Crisis in Lebanon

"No one can for one moment accept rockets in Haifa, Nazareth, or anywhere in Israel. But demanding that the Lebanese government rein in Hezbollah while bombs rain down on a variety of targets, some civilian, is not the answer.

Widening the war will inflame tensions, increase casualties and decrease any prospect for a permanent peace. The United States can best support Israel and the Arab world by vigorously pursuing an end to the violence, the resumption of a peace process and a commitment to unite the region to isolate terrorist groups and all who oppose a just and lasting peace for all people."
-Representative Jim McDermott, Washington State

"The Lebanese people, who had hoped that their country's dark days were behind them, have been brutally dragged back into war. Already, over 300 Lebanese have been killed and over 600 wounded. And the casualties are mainly among the civilian population, about one third of them children. Much of the infrastructure in Beirut and around the country has been destroyed. Lebanon remains under an Israeli military blockade, imposed by sea and air."
-Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General

"In Lebanon, from a humanitarian standpoint, we are witnessing a tragic, downward spiral. We already have a crisis with rapidly growing unmet needs. Every day the fighting continues takes us closer to a human catastrophe."
-Louis Michel, the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid (European Commission)

"Call for an immediate cease-fire in the region that would allow the rapid deployment of the international humanitarian aid effort and the return of international law;"
-Conference of the Presidents, European Parliament