Reparations are required for more than a thousands deaths, many thousands of injures and an estimated $10 billion for destruction of civilian facilities in Lebanon in one month alone; and thousands of deaths and injuries in Palestine since the Oslo Accords, the systematic destruction of the government of Palestine, the kidnapping of half the cabinet and the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, the assassination of leaders and indiscriminate killing of others, and the destruction of the offices of President Arafat, the Foreign Ministry and civilian facilities throughout Gaza and the West Bank.

If the present ceasefire does not hold, bolder action must be taken. There must be absolute assurance from the US and Israel that they will honor the sovereignty of Lebanon, Syria, and Iran and recognize and honor the sovereignty of the State of Palestine, cruelly delayed for 58 years.

Israeli war has brought death to hundreds of civilians, children, women and men turned hundreds of thousands, approaching one-fourth of Lebanon`s population of four million, into refugees within their country and destroyed the infrastructure which will require decades to rebuild, if and when peace comes.

If the capture of two soldiers, or one in the case of Palestine, justifies assaults against whole nations and peoples, as Israel has done, then there is no law, no alternative to war, no hope for peace. Was not cross-border violence between Israel and Lebanon commonplace for decades? Was there not a continuum of assaults at will against the Palestinian people over decades?

We must ask whether the forced withdrawal of Syrian peacekeepers from Lebanon earlier this year by the US was the prelude of Israel`s plan to invade Lebanon and reoccupy territories up to the Litani river in the South.

We must ask whether the fierce assault on Lebanon and Palestine are the prelude to broader actions against Syria and Iran. President Bush has made it abundantly clear that he would like nothing better than `regime change` in Iran and Syria and has attempted to lay responsibility for violence in Lebanon and Palestine at their door.

As Iraq descends into sectarian war, President Bush needs new threats to distract the attention of people in the US from what his Shock and Awe policy has brought for Iraq, for us, and for the world. War in Lebanon helps divert attention temporarily and may serve to widen the conflict to include Syria and/or Iran. If not, there are always Cuba, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela and others to act against.

President George Bush supports every act of Israel, every strike against Lebanon and Palestine, alone among international heads of government.

By permitting President Bush to pursue his policy of domination through threat and lawless force, we risk ever widening international violence.

Circulated by All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat in public interest with the suggestion that recipients may convey their support to Mr. Ramsey Clark, UN Church Center, 777 UN Plaza - 44th St. & 1st Ave, NYC.