Olfat Mahmoud, Director of the Women's Humanitarian Organisation in the Burj el Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern outskirts of Beirut has reported repeated attacks on the heavily populated southern suburbs of Beirut, adjacent to the camp.
According to Mahmoud, who recently toured Australia with the Women Refugee Education Network, the attacks began on April 11 from helicopter gunships and Israeli navy ships off Beirut. Since then attacks on Lebanese economic, military and civilian targets have reportedly intensified killing hundreds of civilians and turning more than 400,000 Lebanese into refugees in their own country.
The Women Refugee Education Network is appealing for letters of condemnation to be sent to the Israeli ambassador in Australia, as well as requests that the Australian foreign minister condemn this violent attack on civilians and on the territorial sovereignty of Lebanon.