Since July 12, 2006 Israel has been committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and massacres against the men, women, and children of Lebanon, while the conscience of the international community has remained shamefully silent and unable to take any decision to halt this aggression and dangerous crimes. Israel remains undeterred in its campaign to burn entire villages, destroy the basic infrastructure of Lebanon—from buildings to bridges to highways to electric power stations to gas stations to every port on the long Lebanese coast—and damage and shut down the Beirut international airport, and impose a complete siege of Lebanon—by sea, air, and land. Also Israel has not hesitated to strike the Red Cross, the civil defense, hospitals, aid convoys, churches, and mosques, and is using banned and chemical weapons against civilians, without any consideration that it is violating a number of the basic principles of human rights, international humanitarian law, and the Geneva conventions. Furthermore, Israel continues to commit grave atrocities victimizing hundreds of men, women, and children, and tearing apart families. The most recent examples include the Qana massacre which sixty killed persons, thirty seven of whom were children under the age of ten, the Houla and Brital massacre and recently Chyah massacres which killed 29 persons and wounded 75.

Why is Israel continuing to perpetrate these war crimes and violations, and why is the international community silent? One can only conclude that perhaps this is a result of the impunity and lack of accountability that Israel enjoys; as they realize that they will not be held accountable for any of their actions and that no punishment awaits them. If the Israeli government does not seem to value human life—our lives—then, nor do they seem to matter to the international community. Israeli weapons have since July 12, 2006 killed 1,000 civilians, injured and maimed more than 3,300 more, and displaced over one million from their villages and homes in Lebanon. These numbers are only increasing as Israel continues its criminal aggression against Lebanon.

Justice Without Frontiers, the coordinator of the Lebanese Coalition for the ICC, is launching a campaign, entitled, “Your Child Is My Child, Let’s Protect His Future Now,” dedicated to the Lebanese people, and particularly to the Lebanese children, who have been devastated, disfigured, burned, and killed by Israeli weapons. These angels of ours have been deprived, because of Israeli weapons, from their right to live and grow in an atmosphere of stability and peace, to live in their homes with their family and friends, to play, and to hope. The aim of this campaign is to end impunity of Israeli leaders and their partners and to refer the crimes committed by them against Lebanese civilians to international courts, and to prosecute them so as to serve as an example for any other persons planning to commit such crimes against civilians in Lebanon or any part of the world.

Also, this campaign aims to urge the Lebanese government to take the following necessary decisions:
- Declare their acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court with respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israelis and their partners in Lebanon and against Lebanese civilians, in order to prosecute Israeli leaders and their partners at the International Criminal Court, and to provide reparations including compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation to the victims.

- Declare Lebanon’s accession to the Rome Statute because of the security guarantees that this court offers, and to ensure that all perpetrators of the worst crimes will be prosecuted.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent and independent court capable of trying individuals accused of the most serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The treaty that established the ICC, the Rome Statute, entered into forced on July 1, 2002. The ICC is designed to complement existing national judicial systems, however, the court, can exercise its jurisdiction if national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes. The ICC only has jurisdiction with respect to crimes committed after the entry into force of this statute and if the country is a non state-party, if it declares its acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICC with respect to crimes committed after the entry of force in July 2002.

Justice Without Frontiers, the coordinator of the Lebanese coalition for the ICC, invites and urges all national, regional and international NGOs, to participate and support this campaign and support Lebanon’s accession to the Rome statute for the ICC by signing this petition and forwarding it to others.

For my daughter and son, for your daughter and son, for the children of Lebanon, for all the children around the world, for those who believed in Lebanon, for the screams of each mother, for the tears of each father, let us raise our voices and struggle together to end impunity now and bring to justice those who killed innocent civilians and have robbed innocent children of their childhood, lives, and dreams—so that truth and justice may prevail.