Thousands of Australians in Lebanon

The West Australian, Australia
July 16 2006

The federal government is being called on to help thousands of
Australians flee Lebanon following open conflict between Israel and
the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah.

But it claims there is no longer a safe way to rescue almost 3,000
Australians travelling in the war-torn country, nor the 25,000 members
of the Australian Lebanese community who live there.

"There is no way at the moment for anyone to leave and the sea ports
are dangerous, the road and the highway’s been damaged and also the
airport," Teresa Gambaro, parliamentary secretary to the Foreign
Affairs Minister, said.

"There’s no means, no transportation mode, that is safe to us at the
moment and, in fact, we would be putting Australians at risk if we
advised them to leave at this time."

As the violence increases, there is mounting criticism the government
was too slow to decide it must evacuate its citizens.

The parents of 57 young Australians stranded in Beirut lashed out
at the prime minister on Saturday, accusing John Howard of not doing
enough to help their children.

"There is a lot of anger, and a lot of frustration," said Rosemary
Diodati, who has 12 members of her extended family, including two of
her children, stranded in Lebanon.

"I don’t think they (the government) are doing enough. We want them
out and we want them safe and sound. You don’t just say stay put –
stay put until when?"

About 78 members of the Sydney Armenian Community dance group,
including young children, teens and young adults, are trapped in
Beirut as Israel’s devastating bombing raids continue.

The attacks began after Hizbollah launched a cross-border raid on
Wednesday killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two others.

On Saturday, Hizbollah’s chief all but declared war on its neighbour.

"You wanted open war. We are going to open war," Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah said in a call to Hizbollah’s television.

Ms Gambaro urged people in Australia to contact family members in
Lebanon and get them to register with the Australian embassy in Beirut.

But some of the last Australians to flee the war-torn country,
touching down at Sydney Airport on Saturday night, said the embassy
had been slow to act.

Rosemary Haddad, back in Australia with her husband and three
children, spent more than a day sitting by the phone trying to call
the Australian embassy in Lebanon.

"I was abandoned and I think it’s disgusting," she said. "We are
Australians and we were in a foreign country. We had no idea what to
do or where to go … the only people that helped us were the local
travel agents."

Escaping across the Syrian border in a car driven by a family friend
was "like Armageddon", she said.

"There were cars everywhere, everyone was trying to get out and once
we got to the airport we had to wait 16 hours before we could get on
a plane," she said.

Ms Haddad was one of less than a dozen people who touched down in
Australia on Saturday night after fleeing the violence.