Communique regarding the Conflict in the Middle-East released

Conflict in the Middle-East: a concern of Mayors for Peace

The association Mayors for Peace wishes to express its profoundest concern regarding the situation currently prevailing in the Middle-East, where cities and civilians are deeply affected by the hostilities.

Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace, calls for an immediate ceasefire and an urgent dialogue so that affected populations may live in peace, harmony, and justice.

On behalf of the Executive Cities of Mayors for Peace, Dr. Akiba declared:

“Cities Are Not Targets!” The bombardment of cities and towns in Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine with artillery, rockets, and bombs is unconscionable. The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens are being destroyed. Hundreds have been killed, thousands wounded, many just children. With excessive and indiscriminate firepower, military action has lost all sense of proportion. Continued armed conflict cannot be condoned. There must be an immediate ceasefire.

“Everyone wants and deserves to live in dignity and security. The overriding imperative is to promote a dialogue among all people in the region. Retaliation must be foresworn; reconciliation must be the touchstone. Peace is possible even now.”

‘Cities Are Not Targets’ refers to a project recently launched by Mayors for Peace to end the targeting of cities by nuclear-armed states. Mayors for Peace opposes excessive and indiscriminate conventional attacks on cities not only because they are immoral in and of themselves, but also because they weaken the taboo against the destruction of cities with nuclear weapons that has prevailed since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Encouraged by a proposal from the Mayor of Montreal, Mr. Gerald Tremblay, the President of Mayors for Peace, with the unanimous consent of the Executive Cities, is urgently calling for peace in the Middle East. The Mayors for Peace Executive Committee comprises Hiroshima (Japan), Nagasaki (Japan), Hannover (Germany), Malakoff (France), Manchester (U.K.), Muntinlupa (Philippines), Volgograd (Russia), Akron (U.S.A.), Christchurch (New Zealand), Florence (Italy), and Laakdal (Belgium).

Mayors for Peace was founded in 1982 and now has a membership of 1,403 cities in 119 countries and regions throughout the world. The Executive Committee, on behalf of all our member cities, hereby demands an immediate end to the violence and a good-faith effort to resolve the conflicts to the satisfaction of all parties.