July 2006 War on Lebanon in depth

Posters of the war

2006-08-16T18:29:00.000Z

doves, hawks and owls

2006-08-13T08:13:00.000Z

Doves of Prey

B. Michael

Ynet News

One hundred dead Israelis - undoubtedly a horrendous figure – and a flock of local and noisy doves have turned into a flock of angry battle doves.

Almost overnight, the calls for peace and moderation have been abandoned, replaced by loud and angry preaching calling for the pounding, crippling and destruction of the enemy.

One hundred dead, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, dozens of shelled homes – and the doves have become falcons.

What about them?
It's interesting, because the Palestinians have been suffering similar measures of death and destruction almost every month. And they, as they have been told over and over again, should learn from all this death and suffering and turn into doves. They are being told to abandon their anger and hatred, and instead nurture love of mankind and pacifism.

And even though I am being used as a human shield, many leaders and sacred weapons are hiding behind me, and I am paying the taxes for the curse of the settlements and the evil of the occupation, I insist: my blood is no different from the blood of Lebanese citizens, and cannot be shed. And hopefully, all those who dare harm us, will find themselves paying the cost. Either before a local adjudicator or an international one, whatever comes first.

And the Lebanese? They too have had a fair share of death and destruction, several times greater than the suffering Israel has had to endure. And they too are being asked to reach the ultimate conclusion from the horror they have endured, namely that the time has come to turn into doves. They have even been told repeatedly that we shall not cease to strike at them, until they make an about-face, until they become doves, until they love us.

Strange. The Palestinian and Lebanese people are being asked to surmise that it is worthwhile becoming a dove after experiencing death and suffering. However, Israeli doves allow themselves to surmise the complete opposite from death and suffering: that they ought to become birds of prey.

Strange, but perhaps this conduct can be attributed to the difference in mentality, and may just be another sign of the dove's soft flesh and feeble spine.

The lesson of the death
Owls on the other hand, as well as all other intelligent creatures, learn from all the above (and from the lessons learned in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ireland, Spain, Algeria and Palestine etc.) that bombs and tanks are not necessarily the best teachers of politeness, courtesy and love of mankind. Death and suffering only brings more death and suffering. Relentless brutality only brings more relentless brutality.

Aggressive recklessness only brings more aggressive recklessness. That's how it is here, that's how it is there and that's how it is everywhere.

Israel's belligerent doves should pause to ponder one small question: if they – the famous peace lovers – have become doves of prey after the death of 100 Israelis, then what do they suppose is going through the minds of those doves and hawks alike who have suffered 1,000 deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, and scores of villages almost wiped off the face of the earth.

But how dare I compare? We are the chosen people, and they are just Arabs.

Food for thought
Who are those people fighting us in Lebanon? Who are those determined youngsters, the fanatics impassioned by their faith and hatred?

They are eighteen-year-olds, twenty-year-olds, and twenty-five-year-olds or perhaps even thirty-year-olds. They were born in the last century, towards the end of the 70's and the end of the 80's. They are the sons of the previous war. They are the offspring of occupied Lebanon in 1982, children of the trampled south during the first war in Lebanon, frightened children of humiliated parents who grew into bitter men, full of burning hatred.

We also tried knocking some sense into their parents by bombing them. Their families were also driven out of their homes, hoping they would wander to the capital and pressure the government to disarm the militia of the time (Palestinian). Their villages were also pounded, flattened and cleansed.

The generation that grew out of that era is the same generation fighting us now. And twenty years from now - if we allow the Olmerts, the Peretzes, the Halutzes and the Ramons to continue ruling us – we shall find ourselves fighting the generation that is growing up now.

A somewhat hollow argument

We say they "hide among civilians," that they "use them as human shields, those lowly cowards." We say, "Those who allow them to do so should pay the price."

This is a somewhat hollow argument coming from the mouths of officers and leaders whose headquarters are located in the heart of Tel Aviv. And not far from there in the midst of a prestigious neighborhood, there's a type of military airport. And in a handsome building in the capital, in the heart of the city, there's a large military base, where cannons are reportedly, often positioned so close to the settlements that schoolchildren wander over there during their breaks.

But these arguments sound all the more hollow coming from a country that invented the "settlement undertaking." An undertaking whose sole purpose was to send civilians, including women and children, to perform a military assignment par excellence: gaining control over territory, the expulsion of the residents and annexation of the spoils to the mother country. A classical assignment by a conquering power.

This is all being carried out under a contrite and sanctimonious civilian pretext. I would, therefore, like to make myself heard loud and clear: No one asked for my permission before building the Kiriya (Tel Aviv military headquarters), I didn't give my consent for building the Schneller Camp, and as far as I am concerned, let all the settlements be abandoned as of now.

