in northern Israel but were told by Israeli officials that there would not be much to see because repairs were almost completed.
After viewing the separation wall, Kucinch had a private meeting with 8 representatives from organizations doing work in Jerusalem….
After about 2 hours of dragging out maps of the division between east and west Jerusalem, the wall route, the settlements, the separation between Gaza and the rest of the West Bank, and other enlightening information, he finally stood up, spread his hands across the maps and said in a voice filled with disbelief, “This is diabolical!” Needless to say, we all agreed. For someone like Kucinich who has made some strong statements regarding the issue of Palestine and is currently working on getting a Department of Peace and Non-violence started at the Cabinet level (he already has over 60 other Congressional sign-ons) I was happy that he finally “got it”, but not surprised that he was as uninformed as he seemed to be.
After all of the death and destruction, the people of Lebanon were determined to deliver a message of peace…
“We do not hate America. We love the American people. We do not like what your government does. Please tell the American people that we are not terrorists. We do not hate Israel. We want to be safe in our village. We want to be left alone. We want peace.”
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that Israel feels the same…
“The US State Dept just issued a warning for all Americans to leave Gaza and northern Israel. For those of us who have been around a while, we recognize that to mean that Israel is planning another “operation” and don’t want us in the way”
