CITIZENS PROTEST AGAINST ISRAEL'S DISPROPORTIONATE WAR AGAINST LEBANON AND GAZA IN NEW DELHI ON AUGUST 05, 2006

CALL TO PROTEST ISRAEL'S DISPROPORTIONATE WAR AGAINST LEBANON AND GAZA

Dear friends,

We have watched with horror as Israel's disproportionate use of force
against the citizens of Lebanon and Palestine has increased daily and
with impunity in light of sanction for Israel from the United States
of America and the United Kingdom. Israel's aggression continues in
open defiance of calls from the rest of the international community
for an immediate cease-fire, and continues to take a heavy toll of
innocent life.

Until today, the 2nd of August, 850 Lebanese including 290 children
have been killed and 9,00,000 Lebanese refugees have been displaced in
response to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah 22
days ago. The number of Israeli dead in the conflict thus far is 55,
including 19 civilians, as Hezbollah continues to target Israel with
rockets.

Despite this, yesterday, the European Union too provided implicit
sanction to Israel's disproportionate actions by failing to call for
an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Almost immediately, Israel
has launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, involving tens of
thousands of troops.

We, the undersigned, condemn this brutal targeting of unarmed civilian
populations and the systematic destruction of the infrastructure of
Lebanon and Gaza. We demand an immediate and unconditional cease-fire
in Lebanon and in Gaza and that the leaders of Israel, the US and the
UK be tried for war crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian
people. We mourn the loss of innocent Lebanese, Palestinian and
Israeli lives.

We urge groups and individuals to join in a citizen's protest against
Israel's targeting of civilians which goes against all laws of war and
ethics of combat.

Do come with banners, slogans and solidarity. Please do forward widely
information about the protest on all activist lists, and to the media.

When
Saturday 5th, 11 am
Where
Israeli Embassy, 3, Aurangzeb Road

(As police do not permit protests outside the embassy, the rendezvous
point is the UPSC building)

In solidarity,

Aanchal Kapur, KRITI Research and Praxis
Aarti Sethi, editor
Aditya Nigam, political scientist & writer
Ahtushi Deshpande, travel writer
Ajay Bhardwaj, filmmaker
Aman Sethi, journalist
Amar Kanwar, filmmaker
Anand Vivek Taneja, researcher-writer
Aniruddha Shankar, concerned citizen
Anita Roy, editor
Anita Vasudev, writer
Annie Zaidi, journalist
Anubhav Gupta, writer
Anuradha Vijayakrishnan, writer
Aparna Sanyal
Apoorvanand, teacher and writer
Archana Dwivedi, Nirantar
Arka Mukhopadhyay, poet-theatre practitioner
Arti Sawhney
Ashwin Aishwaria, artist
Ashwini Ailawadi, trainer
Bindu Menon, educator
Charu Soni, journalist
Colin Fernandes, journalist
Devika Prasad, human rights activist
Dipta Bhog, Nirantar
Farah Aziz, journalist
Farah Naqvi
Farida Khan, educationist
Gargi Sen, filmmaker
Gautam Bhan, activist
Gayatri Reddy, educator
George Kurian, filmmaker
Gita Hariharan, writer
Harpreet Anand
I.K. Shukla
I. Priya Thangarajah, student
Indira Pathak, activist
Jamaat e Islami Hind
Jaya Sharma, activist
Jeet Thayil, writer
Julia Dutta, journalist
Jyotsna Kumar, concerned citizen
Kanchana Natarajan, educator
Kaushiki Rao, concerned citizen
Kaveetaa Kaul, writer/journalist
Keerti Jayaram, educationist, activist
Khadeeja Arif, researcher-writer
Khursheed Anwar, social activist
Kishore Kumar Singh, freelance consultant
Lesley A. Esteves, journalist
Madan Gopal Singh, film scholar & music composer
Madhu Mehra, human rights lawyer
Mario D'Penha, historian-activist
Maya Sharma, Parma
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, writer & journalist
Mini Krishnan, publisher and writer (Chennai)
Monica Mody, writer
Mujtaba Farooq
Murtaza Danish Husain, actor & writer
N.K. Afandi, Dr
Nalini Nayak, teacher
Nandini Sundar
Nandita Das
Narayani Gupta, consultant INTACH
Neelima Sharma, theatre activist
Niharika Gupta, editor Womens Collective
Nini, Nirantar
Nishant Natya Manch, New Delhi
Nivedita Menon, academic & activist
Om Gupta, playwright
Ponni Arasu, activist
Pranav Kumar Singh, lawyer
Preeti Bose, poet
Prism, New Delhi
Priyanka Mukherjee, social worker
Pulin Nayak, economist
Radhika Kolluru, lawyer
Rajneesh Saran, freelance writer
Rama Kant Agnihotri, Prof, linguist
Ranjan De, filmmaker
S. Vinita
Samit Basu, writer
Saba Naqvi Bhaumik, journalist
Sanjay Kak, filmmaker
Shabnam Hashmi, social activist
Shakti Bhatt, editor & writer
Shalini Joshi, Nirantar
Shamsul Islam, Dr, theatre activist
Shivam Vij, blogger-journalist
Shohini Ghosh, film scholar & filmmaker
Shuddhabrata Sengupta, media practitioner
Siddharth Narrain, journalist
Smarth Bali, Communications Specialist
Sridala Swamy, writer
Subasri Krishnan, filmmaker
Sudeep Sen, writer & editor
Sujit Ghosh, social activist
Sumit Baudh, lawyer
Sumit Roy, filmmaker
Sunil Gupta, photographer
Susan Bertolino, writer
Susan M Koshy, writer
Tabish Khair, writer
Teena Gill
Vaibhav Vats, student
Vineeta Bal, peace activist