Israel asks U.S. to ship rockets with wide blast

2006-08-11T14:11:00.000Z

By DAVID S. CLOUD, The New York Times, August 11, 2006

Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday.
The request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms, a senior official said.
But some State Department officials have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties, and the diplomatic repercussions. The rockets, while they would be very effective against hidden missile launchers, officials say, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.
Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah’s Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery, the officials said. The Katyusha rockets have killed dozens of civilians in Israel.
The United States had approved the sale of M-26’s to Israel some time ago, but the weapons had not yet been delivered when the crisis in Lebanon erupted. If the shipment is approved, Israel may be told that it must be especially careful about firing the rockets into populated areas, the senior official said.
Israel has long told American officials that it wanted M-26 rockets for use against conventional armies in case Israel was invaded, one of the American officials said. But after being pressed in recent days on what they intended to use the weapons for, Israeli officials disclosed that they planned to use them against rocket sites in Lebanon. It was this prospect that raised the intense concerns over civilian casualties.
During much of the 1980’s, the United States maintained a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and since then, the United States has sold Israel some types of cluster munitions, the senior official said.
Officials would discuss the issue only on the condition of anonymity, as the debate over what to do is not resolved and is freighted with implications for the difficult diplomacy that is under way.
State Department officials “are discussing whether or not there needs to be a block on this sale because of the past history and because of the current circumstances,” said the senior official, adding that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to be “be careful.”
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment on Israel’s request. He said, though, that “as a rule, we obviously don’t fire into populated areas, with the exception of the use of precision-guided munitions against terrorist targets.” In such cases, Israel has dropped leaflets warning of impending attacks to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
In the case of cluster munitions, including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, which fires the M-26, the Israeli military only fires into open terrain where rocket launchers or other military targets are found, to avoid killing civilians, an Israeli official said.
The debate over whether to ship Israel the missiles, which include the cluster munitions and use launchers that Israel has already received, comes as the Bush administration has been trying to win support for a draft United Nations resolution that calls for immediate cessation of “all attacks” by Hezbollah and of “offensive military operations” by Israel.
Arab governments, under pressure to halt the rising number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, have criticized the measure for not calling for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
While Bush administration officials have criticized Israeli strikes that have caused civilian casualties, they have also backed the offensive against Hezbollah by rushing arms shipments to the region. Last month the administration approved a shipment of precision-guided munitions, which one senior official said this week included at least 25 of the 5,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs.
Israel has recently asked for another shipment of precision-guided munitions, which is likely to be approved, the senior official said.
Last month, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said its researchers had uncovered evidence that Israel had fired cluster munitions on July 19 at the Lebanese village of Bilda, which the group said had killed one civilian and wounded at least 12 others, including 7 children. The group said it had interviewed survivors of the attack, who described incoming artillery shells dispensing hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village.
Human Rights Watch also released photographs, taken recently by its researchers in northern Israel, of what it said were American-supplied artillery shells that had markings showing they carried cluster munitions.
Mr. Siegel, the Israeli Embassy spokesman, denied that cluster munitions had been used on the village.
The United States Army also employs the M-26 rocket and the Multiple Launch Rocket System in combat, and the Pentagon has sold the weapon to numerous other allies, in addition to Israel. The system is especially effective at attacking enemy artillery sites, military experts say, because the rockets can be quickly targeted against a defined geographic area. Each rocket contains 644 submunitions that kill enemy soldiers operating artillery in the area.
But Human Rights Watch and other groups have campaigned for the elimination of cluster munitions, noting that even if civilians are not present when the weapons is used, some submunitions that do not detonate on impact can later injure or kill civilians.
The M-26 “is a particularly deadly weapon,” Bonnie Docherty, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, who helped write a study of the United States’ use of the weapons in the 2003 Iraq invasion. “They were used widely by U.S. forces in Iraq and caused hundreds of civilian casualties.”
After the Reagan administration determined in 1982 that the cluster munitions had been used by Israel against civilian areas, the delivery of the artillery shells containing the munitions to Israel was suspended.
Israel was found to have violated a 1976 agreement with the United States in which it had agreed only to use cluster munitions against Arab armies and against clearly defined military targets. The moratorium on selling Israel cluster weapons was later lifted by the Reagan administration.
This week, State Department officials were studying records of what happened in 1982 as part of their internal deliberations into whether to grant approval for the sale to go forward.

15,000 Tons of Fuel lay siege on the Lebanese coast

2006-08-05T09:01:00.000Z

Asharq Al Awsat (pan-Arab newspaper), August 4
translated by MideastWire

"Israel committed a new massacre in Lebanon to add to its impressive record in this area. The victim this time is the marine environment. Although it is not possible to determine the actual magnitude of the disaster because of the blockade, it is sufficient to look at the preliminary map prepared by a group of activists from Lebanese environmental associations after a tour of the Lebanese coast to show the environmental scar. It appears that the disaster that has already been touched upon by Asharq Al-Awsat is much larger than expected. The initial result of damage after a survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment shows that the contamination extends to 140 kilometers along the coast and no less than 15 meters width on land. The amounts deposited in the deep sea cannot be estimated at present due to the security situation, as reflected in the statement of the ministry.

