The painful cost of war and an example of longing for peace

For thousands of years, there have been more than 6.5438+0.5 million recorded wars, which directly or indirectly caused 3.5 billion deaths. In the past 100 years alone, the economic losses caused by the war in the world exceeded $5 trillion. 199 1 year, 2278 Iraqi civilians died directly in the war, and more than 654.38+million people died indirectly in the war, not to mention hundreds of thousands of refugees were displaced, and the overall economic level of Iraq was retrogressed for 30 years. The Kosovo war killed more than 2,000 civilians, injured more than 6,000 civilians, and there are nearly one million refugees in Yugoslavia. In the war in Afghanistan, 3,767 civilians were killed and 300,000 refugees appeared. In the Iraq war that broke out in the first half of this year, American warplanes dropped more than 28,000 bombs. According to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Defense, * * * caused more than 1 000 Iraqi civilians to die. The Associated Press said that at least 3,240 civilians were killed and about 8,000 people were injured. According to relevant scholars, more than 1 10,000 civilians may have died during the whole war. There are many women and children among the dead. For example, at a highway checkpoint near Karbala, US troops opened fire on an escaping truck, killing two women and five children. When the soldiers went to check it out, a surviving woman still clung to her two murdered children. 1999 April 12, NATO's "Precision Strike" weapons hit an international train from Belgrade to Soren, Greece, causing 10 deaths and 16 injuries. In early May, the U.S. military dropped a cluster bomb on a vegetable market in Nish, and the building collapsed immediately, causing rivers of blood. NATO bombed many villages, bridges, refugee convoys, schools, hospitals and even the Embassy of China in Yugoslavia.

In the war in Afghanistan, a large number of civilians were also killed by "precision strikes". Where hundreds of sophisticated cruise missiles and tens of thousands of tons of high-performance bombs fell, ordinary Afghans suffered the tragic fate of family destruction and death. 200110/On 23 October, in a village 60 kilometers northeast of Kandahar, more than 40 Afghans were killed, including one 18. 200 1 12 On February 20th, American warplanes bombed the motorcade of some tribal elders and local government officials around Khost, Paktia province, killing 65 people. These people should have gone to Kabul, the capital, to attend the inauguration ceremony of the interim government.

During the Iraq war, American troops killed many civilians while crossing a bridge over the Diana River. An old man walking on the road with a cane was shot several times in a row. A woman who was killed, her luggage was scattered around her. Her home in Baghdad was bombed. She tried to escape from the city with her relatives, but she was killed in this way.

There are still people in the western military circles who advocate that the recent high-tech war is a "clean war", which is even more a big lie. Because a large number of special weapons, especially depleted uranium bombs and other weapons with harmful radiation effects have been put into the battlefield, the war not only directly caused casualties among civilians in the war zone, but also polluted the local ecological environment.

The results of sampling test show that the pollution of depleted uranium bombs in these wars is more harmful to local residents and the environment than the allowable dose 1000 times. During the Gulf War, the US military fired hundreds of thousands of depleted uranium bombs into Iraq, and the total amount of depleted uranium reached 3 15 tons. After the war, the number of Iraqis, especially children, suffering from various strange radiation diseases increased greatly, and the number of cancer patients increased sharply. The cancer mortality rate of children increased by 7.2 times compared with that before the war. 1800 newborns born from August, 1999 to August, 1999 10, including 10 newborns without brain tissue, 8 hydrocephalus and 6 limb deformities. This figure seriously exceeds the normal proportion of one in ten thousand newborns. desire peace

On the evening of the 4th, more than 100,000 Israelis gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv from all directions. The slogan held high, the leaflets quietly distributed, the flickering candlelight, the eager eyes and the singer's emotional singing all convey a message: Rabin, we miss you deeply; Yitzhak, we will always have confidence in peace.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, then Foreign Minister Peres and then Palestinian President Arafat signed the Oslo Agreement based on the principle of "land for peace". 1995165438+1On October 4th, Rabin was shot dead by Jewish right-wing youths who opposed the peace process at a peaceful rally in King's Square in Tel Aviv. In memory of this leader who devoted himself to Middle East peace, King's Square was renamed Rabin Square.

With the passage of time, after trudging on the road of peace negotiations, Israel and Palestine have fallen into the most intense bloody conflict since the signing of the Oslo Agreement. Since the conflict broke out at the end of September, nearly 170 people have been killed and thousands injured, and terrorist activities have resumed. The heavy reality makes the Israelis remember and miss Rabin more deeply on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of his assassination, and also makes them think more about reality and peace.

In front of the pulpit with a huge portrait of Rabin, Israeli President katsav and Prime Minister Barak made speeches, calling on the people of the whole country to unite, inherit Rabin's legacy and work together for the early realization of Middle East peace.

Barak said that although the Middle East peace process is experiencing major setbacks, the Israeli government has not lost confidence in peace, and the Israelis are determined to achieve peace with the Palestinians through peace talks. He said loudly: "At present, we should not only dream and talk about peace, but also take positive actions to achieve peace."

An Israeli youth told reporters at the rally: "Rabin is a visionary leader who has taken a step towards peace. We are here today to inherit his legacy. Although the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict has greatly undermined mutual trust, we should not lose confidence in peace. "

An old man faced the square with a serious expression and said, "If Rabin were still alive, peace might have been achieved between Israel and Palestine long ago." He believes that peace is still the only way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A young mother told reporters that the current situation worries many people, but Israelis and Palestinians are destined to live together in this land, so peace must be achieved. She understands the plight of the Palestinian people, as well as the China people's desire for security and peace. She was full of confidence in peace and said, "My daughter will be a generation living in peace."

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been going on for several weeks, and Barak will fly to Washington next week to discuss the complicated situation in the Middle East with Clinton. Today, the voices praising Rabin and calling for peace have touched the hearts of every peace-loving Israeli. Many people expressed the hope that when they meet them again in Rabin Square next year, they can comfort Rabin's soul with the arrival of peace.