Israeli bomb kills UN observers
Byrnzie
Posts: 21,037
Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 05:10 GMT 06:10 UK
Israeli bomb kills UN observers
Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday.
Four United Nations observers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in south Lebanon.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post. Israel has expressed "deep regret".
Israel earlier said it would control an area in southern Lebanon until international forces deployed.
The force will be discussed at international crisis talks to be held in Rome on Wednesday.
The meeting is being attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr Annan, as well as foreign ministers and top officials from five European and four Arab countries.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the Italian prime minister and others believe a quick ceasefire to be the main priority.
But the US and Britain will not push for a ceasefire unless root causes of the conflict are addressed, she adds.
The summit will take place without a delegation from Israel.
Observers sheltering
Ms Rice will attend the talks after ending her tour of the Middle East on Tuesday.
More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict in Lebanon, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the post, in which four military observers were sheltering.
People in Tyre describe life under Israeli bombings
It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery.
A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble.
"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," Mr Annan said in a statement from Rome.
Unifil has been operational in the border area since 1978 and is currently 2,000 strong.
Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed the group will continue its rocket attacks on Israel.
Mr Nasrallah told Hezbollah's al-Manar television that the militant group would fire rockets deeper into Israel and would counter any Israeli advance into southern Lebanon, and criticised what he called an Israeli-US plan for a "new Middle East".
"There is no way that we can accept any humiliating conditions on us, our people or our country... especially after all these sacrifices... we are open to political discussions and solutions with flexibility, but the dignity and national interest is a red line."
In other military action:
The Israeli army said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Abu Jaafar, in fighting in southern Lebanon
Earlier the UN said Israeli forces were now in control of the town of Bint Jbeil after fierce fighting and were moving on the village of Yaroun to the south
Israel resumed air raids on Beirut, with explosions heard in southern suburbs - a Hezbollah stronghold
Hezbollah fired more Katyusha rockets into Israel, killing a 15-year-old Arab-Israeli girl in the northern Israeli village of Maghar and striking Haifa with a large salvo
Hezbollah said 27 of its fighters had been killed as of Monday, but the Israeli military said it had killed "some dozens".
Truce call
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had said a "security zone" in southern Lebanon would be maintained "under the control of our forces if there is not a multinational force".
Hezbollah has maintained its rocket fire into Haifa
He said: "We have no other option. We have to build a new security strip that will be a cover for our forces."
He did not specify whether Israeli troops would remain there but insisted they would "continue to control [Hezbollah]" in their operations.
Israeli government sources have estimated the width of the zone at anything from three to 10km (1.9-6.2 miles).
An unnamed Israeli official quoted by Reuters news agency said between 10,000 and 20,000 international peacekeepers would be needed.
BBC defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says Israeli details on the zone - and how it will be secured - are far from clear.
He says it is possible Mr Peretz is trying to put pressure on the international community to deliver the peacekeeping force.
Earlier, Ms Rice met Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and later Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Abbas called for an immediate end to "aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank" and for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon.
Ms Rice said the only solution was a sustainable and enduring peace.
Her words were reinforced later by US President George W Bush who said: "I support a sustainable ceasefire that will bring about an end to violence... Our mission and our goal is to have a lasting peace, not a temporary peace."
In his meeting with Ms Rice, Mr Olmert said he was "very conscious" of the humanitarian needs of Lebanon's civilians, but insisted Israel was defending itself against terrorism.
Israeli bomb kills UN observers
Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday.
Four United Nations observers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in south Lebanon.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post. Israel has expressed "deep regret".
Israel earlier said it would control an area in southern Lebanon until international forces deployed.
The force will be discussed at international crisis talks to be held in Rome on Wednesday.
The meeting is being attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr Annan, as well as foreign ministers and top officials from five European and four Arab countries.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the Italian prime minister and others believe a quick ceasefire to be the main priority.
But the US and Britain will not push for a ceasefire unless root causes of the conflict are addressed, she adds.
The summit will take place without a delegation from Israel.
Observers sheltering
Ms Rice will attend the talks after ending her tour of the Middle East on Tuesday.
More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict in Lebanon, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the post, in which four military observers were sheltering.
People in Tyre describe life under Israeli bombings
It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery.
A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble.
"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," Mr Annan said in a statement from Rome.
Unifil has been operational in the border area since 1978 and is currently 2,000 strong.
Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed the group will continue its rocket attacks on Israel.
Mr Nasrallah told Hezbollah's al-Manar television that the militant group would fire rockets deeper into Israel and would counter any Israeli advance into southern Lebanon, and criticised what he called an Israeli-US plan for a "new Middle East".
"There is no way that we can accept any humiliating conditions on us, our people or our country... especially after all these sacrifices... we are open to political discussions and solutions with flexibility, but the dignity and national interest is a red line."
In other military action:
The Israeli army said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Abu Jaafar, in fighting in southern Lebanon
Earlier the UN said Israeli forces were now in control of the town of Bint Jbeil after fierce fighting and were moving on the village of Yaroun to the south
Israel resumed air raids on Beirut, with explosions heard in southern suburbs - a Hezbollah stronghold
Hezbollah fired more Katyusha rockets into Israel, killing a 15-year-old Arab-Israeli girl in the northern Israeli village of Maghar and striking Haifa with a large salvo
Hezbollah said 27 of its fighters had been killed as of Monday, but the Israeli military said it had killed "some dozens".
Truce call
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had said a "security zone" in southern Lebanon would be maintained "under the control of our forces if there is not a multinational force".
Hezbollah has maintained its rocket fire into Haifa
He said: "We have no other option. We have to build a new security strip that will be a cover for our forces."
He did not specify whether Israeli troops would remain there but insisted they would "continue to control [Hezbollah]" in their operations.
Israeli government sources have estimated the width of the zone at anything from three to 10km (1.9-6.2 miles).
An unnamed Israeli official quoted by Reuters news agency said between 10,000 and 20,000 international peacekeepers would be needed.
BBC defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says Israeli details on the zone - and how it will be secured - are far from clear.
He says it is possible Mr Peretz is trying to put pressure on the international community to deliver the peacekeeping force.
Earlier, Ms Rice met Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and later Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Abbas called for an immediate end to "aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank" and for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon.
Ms Rice said the only solution was a sustainable and enduring peace.
Her words were reinforced later by US President George W Bush who said: "I support a sustainable ceasefire that will bring about an end to violence... Our mission and our goal is to have a lasting peace, not a temporary peace."
In his meeting with Ms Rice, Mr Olmert said he was "very conscious" of the humanitarian needs of Lebanon's civilians, but insisted Israel was defending itself against terrorism.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
If the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan himself is saying Israel hit upon his people was a *deliberate* targeting, then what chance do we have here? don't you think these kind of automatic demagogic response, especially from such an important man will bring more hate? How come he even allowing himself to say such a harsh thing without having a proper investigation? What are we getting out of hurting UN stuff on purpose?
alarm, gotta go.
www.amnesty.org.uk
It just signals the growing frustration...
It is sickening how much the western leaders and the media focus on human rights and get disgusted and upset over the death of innocent civilians in the Middle East because of financial interests but turn a blind eye when millions die in Africa.
Its not about hizbollah now, its about how those little self-expressions can turn into something really bad. Do you honestly believe there weren't gonna be lots of people who'll ignore the "apparently" thing? Don't you think people will use this for more demagogic motives?
This is an important man who needs to have a responsibility for the way he puts things out, not just a simple person.
~false alarm~
It was deliberate. Can't exactly miss those big blue observance posts.
Even you, Shiraz, cannot condone a man, the elader of the UN, condemning this for what it is. Reckless, indiscriminate, and lacking in all respect for human life of any kind. The Israeli way, it seems.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
I also believe that i don't expect him to be wise: he's not. As much as both the israeli and the hizbullah are not.
However, I think that there will be as much people ignoring the "apparently" as people that will be angry because he dared saying something. Anyway, it's a killing of people, and must be condemned, whoever made it.
www.amnesty.org.uk
And we did, If an apology and a promise for investigating this incident still mean something to someone.
Israel's gotta stop doing it. You can't just apologies to someone for killing them. It doesn't work that way.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5215692.stm
Sickening, just sickening how low that morally bankrupt Israeli Government will stoop in its oppression.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
So if Nasrullah apologises for killing Israeli civilians, this will all go away, yeah?
