Campaigners urge Blair to call for ceasefire
A coalition of 14 campaign groups, trade unions and religious bodies have today urged Tony Blair to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
A letter signed by Amnesty International, Unison and the Muslim Council of Britain among others welcomes the prime minister’s acknowledgment on Monday that the situation in the Lebanon was a “catastrophe”.
But it expresses concern “that the British government has yet to use its full influence to bring about an immediate ceasefire, a lasting end to the hostilities and full compliance with international humanitarian law”.
The open letter comes as world leaders meet in Rome to discuss the crisis, which is likely to cover the subject of an international peace and stabilisation force.
The letter calls for Britain to press for an immediate ceasefire, noting that to do anything else “would be to fail to uphold the UK’s responsibility to help protect civilians dying in this conflict”.
However, the meeting has been overshadowed by news that Israeli aircraft killed at least three UN observers based in southern Lebanon. Israel has promised a full inquiry, but UN secretary general Kofi Annan accused them of deliberately targeting the observers.
Mr Blair has so far refused to call for a unilateral ceasefire on Israel’s part, taking his lead from the US, insisting there is no point until arrangements have been made to enforce the ceasefire and to take the peace process in the Middle East forward.
In a Commons debate yesterday, foreign secretary Margaret Beckett fought off accusations from Conservative MP Peter Tapsell that the UK and US had colluded to give Israel the go-ahead in waging war against Hizbullah and the Lebanese people.
Labour MP David Winnick also expressed dismay at the failure of the government to call on Israel to stop its bombing campaign in southern Lebanon.
“People in the UK in the main had no time for Hizbullah and such organisations, but find it almost impossible to understand how Israel can act as it is doing, causing so many deaths and serious injuries to people who are in no way involved in Hizbullah,” he said.
“Is it not time that the United Kingdom – and one would like the United States also – to make it as loud and clear as possible to the Israeli authorities that what they are doing cannot be justified under any circumstances?”
Liberal Democrat MP Michael Moore added his calls for an immediate ceasefire, warning: “For as long as the US, and, by extension, the UK, tolerate the disproportionate military response by the Israelis, the diplomatic efforts will be undermined completely.”
In response, Ms Beckett noted there had been a “consistent thread of appeals for the utmost restraint on both sides” from the G8 and the EU.
“Everything is being done through diplomatic channels to try to create the conditions in which not only can there be a ceasefire, but that such a ceasefire can be maintained and can be durable,” she added.
“That, I fear, is probably the key to any kind of good outcome to the problems that we see at present.”
