Interview by Majid Khabazan
Monday 31 July 2006
London - Tony Benn a former minister in the labour governments in Britain said that not only Tony Blair ,the British prime minister, did not criticise Israel for the killings in Lebanon but in fact he is a party to this war.
"This is more than being silent", he said, "Britain is fully supporting Israel and London allowing American bombs to go through British airports and they are supplying arms and sale them to Israel," he added in an interview in London here on Monday. The labour left wing activist said, "Bush and Blair say they do not want ceasefire meaning that they want the killing to go on" so there seems to be a complete agreement between the pair.
Referring to the messages given by Bush and Blair for the casualties in Lebanon Benn angrily added, "you can weep over the deaths but it is not the same as demanding the end of fighting as Kofi Annan the Secretary General of the UN and Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury have asked for." Served in the Wilson and Callaghan governments from 1964 to 1979 as secretary of state for both industry and energy ministries, Benn described the situation as outrageous and said people are angry and are going to make a big demonstration on Saturday 5 August in Hyde Park London.
"We have organised three demonstrations in the UK so far: one was yesterday in Trafalgar square and also we presented an open letter to Downing Street two days ago," Benn said.
Asked about why Blair is supporting Israel to the price of isolating his country from the rest of the world Benn said, "I believe Blair is a Neo-Conservative and he wants American power to extend in the Middle East) and for that he agrees with Bush in every aspect.
Benn said he is worried that the invasion in Lebanon might really be a way by Americans of getting Syria and Iran to the conflict rather than doing it through the argument over nuclear power. "Because Israel might be authorised to bomb Syria or even Iran, even if it is foolish to do so but they might do that," he added.
Asked about some analyses which suggest the ultimate aim of attacking Hezbollah was to involve Iran Benn said, "I think one scenario might be that as Bush has not made progress on nuclear question so he might think that if the war extended then without invasion he might try to justify bombing or something of that kind against Iran." The activist said the ceasefire will only occur when Israel feels it is enough for it and as they said they need 10 to 14 more days.
"However, when Israel stops then presumably Bush and Blair will bring NATO army in the Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah themselves," Benn emphasised.
He argued that if they are going to have any military forces in the area they have to send these forces to occupied territories of Palestine too.
