SENATE URGED TO PASS RESOLUTION CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE BETWEEN HEZBOLLAH AND ISRAELI FORCES

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today sought the adoption of a Senate resolution to support the stand of United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan for the immediate declaration of a ceasefire between the Hezbollah and Israeli forces now locked in combat in Lebanon.

In Senate Resolution No. 512, Pimentel said that the continuing carnage of innocent lives on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon demands an outcry from the civilized world to stop the wanton killings and the ongoing devastation of the places in the areas of conflict.

Unless stopped, the war in Lebanon will adversely affect, as it has already done, the overseas Filipino workers not only in Lebanon and Israel but in the adjoining countries as well; and has the potential of escalating beyond the borders of these two countries and sucking into the area of turmoil the territories of Syria, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, Pimentel said.

The resolution recalled that two Israeli soldiers were captured some three weeks ago by the Hezbollah, an armed group that has a representation in the Lebanese parliament. The Israeli government unleashed on July 12 its military might to recover the two soldiers.

In retaliation, the Israeli government has bombed targets within Lebanon including Beirut, leaving as of July 24 363 dead, 320 or whom were civilians (women and children too) and effectively destroying basic infrastructure of that country.

In the last few days, the Israeli army began its invasion of Lebanon in search of the Hezbollah fighters.

In the resolution, the Senate was urged by Pimentel to express its sense that an immediate ceasefire be effected through the initiative of the United Nations to lay the basis for the recovery of the two Israeli soldiers who had been captured by the Hezbollah and Lebanon; and for the stabilization of the region.