UN denounces Israel cluster bombs (BBC)

[spindrifter]

Wednesday, 30 August 2006

The UN's humanitarian chief has accused Israel of "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.
UN clearance experts had so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.

Israel has repeated its previous insistence that munitions it uses in conflict comply with international law

<snip>

"What's shocking and completely immoral is: 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," (Mr. Egeland) said.

<snip>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5299938.stm

[tocqueville]

1. more here

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. humanitarian chief on Wednesday accused Israel of "shocking" and "completely immoral" behavior for dropping large numbers of cluster bombs on Lebanon when a cease-fire in its war with Hezbollah was in sight.

Jan Egeland said Israel had either made a "terribly wrong decision" or had "started thinking afterwards." The remarks were unusually harsh even for Egeland, who often ignores an unwritten rule that U.N. officials should not criticize member states too severely.

"What's shocking and I would say, to me, completely immoral is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Jan Egeland said at a news conference.

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An unusual number of cluster bombs used in the war did not detonate on impact, possibly because they were old, Egeland said. Usually 10 percent to 15 percent of the bomblets fail to explode immediately. According to some estimates, up to 70 percent of the Israeli bomblets failed to explode on impact.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060830/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_un_cluster_bombs

[IntiRaymi]

2. Self defense this is not. n.t.

[newyorican]

3. I still recall...

the faux outrage over hezbollah rockets with ball-bearings...

[spindrifter]

4. Ball-bearings don't give the gift of "keep on killing" and

maiming.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Englander]

6. 100,000?

How long would it take to remove all of them? And to deliberately use these cluster bombs as part of
a military tactic when it was known that a ceasefire was not far off really is reprehensible.

Oh, the karma that's awaiting Olmert/Peretz/Halutz is going to be something shocking, this act alone
signifies they are not in possession of a conscience.

[Englander]

7. From the Indy;

Pressure for ban on cluster bombs as Israel is accused of targeting civilians

By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
Published: 31 August 2006

Pressure for an international ban on cluster bombs has intensified as Israel stands accused of littering southern Lebanon with thousands of unexploded bombs in the final hours of its war against Hizbollah.

Campaigners yesterday accused the Israel Defence Force of leaving a "minefield" of deadly bomblets in villages and fields after firing hundreds of cluster shells, rockets and bombs across its northern border in the three days before hostilities ended earlier this month.

United Nations officials said that 12 people had been killed, and another 49 injured by such bombs since the war ended and that the casualty rate was likely to rise.

The Israeli government insists that it did not target civilians during the conflict and says all weaponry used was in accordance with international law.

>snip

Simon Conway, director of the British charity Landmine Action, condemned Israel's "cynical" use of the weapons. He said: "The premeditated targeting of residential areas with high failure-rate cluster munitions in the final days of the conflict means that the rubble-filled villages of southern Lebanon have been deliberately turned into minefields that will indiscriminately kill civilians for years to come."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1222829.ece

[bemildred]

8. German Min Defends Criticism Of Israel's War Tactics

BERLIN (AP)--Germany's development minister defended her questioning of Israel's military tactics in Lebanon, rejecting criticism of her remarks by the country's main Jewish leader, according to an interview published Thursday.

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The head of Germany Central Council of Jews, who has staunchly backed Israel, complained earlier this week of "an absolute anti-mood against Jews and the state of Israel" in the country.

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"A commitment to Israel's right to exist and against anti-Semitism belongs to the political constants of my life," the minister was quoted as saying. "In any case, my call not to use cluster bombs is a call that is valid everywhere, because cluster bombs endanger civilians - above all children."

NASDAQ

[bemildred]

9. IDF defends use of cluster bombs in Lebanon

An IDF official on Thursday defended the IAF's air force's use of cluster bombs during the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon as completely legal, responding to criticism by a UN official who labeled the use of such ordnance immoral.

The UN humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, told a news conference in New York on Wednesday that a large proportion of the bombs had failed to explode on impact and were continuing to maim and kill civilians every day. He said he was particularly disturbed that Israel used them even as a cease-fire loomed.

Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said all war was regrettable but Israel had acted in accordance with international norms.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525980419&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Tom Joad]

10. There is absolutely no justification for this war crime. It was a war on

children. Hundreds of children dead. and now a country littered with cluster bombs. not to mention Israel still refuses to show maps of where land mines are laid in Lebanon, these mines were laid before the current aggression.