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
www.amnesty.org.uk
But of course! It's the way he said that and the words he used that bothered me. Here is isreal we're condemning this (along with the killing of civilians) too.
did they nto think before the attacked lebanon? over 400 people have died, simply because 2 soldiers were abducted.
yes, its is not acceptable to abduct anyone. but at least hezbollah originally attacked military targets. israel replies by simply bombarding residential areas inside the Lebanon. If i was Lebanese i would be full of hate towards Israel right now - they are making more suicide bombers and rocket launchers and terrorists than they are killing. Im disgusted at Tony Blairs reaction to the crisis. How can he not do more to stop this? Britain is one of the reasons for all conflict in the middle east - we set up Israel really.
This might seem anti-Israeli... dont get me wrong ive got nothing against the Israeli people or Jews. Just their government. Its the arrogant USA of the middle-east.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Shiraz, will there ever come a day when you will admit that your government are wrong? Is there any crime committed by the IDF which you will condemn?
Israel 'targeting fleeing civilians'
By Sabra Lane for The World Today, Tuesday, July 25, 2006
In Lebanon's south there are allegations that cars carrying civilians who are trying to flee are being targeted by Israeli helicopters.
Journalist Nicholas Blanford, who writes for The Times, is in the southern port city of Tyre.
He says that Red Cross vehicles have also been targeted.
"The Israelis seem to have stepped up the offensive. Yesterday, the doctor at the local hospital in Tyre described to me yesterday was the day of the cars, and by that he meant that cars carrying refugees heading out of south Lebanon to north of the Litani River were being hit systematically mainly by Israeli helicopter gunships," Mr Blanford said.
"I saw one minibus that was carrying 19 people, who were fleeing from a village... and they were hit by an Israeli helicopter missile a few minutes before we arrived.
"Three people were killed and the remaining 19 wounded to varying degrees, some of them very seriously and others lightly hurt."
He says incidents like the one he described were happening all over south Lebanon and doctors in local hospitals had confirmed 41 people wounded and three killed.
"And they were basically women and children, most of these people, in cars heading north trying to get out of south Lebanon, heeding Israeli warnings to flee their villages but being caught up in Israeli air strikes," he said.
Mr Blanford says Red Cross volunteers transporting casualties have been braving what he calls a killing zone in the villages south and east of Tyre.
"Last night two ambulances were targeted, and one of the Red Cross workers, who I'd been in touch with throughout this crisis was wounded, fortunately not seriously."
Tyre
He also says the situation in Tyre is worsening with medical supplies running out because nothing is coming in from north of the Litani River into south Lebanon.
"The roads in south Lebanon have been rendered impassable because the Israelis have been bombing them, and when I was driving out yesterday into the hinterland, you could see that they'd been deliberately hitting the roads with big aerial bombs causing these massive craters, and obviously the tactic from the Israeli perspective is to prevent Hezbollah being resupplied, but at the same time it prevents civilians leaving," he said.
But even with all the bombing Mr Blanford says he does not believe the Israeli attack has had much of an effect on Hezbollah.
"As I say my perspective is pretty localised around Tyre, but it would seem that the Israelis are encountering greater resistance than they were expecting. But at the end of the day, Hezbollah and indeed Israel, have had six years to prepare for this showdown, six years since the Israelis withdrew from their occupation zone of south Lebanon."
And he says Hezbollah is well prepared for the Israeli attack.
"These are real battle-hardened veteran fighters in their late 20s, early 30s. Most of them would have had combat experience fighting the Israelis in south Lebanon during the 1990s," he said.
"They are very well motivated, they are extremely well armed, they're very proficient guerrilla fighters, they're holed up in natural caves, specially built bunkers and tunnels."
Read again my posts in this thread, specially my last one ("Here is isreal we're condemning this, along with the killing of civilians too"), and apologize to me.
Stop reading what you feel like reading!
You condemned Annan for attacking the Israeli murders of his UN observant officers.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
No, I condemned the way he did it, not the actual act. Funny, even though my English is bad, I actually can read better than you.
The way he did it? Not the act? Huh?
Did he lean over, did he scratch his chin, did he not say in perfectly enough english for you? Or is it simply BECAUSE HE CONDEMNED THE MURDEROUS ACTIONS OF YOUR GOVERNMENT?
Resorting to semantics to cover up your grossly biased view on the UN leaders comments regatrding a barbarous attack on innocent peacekeepers is atypical of the right wing neo-cons / hawks / Zionists / fascists the world over.
Good luck with that.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
I see your reading skills seem to get weaker and weaker as time goes by.
