Hizbullah's deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians
Amnesty International Report
Hizbullah committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes, in its deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians during the recent conflict, according to a briefing published today by Amnesty International.
Combined with the organisation's earlier publication on Israel's targeting of Lebanese civilian infrastructure, the latest findings make clear the urgent need for the UN to establish a full and impartial investigation into violations committed by both sides in the conflict.During the month-long conflict, Hizbullah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to take refuge in shelters or flee. Around a quarter of all rockets were fired directly into urban areas, including rockets packed with thousands of metal ball bearings. In meetings with Amnesty International, Hizbullah argued that its rocket attacks on northern Israel were a reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon and were aimed at stopping such attacks."The scale of Hizbullah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians, make it all too clear that Hizbullah violated the laws of war," said Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan."The fact that Israel has also committed serious violations in no way justifies violations by Hizbullah. Civilians must not be made to pay the price for unlawful conduct on either side."The briefing, Under fire - Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel, is based on Amnesty International field research in Israel and Lebanon, interviews with victims, official statements, discussions with Israeli and Lebanese government officials and senior Hizbullah officials.Amnesty International's briefing includes evidence of:
Hizbullah's firing of some 900 inherently inaccurate Katyusha rockets into urban areas in northern Israel in clear violation of the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets under international law;
Hizbullah's use of modified Katyusha rockets packed with metal ball bearings, designed to inflict maximum death and injury; one such rocket killing eight railway workers;
Statements from Hasan Nasrallah and other senior Hizbullah leaders that the group intended to target civilians as a form of reprisal, violating the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians as well as the prohibition on reprisals against the civilian population;
The flight of civilians from northern Israel and the existence of shelters preventing a higher death toll than the 43 civilian fatalities recorded.
"In the conflict between Hizbullah and Israel, the suffering of civilians on both sides has been repeatedly ignored with those responsible escaping all accountability. Justice is urgently needed if respect for the rules of war is ever to be taken seriously -- and that means accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes and reparations for the victims," said Irene Khan.Amnesty International is calling for a comprehensive, independent and impartial inquiry to be urgently established by the UN into violations of international humanitarian law by both sides in the conflict. It should examine in particular the impact of this conflict on the civilian population, and should be undertaken with a view to holding individuals responsible for crimes under international law and ensuring that full reparation is provided to the victims. Further aspects of the war, including charges that Hizbullah used Lebanese civilians as a cover and attacks by Israeli forces that resulted in heavy civilian casualties, will be addressed in future publications.
For a copy of the briefing, Under fire - Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde020252006
Hizbullah committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes, in its deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians during the recent conflict, according to a briefing published today by Amnesty International.
Combined with the organisation's earlier publication on Israel's targeting of Lebanese civilian infrastructure, the latest findings make clear the urgent need for the UN to establish a full and impartial investigation into violations committed by both sides in the conflict.During the month-long conflict, Hizbullah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to take refuge in shelters or flee. Around a quarter of all rockets were fired directly into urban areas, including rockets packed with thousands of metal ball bearings. In meetings with Amnesty International, Hizbullah argued that its rocket attacks on northern Israel were a reprisal for Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon and were aimed at stopping such attacks."The scale of Hizbullah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians, make it all too clear that Hizbullah violated the laws of war," said Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan."The fact that Israel has also committed serious violations in no way justifies violations by Hizbullah. Civilians must not be made to pay the price for unlawful conduct on either side."The briefing, Under fire - Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel, is based on Amnesty International field research in Israel and Lebanon, interviews with victims, official statements, discussions with Israeli and Lebanese government officials and senior Hizbullah officials.Amnesty International's briefing includes evidence of:
Hizbullah's firing of some 900 inherently inaccurate Katyusha rockets into urban areas in northern Israel in clear violation of the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets under international law;
Hizbullah's use of modified Katyusha rockets packed with metal ball bearings, designed to inflict maximum death and injury; one such rocket killing eight railway workers;
Statements from Hasan Nasrallah and other senior Hizbullah leaders that the group intended to target civilians as a form of reprisal, violating the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians as well as the prohibition on reprisals against the civilian population;
The flight of civilians from northern Israel and the existence of shelters preventing a higher death toll than the 43 civilian fatalities recorded.
"In the conflict between Hizbullah and Israel, the suffering of civilians on both sides has been repeatedly ignored with those responsible escaping all accountability. Justice is urgently needed if respect for the rules of war is ever to be taken seriously -- and that means accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes and reparations for the victims," said Irene Khan.Amnesty International is calling for a comprehensive, independent and impartial inquiry to be urgently established by the UN into violations of international humanitarian law by both sides in the conflict. It should examine in particular the impact of this conflict on the civilian population, and should be undertaken with a view to holding individuals responsible for crimes under international law and ensuring that full reparation is provided to the victims. Further aspects of the war, including charges that Hizbullah used Lebanese civilians as a cover and attacks by Israeli forces that resulted in heavy civilian casualties, will be addressed in future publications.