"Wael Hmeidan responsible for a group of activists and member of environmental Lebanese association 'Green Line' said to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'if crying cures, I would have directed a global call for the Mediterranean and if not for the daily massacres committed by Israel against Lebanese civilians and the continued shelling, the maritime disaster would have been a worldwide issue'.

"He continued that 'the Israeli battleships hit the Jiyeh thermal power station (on the southern coast) which is still burning since three weeks ago and leaking about 70 thousand cubic meters of oil to the Lebanese territorial waters, thereby causing the greatest environmental damage in the history of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean sea. The wind is also carrying the smoke as far north as Beirut and elsewhere which may cause cancer and pulmonary diseases.What makes the disaster worse is the inability to cope with the problem and the rush to its treatment because of the Israeli naval blockade which is preventing the specialized groups to go to the sea to locate the damage and size. Every minute of delay is leading to the leakage of oil into the deep sea and sand, therefore widening the circle of the contaminated spots'.

"Hmeidan confirmed the presence of 15 thousand tons of oil in the water. It is catastrophes double the size of the disaster that took place in the year 1989 in the State of Alaska, when the American carriers Exxon Valdez had an accident which caused spilling of about 35 tons of oil to water. This is because the company responsible grappled with the problem swiftly and surrounded the plots of oil and vacuumed them out. . In Lebanon, we still are not able to move and the damage caused exceeds the description. It is spreading north towards Syria and then Greece, Cyprus and south Turkey because of the wind from the south. If the problem remains untreated until the course of the winter, the wind coming from the north will cause the pollution to be transported towards Israel'.

"Hmeidan expressed his shock for the Israeli assaults on the Jiyeh factory. He said 'what is the reason for hitting the factory and polluting the sea when the damage will go to Israel too? If they wanted to cut off electricity to Hezbollah, this is in the interest of the party who prefers darkness to move about'. He revealed that environmental associations are preparing a lawsuit against Israel to charge it with the consequences of this disaster. The cost of its treatment is about $250 million American dollars which includes the damage to tourism and fishing. This cost is expected to rise if we do not start treatment….

"Hmeidan spoke about the impact of the disaster on the wealth of marine fauna and flora 'which will continue for six years if treatment is started now'. He said that 'The oil has reached the sand because of the waves on the beach that are causing pollution. This is supposed to be collected and thrown in particular burial pits that are not available in Lebanon. The oil that has reached the rocks too which requires the addition of chemicals to clear it and when the liquid reaches water, it will need to be cleaned out again with specialized machines. It will first spread on the water surface then will begin to leak to the bottom which will prevent in the first phase the access of oxygen to marine animals that will die. Then in a second phase, the fish's eggs that are at the bottom will die'.

Hmeidan added that 'this is the sea turtles breeding season, they lay their eggs on the beach and leave it to sink to the bottoms. But small turtle will not be able to move to the bottom because of the oil barrier on the surface of water. If they manage to cross the barrier, the oil will stick on them and water cannot remove it. Hmeidan warned of leaving the situation as it is without addressing the fact that nature alone is unable to remove the damage and re-balance its system. He noted that the cleaning operations will also lead to contamination because it imposes the use of drugs or chemical burns to remove frozen oil on the rocks. He noted that Jordan, Kuwait, France and the European Union promised assistance, hoping to benefit from the experience of Kuwait as they have suffered similar problems in the second Gulf War'

Sample letters to your MP

2006-08-02T10:23:00.000Z

All local MPs can be contacted online here
The following are samples of letters you can send them

Example 1

Dear [local MP],

I am deeply alarmed that the situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate rapidly.

I am very concerned that the British government is delaying and blocking an immediate ceasefire. By failing to back a call for an immediate ceasefire the British government has reduced the impact of international calls for an immediate halt to the violence. The current policy of the British government is indirectly leading for losses in civilian lives that has reached 750 to date and not the least the 56 women and children killed on 31.07.06 in a Qana shelter.

I ask that you take every opportunity available within the international community to push for an immediate ceasefire as a first step to end the suffering, which worsens each day.

Regards
[your name]

Example 2

Dear [local MP],

The bombing of innocent civilians in Lebanon and the ruin of the
country's infrastructure is appalling and must stop immediately. The fact
that Britain is implicated in these war crimes is a cause of shame for all
who live here, and may increase the chances of terrorist attacks in the UK. I
urge you to use your influence to help bring an end to Britain's
involvement in these atrocities. This means calling for the Prime Minister
to campaign unambiguously for a ceasefire, to stop the refuelling of
Israeli military planes on British soil, and to organise safe passage for
the immediate aid (medicines, food etc) for the men, women and children of
Lebanon who have been caught in the cross-fire of this ugly conflict. It
should go without saying that the civilian casualties on the Israeli side
are to be deplored too. A cease-fire will help the innocent people on both
sides of the border.

