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"Once again America's image and interests worldwide are being harmed by one-sided support for Israeli actions," said Hooper.
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WASHINGTON — Arab and American Muslims have
slammed the Bush administration for sufficing to look on the bloodshed
in Lebanon by Israel's military arsenal and pursuing an unbalanced
foreign policy.
"Once again America's image and interests
worldwide are being harmed by one-sided support for Israeli
actions," Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest US Muslim rights group,
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We're urging Muslims in America and other
people of conscience to contact their elected officials to tell them
that we have to have balanced foreign policy for the Middle East, one
that is driven by American interests, not Israeli interests."
Bush said Sunday, July 16, that Israel has
"every right" to defend itself against Hizbullah in Lebanon.
American Islamic Congress director Zainab Al-Suwaij
urged the administration to actively lobby for an end to the current
standoff.
"The policy for the US should be stopping the
violence, period, and starting to solve the problem through
negotiations."
Israel is now launching two bloody offensives on
the Gaza Strip and Lebanon after three of its soldiers have been taken
prisoners.
The Gaza onslaught, which started on June 25, has
killed so far up to 85 Palestinians, mostly children and women.
The number of people killed in seven days of
Israeli strikes across Lebanon — which kicked off on July 12 —
rose to Tuesday to at least 227 after a new wave of deadly air raids.
Rally
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"The policy for the US should be stopping the violence, period, and starting to solve the problem through negotiations," said Suwaij.
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The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,
the largest Arab civil rights group, announced a rally outside the
White House Tuesday to protest the Israeli aggressions.
Early last week, a coalition of 11 major Muslim
organizations publicly called on Bush to forcefully condemn the
attacks on Gaza and to designate as "war crimes" the
destruction of Palestinian infrastructure, including the main power
station.
Janah El Horr, a 24-year-old Lebanese who has been
living in the US for three years, said she had been optimistic about
Lebanon's prospects after the end of the country's devastating civil
war in 1990.
"We were all happy with how (much) the country
was able to achieve -- and in such a short time after the (civil) war
and how the Lebanese people always thrive and have the will to
overcome their civil war," said Horr, who recently returned from
a visit to her native country.
"It brings chills all over to see what this
country is going through, so much destruction and pain and being
threatened with a new war," she said.
The Israeli onslaught has left Lebanon virtually
cut off from the outside world and much of its infrastructure in
tatters, with jets targeting roads, bridges and power stations.
Lebanese Finance Minister Jihad Azur said Sunday
that massive damage inflicted by Israeli military strikes on his
country had already cost its fragile economy more than half a billion
dollars.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has declared Lebanon a
"disaster zone" and appealed for urgent international help.
Trapped Relatives
The plight of an estimated 25,000 US citizens in
Lebanon, many of whom are dual nationals, will also inject a sense of
urgency to a Washington gathering of Arab-American leaders on
Wednesday, July 19.
The Arab American Institute (AAI), which represents
the policy and community interests of Arab Americans, said 40 percent
of the 3.5 million Arab-Americans are of Lebanese descent, which gave
a cause for concern.
The institute has posted on its website photographs
of Arab-American vacationers, children and visitors trapped in Lebanon
by the fighting.
"In many cases (there is) no way for them to
leave, even if a plan were to be developed, they can't go from one
part of the country to the other to get out," said AAI president
James Zogby.
The US has chartered a cruise ship for evacuations
that can carry 750 passengers on each five-hour voyage between Lebanon
and Cyprus, beginning Tuesday under the protection of a US destroyer.
Helicopters flew 64 Americans from Beirut over the
past two days, according to the US military, without specifying
whether they were embassy personnel, dual nationals or tourists.
More than 100,000 people have crossed into Syria
from Lebanon over the past five days to escape the bloody Israeli
attacks.