For a copy of the briefing, Under fire - Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde020252006
posted by beirutlive at 2:50 PM
5 Comments:
sam,
i always told you that i am against any killing, especially of civilians. unfortunately, no one on your side of the world understands or sees the henious crimes of israel. they have continously targeted civilians not only during this war, but also for the past decade. anti-personal munitions, cluster bombs, phospohorous munitions, bunker busters. you name it, we've seen it. and i am attacking the moral stand that israel always attempts to take by saying they are right and we are wrong. "we are the justice makers and the lebanese are the terrorists". how can attacking a UN base in 1996 filled with innocent civilians and children be right? did you know that the soldier who fired at the base was arrested for 2 days for killing some 100 people? 2 days...
how is that right? how is it right that over 1 million cluster bomblets were fired on south lebanon?
today israelis can walk free in the northern part of their country, but lebanese cant even think about venturing into the open fields of the south without thinking for one second what might happen within a millisecond.
the IDF has committed enormous acts of war crimes over and over again. the state of israel has continously defied UN resolutions pinpointing them. and as long as this is not addressed, i am sorry to say that there will always be problems in this part of the world.
One cannot create a fictitious moral stand and then expect people to look up to them. Thats impossible. And this goes for the US policy and the israeli state.
It's amazing, mrtez - how they just don't get it. Some wanted a "neutral" article about the cluster bombs and, while saying the cluster bombs shouldn't be used, denounced the headline of "one million" when "only" 1800 bombs were used (it was a million bomblets) The problem was the headline appeared to be an "intentional" misrepresentation that proved the writer was not "neutral"
Sam, of course, can say nothing good about anything - he and a couple of others aren't here for any particular reason other than to harass and listen to themselves spew filthy insults.
But now, when you publish this article, the commenters want you to say, "mea culpa" or "we are at least as bad as Israel."
I don't defend Hezbollah but I also don't condemn the organization as simply evil - they are no more "evil" than the IDF (a misnomer now, of course) The difference is in degree - Israel has all the modern weapons of war - and defense. Hezbollah and the people of south Lebanon have, apparently, some TOW antitank missiles whch clearly cannot be used offensively and the rockets. Hezbollah is attempting to defend a way of life as is Israel. Both sides hate each other - Hezbollah for the fact Israel took the land away upon which Israel was created and Israel for the fact Hezbollah wants them to leave that land. Thus, Israel says it will destroy Hezbollah, Hamas and any other persons it deems appropriate and Hezbollah and Hamas call for the destuction of Israel.
But Israel makes no effort to rationally change the situation. It could but it refuses. Now, interestingly, it intends to build something called a "tolerance museum" in Palestine. It will cost 200 million dollars and is intended to show how people can be "tolerant." While, of course, the tour buses and airplanes and jeeps for the "Ultimate Mission" await their passengers. And the IAF pilots with their cluster bombs and bunker busters await their next mission.
I applaud you for maintaining your equanimity through all this. It is beyond an outrage and demands the intervention of the "international community" to punish the war crimes committed in the name of "defense."
Everyone sees you for what you are, "sam" - a lying, filth spewing, uncouth, sick joke. And each time you say something, you reinforce your image.
As hoped for, the clouds are parting and the sky is clearing. A light is finally being shone on Bush and his crowd by four republican senators and his former secretary of state, Colin Powell (who, of course, was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the first Iraq invasion.)
Look at the lead article on MSNBC about Bush's proposed legislative limiting of the Geneva conventions and the response by the Senate. Here are a couple paragraphs to give the flavor:
Bush is taking questions a day after a Senate Committee rejected his pleas that legislation on foreign terrorists allow CIA interrogators to use tough methods.
Instead, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 15-9 to endorse an alternative bill by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain that would protect the rights of foreign terrorism suspects.
McCain, Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham made up the core of the rebellion against Bush and engineered the vote despite a personal visit by the president to Congress on Thursday.
Powell, Bush's previous secretary of state, said in a letter to McCain Thursday that Bush’s proposal to redefine the Geneva Conventions would encourage the world to “doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism” and “put our own troops at risk.”
Hours after Bush went to Capitol Hill to urge fellow Republicans to back his proposals for military commissions to put terrorism suspects on trial, the Senate committee approved its own bill, which it said would meet demands made by the U.S. Supreme Court in striking down Bush’s original plan.
Thoughtful Americans will press the issue and, ultimately, the true goodness of most Americans will prevail. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld will be shown as the incompetent fear mongers they are and, perhaps, sanity will reign.
The last paragraph is mine - not part of the quote from MSNBC.
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