Given the importance of this issue and the popular mood against the lack of
leadership from Labour, you should consider the fact that how members of
other parties deal with this situation may have a bearing on their chances
of election to all levels of government. The memory of events in
Lebanon will stay long in the minds of the electorate, regardless of their
cultural background.

Regards
[your name]

How can we stand by and allow this to go on?

2006-07-31T08:05:00.000Z

Robert Fisk, The independent
Published: 31 July 2006

They wrote the names of the dead children on their plastic shrouds. " Mehdi Hashem, aged seven Qana," was written in felt pen on the bag in which the little boy's body lay. "Hussein al-Mohamed, aged 12 Qana", "Abbas al-Shalhoub, aged one Qana.'' And when the Lebanese soldier went to pick up Abbas's little body, it bounced on his shoulder as the boy might have done on his father's shoulder on Saturday. In all, there were 56 corpses brought to the Tyre government hospital and other surgeries, and 34 of them were children. When they ran out of plastic bags, they wrapped the small corpses in carpets. Their hair was matted with dust, most had blood running from their noses.

You must have a heart of stone not to feel the outrage that those of us watching this experienced yesterday. This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the " pinpoint accuracy'' it claims, this was also a war crime. Israel claimed that missiles had been fired by Hizbollah gunmen from the south Lebanese town of Qana as if that justified this massacre. Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked about "Muslim terror" threatening " western civilisation" as if the Hizbollah had killed all these poor people.

And in Qana, of all places. For only 10 years ago, this was the scene of another Israeli massacre, the slaughter of 106 Lebanese refugees by an Israeli artillery battery as they sheltered in a UN base in the town. More than half of those 106 were children. Israel later said it had no live-time pilotless photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the scene of that killing a statement that turned out to be untrue when The Independent discovered videotape showing just such an aircraft over the burning camp. It is as if Qana whose inhabitants claim that this was the village in which Jesus turned water into wine has been damned by the world, doomed forever to receive tragedy.

And there was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States, and upon a fragment of it was written: "For use on MK-84 Guided Bomb BSU-37-B". No doubt the manufacturers can call it "combat-proven" because it destroyed the entire three-storey house in which the Shalhoub and Hashim families lived. They had taken refuge in the basement from an enormous Israeli bombardment, and that is where most of them died.

I found Nejwah Shalhoub lying in the government hospital in Tyre, her jaw and face bandaged like Robespierre's before his execution. She did not weep, nor did she scream, although the pain was written on her face. Her brother Taisir, who was 46, had been killed. So had her sister Najla. So had her little niece Zeinab, who was just six. "We were in the basement hiding when the bomb exploded at one o'clock in the morning,'' she said. "What in the name of God have we done to deserve this? So many of the dead are children, the old, women. Some of the children were still awake and playing. Why does the world do this to us?"

Yesterday's deaths brought to more than 500 the total civilian dead in Lebanon since Israel's air, sea and land bombardment of the country began on 12 July after Hizbollah members crossed the frontier wire, killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. But yesterday's slaughter ended more than a year of mutual antagonism within the Lebanese government as pro-American and pro-Syrian politicians denounced what they described as " an ugly crime".

Thousands of protesters attacked the largest United Nations building in Beirut, screaming: "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv," and Lebanon's Prime Minister, the normally unflappable Fouad Siniora, called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ordered her to cancel her imminent peace-making trip to Beirut.

No one in this country can forget how President George Bush, Ms Rice, and Tony Blair have repeatedly refused to call for an immediate ceasefire a truce that would have saved all those lives yesterday. Ms Rice would say only: "We want a ceasefire as soon as possible,'' a remark followed by an Israeli announcement that it intended to maintain its bombardment of Lebanon for at least another two weeks.

Throughout the day, Qana villagers and civil defence workers dug through the ruins of the building with spades and with their hands, tearing at the muck until they found one body after another still dressed in colourful clothes. In one section of the rubble, they found what was left of a single room with 18 bodies inside. Twelve of the dead were women. All across southern Lebanon now, you find scenes like this, not so grotesque in scale, perhaps, but just as terrible, for the people of these villages are terrified to leave and terrified to stay. The Israelis had dropped leaflets over Qana, ordering its people to leave their homes. Yet twice now since Israel's onslaught began, the Israelis have ordered villagers to leave their houses and then attacked them with aircraft as they obeyed the Israeli instructions and fled. There are at least 3,000 Shia Muslims trapped in villages between Qlaya and Aiteroun close to the scene of Israel's last military incursion at Bint Jbeil and yet none of them can leave without fear of dying on the roads.

