Dear Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia,

I am writing you in relation to the events in Lebanon. Today and luckily for humanity the world is increasingly connected and forming a global village. So, despite biased media reports for the benefit of Israel, we as citizens of the world have a clear idea of what is happening in that part of the world and Cambodia.

Israel is destroying Lebanon and any economic viability that it has been struggling to build over the past 16 years. Before that it was unleashing its terror and destruction on the people of Gaza. They are killing children, women and innocent civilians. Israel has been displacing families from their homes in villages ever since its establishment in 1948. In six days since July 12, 2006, it displaced over 700,000 people in Lebanon alone. It also pounded to the ground Lebanese people’s homes and infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, ports, highways, energy plants and communication networks. These are all structures that we may have paid for with our tax money through international aid projects as we know that Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction was partly possible because of foreign aid to the then war-torn country. Israel has torn it away again, an entire country. It has no right to do so. Israel is carrying out the same, if not worse, collective punishment that some of its people suffered during the first half of the 20th century.

We are constantly being told that we should appreciate the fact that we live in democracies, in the free world, where freedom of speech and expression are not an issue. We are also being told that our governments are waging a war against terror to protect us. But today we wonder whether such violent actions carried out by states, which use unrestrained and disproportionate force, clearly breaching international law and justice, are not but exasperating the problem by creating more angry people who are willing to bomb themselves in train stations and skyscrapers in an attempt to turn attention to the injustice they are enduring.

Based on our concern for our own security and based on the fact that we live in democracies where an individual’s freedom of expression holds the power to change and improve, we write to you today requesting the following:

Mobilize all diplomatic efforts to:

1. Stop the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza

2. Pressure the United Nations Security Council to meet immediately and issue a Chapter 7 Resolution condemning the Israeli attacks and imposing sanctions on the Jewish state in an attempt to prevent it from repeating these attacks in the future. The international community’s failure to treat Israel like any other belligerent state has led to its recurrent resorting to violence. Ten years ago, it committed the Qana Massacre in South Lebanon at a UN base. As it remained unpunished for its unlawful acts in Qana, Jenin, Sabra and Shatila etc. Israel allowed itself to commit the mass genocide in Gaza and Lebanon in 2006 using the same argument and justification “self-defense,” “fighting against terror” etc. But killing children and innocent is far from self-defense and fighting against terror unless it is the intention. Israel should face the same treatment as Saddam did when he invaded Kuwait and if it does not, we as citizens of Cambodia need to understand clearly why. Our country pays membership fees to be part of the UN, I presume it is our tax money. We expect and we have the right to request that this money is used effectively. No nation should enjoy the privilege over others to kill and the UN should be able to implement its charter the first article of which is “to Maintain Peace and Security.”

3. Pressure Israel through the UN or any other effective means to pay compensation for all the destruction it has caused at least since July 12, 2006.

I as a citizen of Cambodia, and the free world, the policies of which supposedly rest on the sum of individual votes of choice, count on you to take my request into consideration and forward to action. Together officials and citizens can make this a better world for all races to enjoy.

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

LAY VICHEKA