Stop the War Coalition
The following open letter was given in to Downing St at the emergency demonstration held on 5 August 2006 in protest against Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. It was signed online by more than 23,000 people.
Dear Prime Minister,
Most people in this country are, we believe, horrified at the bloodshed and destruction unfolding daily in Lebanon. There can be no justification for the conduct of the Israeli government and armed forces, which are laying waste to a country in an operation which will hugely damage the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
We are dismayed that the British government, almost alone in the world, is not calling for a ceasefire to enable the suffering to stop. This either shows a deplorable indifference to the plight of the Lebanese people or an attitude of total subservience to the foreign policy of the US administration. Either way, our country is being humiliated and our isolation from world opinion underlined once more.
We therefore call on the government to change its position and join the vast majority of the world’s states, the UN secretary-general and the Archbishop of Canterbury in calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Lebanon to save lives and prevent the destruction of that country.