And Mr Olmert's reaction? After expressing his "great sorrow", he announced that: "We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents [sic] this morning. We will continue the activity, and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation." But how much further can it be broadened? Lebanon's infrastructure is being steadily torn to pieces, its villages razed, its people more and more terrorised and terror is the word they used by Israel's American-made fighter bombers. Hizbollah's missiles are Iranian-made, and it was Hizbollah that started this war with its illegal and provocative raid across the border. But Israel's savagery against the civilian population has deeply shocked not only the Western diplomats who have remained in Beirut, but hundreds of humanitarian workers from the Red Cross and major aid agencies.

Incredibly, Israel yesterday denied safe passage to a UN World Food Programme aid convoy en route to the south, a six-truck mission that should have taken relief supplies to the south-eastern town of Marjayoun. More than three quarters of a million Lebanese have now fled their homes, but there is still no accurate figure for the total number still trapped in the south. Khalil Shalhoub, who survived amid the wreckage in Qana yesterday, said that his family and the Hashims were just too "terrified" to take the road out of the village, which has been attacked by aircraft for more than two weeks. The seven-mile highway between Qana and Tyre is littered with civilian homes in ruins and burnt-out family cars. On Thursday, the Israeli Army's Al-Mashriq radio, which broadcasts into southern Lebanon, told residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. But anyone who has watched Israel's bombing these past two weeks knows that, in many cases, the Israelis do not know the location in which the Hizbollah are firing missiles, and when they do they frequently miss their targets. How can a villager prevent the Hizbollah from firing rockets from his street? The Hizbollah do take cover beside civilian houses just as Israeli troops entering Bint Jbeil last week also used civilian homes for cover. But can this be the excuse for slaughter on such a scale?

Mr Siniora addressed foreign diplomats in Beirut yesterday, telling them that the government in Beirut was now only demanding an immediate ceasefire and was not interested any longer in a political package to go with it. Needless to say, Mr Jeffrey Feltman, whose country made the bomb which killed the innocents of Qana yesterday, chose not to attend.

Israel Responsible for Qana Attack

2006-07-31T07:47:00.000Z

Indiscriminate Bombing in Lebanon a War Crime

(Beirut, July 30, 2006) – Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians.

"Today's strike on Qana, killing at least 54 civilians, more than half of them children, suggests that the Israeli military is treating southern Lebanon as a free-fire zone," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "The Israeli military seems to consider anyone left in the area a combatant who is fair game for attack."

This latest, appalling loss of civilian life underscores the need for the U.N. Secretary-General to establish an International Commission of Inquiry to investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law in the context of the current conflict, Roth said. Such consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime.

A statement issued today by the IDF said that responsibility for the Qana attack "rests with the Hezbollah" because it has used the area to launch "hundreds of missiles" into Israel. It added: "Residents in this region and specifically the residents of Qana were warned several days in advance to leave the village."

On July 27, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that Israel had given civilians ample time to leave southern Lebanon, and that anyone remaining could be considered a supporter of Hezbollah. "All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," he said, according to the BBC.

"Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack," Roth said. "It still must make every possible effort to target only genuine combatants. Through its arguments, the Israeli military is suggesting that Palestinian militant groups might 'warn' all settlers to leave Israeli settlements and then be justified in targeting those who remained."

Even if the IDF claims of Hezbollah rocket fire from the Qana area are correct, Israel remains under a strict obligation to direct attacks at only military objectives, and to take all feasible precautions to avoid the incidental loss of civilian life. To date, Israel has not presented any evidence to show that Hezbollah was present in or around the building that was struck at the time of the attack.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain in villages south of the Litani River, despite IDF warnings to leave. Some have chosen to stay, but the vast majority is unable to flee due to destroyed roads, a lack of gasoline, high taxi fares, sick relatives, or ongoing Israeli attacks. The sick and poor are those who mostly remain behind.

The attack took place around 1:00 a.m. today, when Israeli warplanes fired missiles at the village of Qana. Among the homes struck was a three-story building in which 63 members of two extended families, the Shalhoub and Hashim families, had sought shelter. The civilians had taken refuge there because it was one of the larger buildings in the area and had a reinforced basement, according to the deputy mayor of the town, Dr. Issam Matuni.

According to the Lebanese civil defense and the Lebanese Red Cross, at least 54 civilians, including 27 children, were crushed to death when the building collapsed. Rescue teams were unable to reach the village until 9:00 a.m. because of ongoing heavy IDF bombardment in the area. None of the bodies recovered so far have been militants, and rescue workers say they have found no weapons in the building that was struck.

Qana was the site of a 1996 Israeli air strike on a U.N. compound sheltering fleeing civilians that killed more than 100 people. Human Rights Watch research established at the time that the 1996 strike was also an indiscriminate attack by the Israeli military.

Human Rights Watch researchers have been in Lebanon since the onset of the current hostilities and have documented dozens of cases in which Israeli forces have carried out indiscriminate attacks against civilians while in their homes or traveling on roads to flee the fighting. A report of these findings and their legal consequences will be issued later this week.

