"A violation of international law… It's horrific. It's bigger, more extensive than even I could imagine."
Jan Egeland, UN relief coordinator

Every day it gets worse in Lebanon. This week Israeli planes have bombed clearly marked Red Cross ambulances, causing the Red Cross to pull out of the main areas of bombing. Hundreds of Lebanese have been killed; half a million have become refugees.

The Israelis have bombed a United Nations placement; Beirut and much of Lebanon is being destroyed, refugees are being bombed while fleeing.

You only have to turn on the TV to see this.

Mass protests over the last year in Lebanon had forced Syrian troops to leave. The country was finally recovering from its previous Israeli occupation. Now lies in ruins.
In Palestine the steady destruction of people's lives continues with the bulldozing of farmland and the bombing of the only power station in the country.

Meanwhile, Hizbullah rains missiles on the north of Israel, killing Jews and Arabs alike, even hitting exclusively Arab villages in Israel. This war started with provocative actions by Hizbullah and Hamas in kidnapping Israeli soldiers, but rather than negotiate their release Israel fires missiles in every direction – virtually all those killed by them have been civilians, and one third have been children.

Our Government is standing back and doing nothing, as ever acting in support of George Bush's disastrous Middle Eastern policies, continuing to sell arms to Israel.

We say: stop the missiles - in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel.
We say: the only long term answer is for Israel to end its occupation and allow a viable Palestine to exist side by side with an Israeli state, each in security, each with recognised borders. Let the two peoples have two states.
We say: support the secular democrats in Lebanon who have been trying to build the country free from religious parties like Hizbullah; support the peace movement in Israel and the men and women who refuse to serve in the Israeli occupation army.

What you can do: demand that the Labour Government gets out of George Bush's pocket.

Write to your MP calling for Israeli withdrawal to its 1967 borders. Raise money for Medical Aid for Palestine (www.map-uk.org) and the Israeli peace movement (www.gush-shalom.org).
Contact: Nottingham Middle East Crisis Committee  info@fiveleaves.co.uk, phone number 07779328418
Supported by the Committee for Two States and the Jewish Socialist Group