07/16/06: Conflict raises concern for relatives, friends trapped in
Conflict raises concern for relatives, friends trapped in
PUBLISHED: July 16, 2006
DEARBORN/DEARBORN HEIGHTS - With violence in Lebanon escalating this week, Lebanese-Americans in the Metro Detroit area have become understandably concerned about family and friends overseas.
The Israeli attacks on during the busiest tourism season of the year have lead Muslim groups in and around to call press conferences and demonstrations to address the violence in the region and its effects on the local community.
"Our concern is not only based upon the increasing humanitarian crisis inand the deaths of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. Our concern also resides with the thousands of American citizens — (with) a large portion of them being Metro Detroit residents — that are in the region on vacation whose lives are in jeopardy as we speak," said Dawud Walid, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan (CAIR), at a Friday press conference in .
The State Department estimates that there are 25,000 Americans in — with no way to safely get home as the sole international airport was repeatedly bombed and thus shut down. The main highway to neighboring was also damaged and Israeli ships blockaded the coast.
The U.S. Embassy posted a message on its Web site that said: "We urge Americans residing in to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness."
As of the Press & Guide's deadline Friday, the Associated Press reported that 61 Lebanese civilians and 10 Israelis had been killed in three days.
began attacking Wednesday in response to two Israeli soldiers being captured by Hezbollah guerrillas.
In response to the Israeli attacks, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and mortars into northern .
Israeli officials said their offensive had several goals: to pressure Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers, to push the guerrilla group away from 's northern border and to exact a price from 's government for allowing Hezbollah to operate freely in the south.
"We feel Israel is grossly overstepping its bounds by its vicious attacks that maim and kill hundreds of innocent civilians who only want to live a peaceful life, free of strife, turmoil and poverty like everyone else," said Imam Abdullah El-Amin, executive director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan.
"We further feel it is immoral and inhumane for to disregard world sentiment and go forward with this destruction and terror," El-Amin said.
Walid said one of CAIR's board members is currently in , however, he was able to reach him before communication was cut. The board member's mother's village was bombed, but he was unharmed. Two of CAIR's former interns are also in visiting family and friends.
Walid said they have described the situation in as fearful. They have said they are petrified, scared to death and feel they have been terrorized.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, who heads the Islamic House of Wisdom, said cannot solve its problems by attacking another nation.
"If you care for two soldiers then sit down and talk with your neighbors," Elahi said. "Have respect for other human beings."
The press conference held Friday morning at the Islamic House of Wisdom in called upon the administration to immediately react to the Israeli aggression.
"We call for an immediate brokered cease-fire that will show our strong wonderful country as the true leader in making our world one where the peace of God prevails over all," El-Amin said.
"We pray for peace and that this great nation will tell to stop this aggression and brutality," Elahi said.
In addition to the press conference Friday morning, a demonstration and press conference were planned at the Islamic Center of Detroit in the afternoon. Also scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. was a human chain of hands, "Hands Across Warren Avenue," that would extend east and west across Warren and Schaefer. A town hall meeting was to follow at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in .
A memorial service is scheduled for today at 6 p.m. at the Islamic Center of America on and Evergreen in for the known victims of the
attacks.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.