Human Rights Watch has also documented Hezbollah's deliberate and indiscriminate firing of Katyusha rockets into civilian areas in Israel, resulting in 18 civilian deaths to date. These serious violations of international humanitarian law are also war crimes.

"War crimes by one party to a conflict never justify war crimes by another," Roth said.

Where you can Donate

2006-07-30T17:36:00.000Z

The following major agencies have launched appeals to help those affected by the fighting. source: www.guardian.co.uk

Unicef Donations can also be made by calling 08457 312 312.
UN World Food Programme Listing of ways to donate.
British Red Cross Middle East crisis appeal
Oxfam Middle East crisis appeal
Save the Children Middle East appeal
Christian Aid Middle East crisis appeal
Care International Crisis appeal
CAFOD Middle East emergency appeal
World Vision Middle East appeal
Islamic Relief Emergency appeal

Some other independent groups:

Al Missaq Relief Effort
Banque Libano-Francaise, Mazraa-Verdun
account number: 064587783 (Rf: 300_3180845)

Mowatinun

The War of Double Standards

2006-07-27T19:04:00.000Z

There is a wall-to-wall consensus in Israel that the war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon is a just and moral war. Unfortunately this consensus is based on selective and short-term memory, on an introvert world view, and on double standards. This is not a just war, the use of force is excessive and indiscriminate, and its ultimate aim is extortion. This does not imply that Hezbollah has a moral case in this conflict; quite to the contrary. But the fact that Hezbollah “initiated” this conflict by attacking and abducting Israeli soldiers across an internationally recognized border does not even start to shift the balance of morality to Israel’s side.

Let us start with some facts. In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon and occupied its Capital Beirut. In the course of this invasion, Israel dropped thousands of tons of bombs on civilian population centers, killing and maiming thousands of innocent civilians. Conservative estimates put the number of Lebanese fatalities at around 14,000 (of which 5,000 civilian deaths were reported in Beirut). Most of these fatalities had nothing to do with the PLO, the alleged cause of this invasion. The occupation of parts of Lebanon lasted another eighteen years. During operations “Accountability” (in 1993) and “Grapes of Wrath” (in 1996) Israel’s mass bombardments of civilian targets caused mass evacuations of Southern Lebanon, the estimated number of refugees in each case exceeded 500,000 Lebanese. We do not have a good estimate of the number of civilian fatalities in each of these incidents, but during the “Grapes of Wrath” operation, Israeli shells hit a civilian shelter killing 103 civilians including many women and children. This was clearly a case of collateral damage, but this does not help provide the operation a moral foundation.

On July 28, 1988 Israeli Special Forces abducted Sheikh Obeid, and on May 21, 1994 Israel abducted Mustafa Dirani, who was responsible for capturing the Israeli pilot Ron Arad. Israel held these and other 20 Lebanese who were captured under undisclosed circumstances in prison for prolonged periods without trial. They were held as human “bargaining chips.” Apparently, abduction of Israelis for the purpose of prisoners’ exchange is morally reprehensible, and militarily punishable when it is the Hezbollah who does the abducting, but not if Israel is doing the very same thing.

The Hezbollah has violated an internationally recognized border in its attack on the Israeli patrol on June 12. That is indisputable. However, what is less known is that Israel has violated Lebanese airspace by carrying out aerial reconnaissance missions virtually every day since its withdrawal from Southern Lebanon six years ago. True, these aerial overflights did not cause any Lebanese casualties, but a border violation is a border violation. Here too, Israel does not hold a higher moral ground.

So much for moral history, now we can turn to an analysis of the present conflict. What exactly is the difference between Hezbollah’s launching Katyusha rockets at Israeli population centers and Israel’s attacks of civilian centers in Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, and many villages in Southern Lebanon? The Israeli argument that Hezbollah members are hiding inside civilian population suggests metaphorically that the victim of gang rape is guilty because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So far, over thirty Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah’s rockets, compared to nearly 400 Lebanese, virtually all of whom are civilians. More important, Israeli attacks on Lebanese infrastructure—beyond accomplishing the counterproductive objective of destroying the kind of Lebanon that is in Israel’s interest to preserve—victimize most of Lebanon’s population. The increased difficulty of hospitals and public services to operate are a direct result of Israel’s strategy.

The stated objective of Israeli attacks on infrastructural and population targets are aimed at getting the weak Lebanese government to implement U.N. resolution 1559 calling for disarmament of all militias in Lebanon. This is an exercise in extortion no less than the abduction of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. This strategy is an attempt to extract compliance from the Lebanese government through systematic attacks on its citizen, but there is no shred of morality in this action.

