Article 20567 of alt.conspiracy: Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,alt.activism,alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.individualism,alt.censorship,talk.politics.misc,misc.headlines,soc.culture.usa Subject: Part 18, Within America's Soul, Hitler is Victorious Keywords: Within America's Soul, Hitler is Victorious Message-ID: <1993Feb17.130217.28069@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Article-I.D.: murdoch.1993Feb17.130217.28069 Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Followup-To: alt.conspiracy Organization: UVA. FREE Public Access UNIX! Lines: 116 The following passages are from: "ISRAEL'S WAR IN LEBANON: EYEWITNESS CHRONICLES OF THE INVASION & OCCUPATION", compiled and edited by Franklin Lamb, 1984 publisher and sole distributor: Spokesman for the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Bertrand Russell House, Gamble St., Nottingham, England NG7 4ET. Transcribed with permission by John DiNardo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DR. EBBA WERGELAND, Physician, Norway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I WAS NOT SO MUCH STRUCK BY THE BOMBARDMENT ITSELF, AS BY THE TERRORISATION OF THE POPULATION, PALESTINIANS AND LEBANESE ALIKE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I want to tell you about some of the things in the first period of the blockade which I experienced. I was sent by the Palestine Committee from Norway to Beirut on 8 June, after we had lost contact with the PRCS there. I was already too late to leave because Beirut was already being closed off. So from Damascus, I witnessed the beginning of the siege which was to block supplies and entries into West Beirut, partially or totally during two months. Hundreds of medical workers were already waiting in Damascus when I arrived there. They were mainly Palestinians working in the Gulf States, the majority with their homes and families in South Lebanon. They could not enter and they had no way of getting news about the fate of their families. Others were stuck too. Relief organisations were getting tons of equipment stocked in Damascus, in Chtaura on the way from Damascus to Beirut, and in Tripoli. Three ICRC [Red Cross] convoys were stopped on their way to West Beirut, twice by the Israelis and once by the Phalangists. This can be checked with the Damascus ICRC representative. Both the PRCS in Damascus and the international relief organisations agreed that Beirut had first priority if it could be reached. Stocks were being destroyed of blood and blood products, due to lack of storage facilities and to expired storage time. I spent my time there trying to find a way to get into Beirut and a Norwegian surgical team joined me in Damascus. I give you details here because I want to show you that the road was not open. We passed via Tripoli through the Phalangist area pretending that we belonged to a U.N. convoy which we knew was passing to East Beirut the same time. Because we were White, because we were Norwegians, this worked. We had to sleep in Jounieh, also called the Phalangist capital. It is north of Beirut on the coast. Israeli soldiers already moved among the inhabitants there as if it were quite normal, which reminded us of a long-standing, well- established relationship and cooperation between the new occupants and the Phalangists. We passed the next day from East to West Beirut as journalists. We brought no equipment, as other people had been turned off on their way to West Beirut before, also due to their equipment. I had been to Beirut four times before this visit and also during the 1978 invasion. From the first day, I was not so much struck by the bombardment itself as by the terrorisation of the population, Palestinians and Lebanese alike, all classes of society affected. I met the people from the camps as I did in 1978, in schools, in cellars, but this time it was worse because they were never safe, even if they moved into the centre of the city. I met people from the Palestinian refugee camps telling me about their houses being burned down the day before; they had lost everything. They moved from place to place trying to find a safe area, from day to day. I was not only a coordinator, I was also a medical doctor, but it was not easy to give sound medical advice to people without water and electricity or money to buy medicine. The lack of water and electricity was not only during the periods which were announced in the newspapers as blockades. It was more or less permanent, partially or totally, during my whole stay there, and this was due not only to the deliberate turning off of the tap in the East, but also to bombardment which destroyed the pipelines; and they could not be repaired. When we arrived it was 22 June and people had already stayed in bathrooms and corridors, people who had their flats in the centre of town. For weeks they started because they were scared by attacks or threatened attacks and low overflights. It was Ramadan and the Israelis, during the first part of our stay there, had the habit of attacking in the afternoon when the families got together to have their first meal. ...... As to shelling and bombardment, was it indiscriminate? All the hospitals I knew of in West Beirut except La Hout, the provisional hospital which was made up during the war, were hit, seriously or not so seriously. If it was not indiscriminate, then it was on purpose. I visited quarters where I had lived before. These residential areas were developing into ghost areas. Six storey buildings, apartment blocks cut through like you would cut slices of bread. How many live in Beirut? Many numbers have been mentioned, and I think no one knows for sure. But I think many people have underestimated the number because they did not look into every corner. They did not look in these flats which were over-crowded with refugees from the south and from the camps. I think it is an easy thing to under-estimate the population of West Beirut, who lived through these times. How many died? Again, no one can be expected to give an exact answer even though many authorities tried to give an answer. Under the rubble in West Beirut, there are still people left. Rescue work was extremely difficult. When bombardments last for five hours, fourteen hours -- ambulances could not work, and rescue work was dangerous. What do you do with fires when you have no water and fuel? There were courses organised by the Norwegian medical team for ambulance personnel in Beirut. A few days after we left, we received the news that of this group of about 15 to 20, one had been killed and three wounded when a grenade hit their ambulance. (to be continued) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The story of these "crimes against humanity" has been carefully suppressed by the American Mass Media, which has always hypocritically exhorted us to: "Never again permit another holocaust!" Let us replace their hypocrisy with sincerity by exposing the holocaust of `82 and the holocaust of `91 to the TV-deluded consciousness of the American masses. Please post the episodes of this ongoing series to computer bulletin boards, and post hardcopies in public places, both on and off campus. Dial-in numbers of BBSs can be found in the Usenet newsgroup "alt.bbs.lists" John DiNardo