Israel have bought on all the hate themselves. Annan is simply expressing the resentment that the rest of the world feels.
Whatever misplaced resentment Annan has against Israel should be kept to himself instead of throwing out horrendous accusations, like the bombing was intentional, before even investigating the incident.
When the Palestinians make up bullshit like the "Jenin massacre," I can sort of accept it because they hate Israel and will do whatever they can to slander it. However, the Secretary General of the UN should refrain from such egregious lies.
and that is a fact
Innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply to Israel - you assume the worst and then state it as fact. Pathetic.
The "Jenin Massacre" bullshit???
Oh dear, I think its time you were banned. Your colours are well and truly nailed tothe zionist mast.
Mods? To deny Jenin is to deny Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
You're a sick puppy.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
You make me want to vomit.
Allegations of a Massacre
Rumors of massacres in Jenin swirled through Palestinian communities which were then echoed in the world press for several weeks, pitting world public opinion against Israel. [21] This was not helped as Israeli authorities prevented the international press from entering the refugee camp for two weeks.
Later inquiries by human rights groups and the UN commission did not find evidence of massacres by Israeli forces in Jenin.
[edit]
Inflated body counts
Both sides had inflated, or made overly cautious estimates of the number of dead in the refugee camp at the time. The Palestinian Authority did not provide an official count until around two weeks after fighting ended, although unofficial accounts perpetrated much of the inflation detailed before. Analysing the news reports finds a timeline of the inflated estimates which explain the reason for the hysteria caused in much of the world media (note that the following numbers include both civilians and armed combatants unless specifically stated otherwise):
April 3
Fighting begins
April 6
The Arab League hears in a speech where Nabil Shaath compares "Israeli actions in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus to the 1982 massacres of hundreds of Palestinans"[22], probably referring to Israel's part in the Sabra and Shatila Massacre where possibly up to 3500 Palestinian refugees were killed by Phalangist Christian Militias, though the total number is disputed.
April 7
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian minister for Local Government is quoted in the Washington Post making the first allegation of a massacre [23]
NBC news hears from Abdel Rahman that "over 250 Palestinians killed" [24]
April 10
Israel estimates 150 dead[25]
Saeb Erekat estimates 500 or more dead in the whole Israeli offensive[26]
April 12
Fighting ends
IDF spokesman Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey reports on Israeli Army Radio that there are apparently hundreds killed, the IDF quickly clarify he meant hundreds of casualties (killed or injured).[27]
An IDF source reportedly puts the number of dead at 250[28]
Palestinian Information Minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, accuses Israel of digging mass graves for 900 Palestinians in the camp, whilst Secretary-General of the Palestinian Authority, Ahmed Abdel Rahman claimed that "thousands" had died, the most serious accusations of the episode
April 14
After the IDF reportedly estimate 250[29], and 188[30] a final figure of 45 is given[31]
April 30
Kadoura Mousa Kadoura, the director of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement for the northern West Bank set the total dead to 56
Further investigation by the United Nations and international reporters found that 52 Palestinians were killed in the operation, 22 of whom were civilians. [32]
[edit]
Post-fighting investigations
Massacres refer not only to the numbers killed, but also to the method used.
In an article about the battle in Jenin, Time Magazine ruled out Palestinian allegations of massacre, writing that:
A Time investigation concludes that there was no wanton massacre in Jenin, no deliberate slaughter of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. But the 12 days of fighting took a severe toll on the camp. [33]
As of 2006, this view is widely supported by the international community.
On May 2, IDF filmed adult Palestinians carrying out a mock funeral procession. The funeral was fake and the "body" was able to get up and walk. The tape was shown in the documentary The Road to Jenin by Pierre Rehov. On May 8, 2002, The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment issued a press release [34] stating that it was only Palestinian children playing "funeral". Israeli groups reject this claim outright.
If i denied the massacres at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Dachau and Treblinka, I can see how I would make you vomit.
But I didn't. and you're still a rabid anti-arab who dismisses the massacre of children at Jenin.
Yours is a sickness that can not be cured.
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious: Aristotle
Viva Zapatista!
And you're an despicable anti-semite that can't back down even when faced with cold, hard TRUTH.
so anyone that doesnt agree with israel is an "anti-semite" and anyone that dissents with the US government is "un-patriotic"
i hope you can see the error of this style of thought