This war has an important aspect of propaganda, a competition in self-victimization. Each side works hard to convince the international community that it is more miserable than their opponent. As any propaganda struggle, both the Israeli and Lebanese use of information is selective, distorted, and self-righteous. If Israel wants to build its case on the notion that the international community would buy its spoiled goods, let it continue to delude itself. Israelis, however, owe it to themselves to face the inconvenient truth (to borrow a phrase from Al Gore). Israel may not win this conflict militarily due to the overwhelming asymmetry in military power; it may or may not accomplish some of its political objectives. Yet, Israel does not hold any moral superiority nor does it have any special status when it comes to the battlefield of moral claims. Tragically, the moral battle is doomed to end in an outcome where everyone embroiled in it emerges as a loser.

Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Relations Program at the University of California, Davis. His book, Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel’s Security and Foreign Policy was published in 2006 by the University of Michigan

Human Rights Watch: the use of Cluster Munitions by Israel

2006-07-27T18:23:00.000Z

Beirut, July 24, 2006

Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.
"Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "They should never be used in populated areas."
According to eyewitnesses and survivors of the attack interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster munitions at Blida around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village. They clearly described the submunitions as smaller projectiles that emerged from their larger shells.
The cluster attack killed 60-year-old Maryam Ibrahim inside her home. At least two submunitions from the attack entered the basement that the Ali family was using as a shelter, wounding 12 persons, including seven children. Ahmed Ali, a 45-year-old taxi driver and head of the family, lost both legs from injuries caused by the cluster munitions. Five of his children were wounded: Mira, 16; Fatima, 12; 'Ali, 10; Aya, 3; and `Ola, 1. His wife Akram Ibrahim, 35, and his mother-in-law `Ola Musa, 80, were also wounded. Four relatives, all German-Lebanese dual nationals sheltering with the family, were wounded as well: Mohammed Ibrahim, 45; his wife Fatima, 40; and their children 'Ali, 16, and Rula, 13.

The photographs show M483A1 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions, which are U.S.-produced and -supplied, artillery-delivered cluster munitions. The photographs contain the distinctive marks of such cluster munitions, including a diamond-shaped stamp, and a shape that is longer than ordinary artillery, according to a retired IDF commander who asked not to be identified.
The M483A1 artillery shells deliver 88 cluster submunitions per shell, and have an unacceptably high failure rate (dud rate) of 14 percent, leaving behind a serious unexploded ordnance problem that will further endanger civilians. The commander said that the IDF's operations manual warns soldiers that the use of such cluster munitions creates dangerous minefields due to the high dud rate.
Lebanese security forces, who to date have not engaged in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, also accused Israel of using cluster munitions in its attacks on Blida and other Lebanese border villages. These sources also indicated they have evidence that Israel used cluster munitions earlier this year during fighting with Hezbollah around the contested Shebaa farms area. Human Rights Watch is continuing to investigate these additional allegations.

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in international humanitarian law. The wide dispersal pattern of their submunitions makes it very difficult to avoid civilian casualties if civilians are in the area. Moreover, because of their high failure rate, cluster munitions leave large numbers of hazardous, explosive duds that injure and kill civilians even after the attack is over.

Human Rights Watch conducted detailed analyses of the U.S. military's use of cluster bombs in the 1999 Yugoslavia war ( http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nato2/ ), the 2001-2002 Afghanistan war ( http://hrw.org/reports/2002/us-afghanistan/ ), and the 2003 Iraq war ( http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/ ). Human Rights Watch research established that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas in Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the U.S.-led coalition's conduct of major military operations in March and April 2003, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians. Roughly a quarter of the 500 civilian deaths caused by NATO bombing in the 1999 Yugoslavia war were also due to cluster munitions.
"Our research in Iraq and Kosovo shows that cluster munitions cannot be used in populated areas without huge loss of civilian life," Roth said. "Israel must stop using cluster bombs in Lebanon at once."

Human Rights Watch called upon the Israel Defense Forces to immediately cease the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions in Lebanon.

Background:

Israel used cluster munitions in Lebanon in 1978 and in the 1980s. At that time, the United States placed restrictions on their use and then a moratorium on the transfer of cluster munitions to Israel out of concern for civilian casualties. Those weapons used more than two decades ago continue to affect Lebanon.
Israel has in its arsenal cluster munitions delivered by aircraft, artillery and rockets. Israel is a major producer and exporter of cluster munitions, primarily artillery projectiles and rockets containing M85 DPICM (Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition) submunitions. Israeli Military Industries, an Israeli government-owned weapons manufacturer, has reportedly produced more than 60 million M85 DPICM submunitions. Israel also produces at least six different types of air-dropped cluster bombs, and has imported from the United States M26 rockets for its Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
There is growing international momentum to stop the use of cluster munitions. Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions in February 2006, and Norway announced a moratorium on the weapon in June 2006. Cluster munitions are increasingly the focus of discussion at the meetings of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, with ever more states calling for a new international instrument dealing with cluster munitions.
Human Rights Watch is a founding member, and a steering committee member, of the Cluster Munition Coalition: www.stopclustermunitions.org .

