P R E S S R E L E A S E:
THE MASSACRE AND COVER-UP AT THE U.N. BASE IN QANA
Press Contact: 202 362-5266, Ext 777 (24-hours)
Email: COME@MiddleEast.Org / Fax 202 362-6965
For additional information: http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org
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THE COMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST
The "Qana Massacre" took place on 18 April
of last year, this Friday.
The absolutely grizly scenes of tremendous carnage were
broadcast throughout the world. But that in itself has happened before
in various ways, in various places, with various perpetrators.
In the case of Qana, however, there are some unprecedented
aspects which make this particular massacre stand out differently from
others.
For the first time in the Middle East a large number
of civilians specifically under United Nations protection were specifically
targeted.
For the first time investigations by the United Nations,
as well as independent organizations such as Amnesty International, uncovered
not only that the attack was on purpose, but that a massive international
cover-up then resulted, one in which the government of the United States
participated.
For the first time well-established journalists were
able to document the details of the massacre cover-up including that the
shelling followed a specific pattern that could not have been accidential
and that an Israeli drone spotter plane was actually overflying Qana at
the time!
And for the first time a Secretary-General of the U.N.
was threatened that he must not endorse or release the U.N. report about
Qana or he would not be supported for a second term in office -- which
in fact did come to pass.
What the Israelis did at Qana, and how they then attempted
to lie and deceive in front of the entire world, is a particular gruesome
example of how the Israelis have killed tens of thousands of civilians
since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. Moreover, that the government
of the United States accepts such behavior, often actually condoning it
and helping the Israelis in their coverup attempts, only makes the situation
even more intolerable.
For further details of past Israeli massacres and coverups
see: http://www.MiddleEast.Org.
On this one-year anniversary of Qana massacre, we certainly
hope those in the media will appreciate that this is an event, and a coverup,
that should not be forgotten.
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COME ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Professor
Jane Adas - Rutgers University (NJ); Professor Faris Albermani - University
of Queensland (Australia); Professor Jabbar Alwan, DePaul University (Chicago);
Professor Alex Alland, Columbia University (New York); Professor Abbas
Alnasrawi - University of Vermont; Dr. Munawar A. Anees - Editor-in-Chief,
Periodica Islamica (Malaysia); Professor Michael Astour - University of
Southern Illinois; Professor Howard Baumgartel - Emeritus, University of
Kansas; Professor Charles Black - Emeritus Yale University Law School;
Professor Francis O. Boyle, University of Illinois Law School (Champlain);
Mark Bruzonsky - COME Chairperson (Washington); Linda Brayer - Ex. Dir.,
Society of St. Ives (Jerusalem); Professor Noam Chomsky - Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (Cambridge); Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney
General (New York); John Cooley, Author, Cyprus; Professor Mustafah Dhada
- School of International Affairs, Clark Atlanta University; Professor
Mohamed El-Hodiri, University of Kansas; Professor Richard Falk - Princeton
University; Professor Ali Fatemi - American University, Paris; Michai Freeman
- Berkeley; Professor Deborah Gerner - University of Kansas; Professor
Sherna Gluck - California State University (Long Beach); Nader Hashemi
- Ottawa, Canada; Professor Clement Henry, Univ of TX (Austin); Professor
Herbert Hill - University of Wisconsin (Madison); Professor George Irani
- Lebanese American University (Beirut); David Jones - Editor, New Dawn
Magazine, Australia; Professor Elie Katz - Sonoma State University, CA;
Professor George Kent, University of Hawaii; John F. Kennedy - Attorney
at Law, Washington; Samaneh Khader - Graduate Student in Theology, University
of Helsinki; Professor Ebrahim Khoda - University of Western Australia;
Reverend Labib Kobti - San Francisco; Guida Leicester, San Francisco; Jeremy
Levin - Former CNN Beirut Bureau Chief, Journalist, Portland; Professor
Seymour Melman, Columbia University; Dr. Avi Melzer, Frankfurt; Professor
Alan Meyers, Boston University; Kamram Mofrad, Idaho; Professor Peter Pellett
- University of Massachussetts (Amherst); Professor Tanya Reinhart, Tel
Aviv University; Professor Masud Salimian - Morgan State University (Baltimore);
Professor Mohamed Salmassi, University of Massachusetts; Qais Saleh - Graduate
Student, International University (Japan); Ali Saidi, J.D. candidate in
international law, Berkeley; Dr. Eyad Sarraj - Gaza, Occupied Palestine;
Henry Schwarzschild - New York (original founder - deceased); Professor
Herbert Schiller - University of California (San Diego); Dr. Manjra Shuaib
- CapeTown (South Africa); Professor J. David Singer - University of Michigan
(Ann Arbor); Steven Sosseby, Cleveland; Professor Majid Tehranian - Director
Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy (University of Hawaii).
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For more information about the new COMMITTEE
ON THE MIDDLE EAST go to http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org/come.htm. Or send a
message to INFOCOME@MiddleEast.Org. ********************************************************************
THE COMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST
COME - P.O. Box 18367 - Washington, D.C.
20036
202 362-5266, Ext 266 / Fax: 202 362-6965
/ Email:COME@MiddleEast.Org
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