For the last 15 days the bombs have been falling on Lebanon and Gaza. Ostentatiously targeting Hizbullah and Hamas, the Israeli armed forces are decimating villages, towns and vital infrastructure, killing hundreds outright and making refugees of thousands.

Inspired by an action carried out on Friday 2nd July by the Israeli peace group Zochrot, in which thousands of leaflets were dropped from rooftops on shoppers in Tel Aviv, a English language leaflet was dropped in Cambridge on Tuesday the 25th of July. Both leaflets are a parody of the Israeli defence forces leaflets being dropped on residential areas in Lebanon warning civilians that they are in a targeted "terrorist" area and that they should evacuate. The Cambridge version also included an open letter from the Stop The War coalition and suggestions of further action that can be taken.

Two groups from the Cambridge Action Network dropped the leaflets in busy shopping areas, moving fast and occasionally being chased by security guards, but having the satisfaction of seeing several shoppers stop and pick them up. The leaflets dropped in private property (Lion Yard and The Grafton shopping centres) were quickly cleared away by staff, but those dropped from shop windows into the streets remained for the rest of the afternoon to be picked up by passing shoppers.

Other reports of this action:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/2006/07/346059.html

Text of the Leaflet:

(Side 1)

YOU ARE NOT IN A TERRORIST AREA
YOU WILL NOT BE BOMBED
Unlike the population of Lebanon & Gaza

Israeli war planes have been dropping leaflets like this one on the population of the Lebanon telling them they must flee their homes or risk being killed for being in a “terrorist area.” Meanwhile they bomb bridges and roads and have killed many of the refugees they themselves have caused. By using overwhelming military force upon civilian areas and the Lebanese infrastructure Israel is not defeating terrorism but creating a new generation of hatred. Each missile cannot possibly kill as many terrorists as it creates. State terror is not a solution to the crisis but its cause.

YOU ARE NOT IN A TERRORIST AREA
YOU WILL NOT BE BOMBED
Unlike the population of Lebanon & Gaza

The US have given the nod to the Israeli state to do as it pleases which risks an escalation of the war which may spill over into attacks on other Middle Eastern countries – widening the circle of death and destruction. It is the Israeli troops who should evacuate from the Lebanon and Gaza, not their populations, with an immediate ceasefire and a lifting of the naval blockade on Beirut.

YOU ARE NOT IN A TERRORIST AREA
YOU WILL NOT BE BOMBED
Unlike the population of Lebanon & Gaza

(side 2)

Dear Prime Minister,

Most people in this country are, we believe, horrified at the bloodshed and destruction unfolding daily in Lebanon. There can be no justification for the conduct of the Israeli government and armed forces, which are laying waste to a country in an operation which will hugely damage the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
We are dismayed that the British government, almost alone in the world, is not calling for a ceasefire to enable the suffering to stop. This either shows a deplorable indifference to the plight of the Lebanese people or an attitude of total subservience to the foreign policy of the US administration. Either way, our country is being humiliated and our isolation from world opinion underlined once more.
We therefore call on the government to change its position and join the vast majority of the world’s states, the UN secretary-general and the Archbishop of Canterbury in calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Lebanon to save lives and prevent the destruction of that country.

Andrew Murray, Stop the War Coalition
Kate Hudson, CND

People you might like to contact

Israeli embassy
2 Palace Green
London W8 4QB
Phone (020) 7957 9500
 info-assist@london.mfa.gov.il

Foreign office
Phone (020) 7008 1500

Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
 http://www.palestinecampaign.org/

Electronic Intifada
 http://www.electronicintifada.org/

Gush Shalom
Are an Israeli peace organisation, you might like to send them your solidarity
 info@gush-shalom.org
 http://gush-shalom.org/

Lebanese Daily Star (newspaper)
www.dailystar.com.lb/

Stop the War Coalition
 http://stopwar.org.uk/

Come along to the next Cambridge Action Network meeting on Thursday at 7.30 p.m. in 3 Fletchers Terrace, off Argyle St, off Mill Rd
Where we’re going to discuss, among other things, what we can do to provide solidarity to the Lebanese and Palestinian people.

www.cambridgeaction.net