For additional background on cluster munitions, please see the following Human Rights Watch reports:
"Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq," http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/
"Fatally Flawed: Cluster Bombs and Their Use by the United States in Afghanistan," http://hrw.org/reports/2002/us-afghanistan/
"Ticking Time Bombs: NATO's Use of Cluster Munitions in Yugoslavia," http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nato2/
More documents on cluster munitions at: http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=arms_clusterbombs
For Human Rights Watch's ongoing coverage of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel_lebanon/

This is not Dunkirk. This is Munich

2006-07-27T18:16:00.000Z

The Independent - July 21
Robert Fisk - Beirut

How brave our warships looked at dawn. Spread over the pale blue Mediterranean, bristling with cannons and machine guns and missiles, it was an armada led by the destroyer HMS Gloucester and the USS Nashville andYork and the sleek French anti-submarine frigate Jean-de- Vienne. They represented Us, those ships upon which the Lebanese stared with such intensity yesterday. They represented our Western power, the military strength of our billion-dollar economies. Who would dare challenge this naval might?

It was, our journalists told us, to be the greatest evacuation since Dunkirk. There it was again, the Second World War. And it was another cruel lie which the Lebanese spotted at once. For these mighty craft had not arrived to save Lebanon, to protect a nation now being destroyed by America's ally, Israel, Lebanon whose newly flourishing democracy was hailed by our leaders last year as a rose amid the dictatorships of the Arab world. No, they were creeping through the dawn after asking Israel's permission to help their citizens to flee. These great warships had been sent here by Western leaders (Jacques Chirac excepted) too craven, too gutless, too immoral, to utter a single word of compassion for Lebanon's suffering.

Even Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara could only condemn Hizbollah for attacking the Israelis last week - yes, of course, Lord Blair, they did indeed "start this", as our Foreign Secretary never ceases to say - without mentioning Israel's savage killing of more than 300 Lebanese civilians. No, those ships I watched steaming into Beirut port yesterday did not represent Dunkirk. They represented Munich.

Even the newspaper and television stories managed to avoid the reality. As our Jolly Tars helped the elderly on board and US Marines landed very briefly - or "stormed the beach", to quote the Associated Press's imperishable report - to protect their ship, television crews hunted through the crowds of refugees for suitable pictures. Their problem, of course, was that almost the entire evacuation is of Lebanese who happen to hold dual citizenship. Cameras moved inexorably towards the very few blue-eyed men and blonde ladies of the "kith and kin" variety, anyone in fact who didn't look remotely like most of the rest of the refugees. It was pathetic. Even while we are betraying the Lebanese, we tried not to film the lucky few who could escape on our ships.

Of course, there are various kinds of escape, and one of the most adept of political Houdinis is His Excellency Mr Jeffrey Feldman, the US ambassador to Lebanon. In the past few hours, he had to listen - in person - as the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, desperately appealed for a ceasefire to end the destruction of Lebanon by the Israeli air force. "Is the value of human life in Lebanon less than that of the citizens of other countries?" Mr Siniora asked. "Can the international community stand by while such callous retribution by Israel is inflicted on us?" Answer: yes.

Now all this presented Mr Feldman with a little problem. This was the same Mr Feldman, remember, who was heaping laurels on Mr Siniora and his democratically elected government last year for its "cedar revolution", for throwing the Syrian army out. But if he were to praise Mr Siniora's speech condemning Israel, Mr Feldman would, no doubt, be summoned back to the State Department in Washington and dispatched to the US embassy in Ulan Bator. So what was he to say when asked for a comment on Mr Siniora's speech? It was, Mr Feldman said, "articulate and touching". Articulate - as in "he-knows-how-to-string-the-words-together" - and touching, as in "sad".

Now to the Department of Home Truths. Mr Siniora did not mention the Hizbollah. He did not say he had been powerless to stop its reckless attack on Israel last week. He didn't want to criticise this powerful guerrilla army in his midst which had proved that Syria still controls events in this beautiful, damaged country. And he did not dare criticise Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, whom Israel tried to assassinate a few hours later by dropping a massive bomb on what it called a "bunker" in Beirut's southern suburbs, an explosion which physically shook the entire city. Untrue, cried the Hizbollah. It was the building site for a new mosque.

Ho hum. One has to say that it was indeed a building site that was hit and a few of the unfinished walls appeared to be of Islamic design. But on closer inspection, it did also have a very big basement. A very big basement indeed. "Well," as one colleague put it to me, "I suppose even mosques have basements, but..."

Quite so. For no one takes anything at face value these days. And that applied to President Bush's promise to ask Israel to stop destroying any more of Lebanon's infrastructure. It was an eloquent gesture. And no doubt touching. But there isn't much of Lebanon's infrastructure left to destroy.