Peres: Cluster bombs a mistake the biggest mistake was the war itself

Source: Aljazeera, 31-1-2007
Shimon Peres, "Israel`s" deputy prime minister, has told Al Jazeera that his country`s use of cluster bombs in Lebanon during last year`s war with Hizbullah was a "mistake".
Unexploded ordnance in the country has killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 140 since the end of the war, including two Belgian soldiers injured on Monday.
Peres said in an exclusive interview broadcast on Tuesday that the bombs were dropped "apparently ... without the knowledge even of the chief-of-staff".
He told Al Jazeera`s David Foster: "To be short and clear, we committed a mistake, regrettably."
`Million bomblets dropped`
Rula Amin, Al Jazeera`s correspondent in Beirut, reported Hizbullah officials she spoke to said Peres` admission was an attempt by "Israel" to clear its name and that it would not be of any comfort to the relatives of those who had lost their lives to cluster bombs.
During the 34-day war in Lebanon last summer, the UN estimates that around one million cluster bomblets were dropped by "Israel" in the south of the country, 90 per cent of them in the last 72 hours before a ceasefire took effect.
A UN official told Al Jazeera in Beirut that despite an intensive de-mining effort, only 19,000 cluster bombs have been cleared so far.
The onset of winter in Lebanon and damper conditions have led to the bombs becoming further embedded in the ground, rendering them similar to landmines.
Congress investigation
Peres` admission may put pressure on the US congress to further investigate the matter after the state department said it is "likely" that "Israel" violated an agreement with Washington in its use of US-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.
"There were likely violations," Sean McCormack, a state department spokesman, said on Monday, adding a preliminary report had been sent to congress.
Peres said that the biggest mistake was the war itself and blamed Hizbullah for provoking it.
Peres said during a visit to Doha, the capital of Qatar: "I think Hizbullah provoked an unnecessary war, they suffered, they made Lebanon suffer, they made "Israel" suffer, they didn`t achieve anything.
"Today Lebanon is more divided than ever, they are a foreign body within Lebanese politics, an army within an army, a state within a state, representing Iranian interests more than Lebanese unity. Who needs them, what for?"
`"Israeli" crimes`
Seyed Mohammed Marandi, the head of North American studies at Tehran University, told Al Jazeera that Ahmadinejad was a democratically-elected leader and that "Israel" was the source of problems in the region.
He said: "It is really the `Israelis` that have to answer for the crimes that they have committed against the Palestinian people, as well as the people of Lebanon.
"They [`Israel`] say that the use of cluster bombs is [a] mistake ... it was a crime, not a mistake, so I think the problem lies with `Israelis` not the Iranians."
Peres also laid out his credentials to succeed Moshe Katsav as the next "Israeli" president.
He said: "I am not in a beauty contest and I do not hide my views.
"A lion majority of `Israelis` think what I am saying makes sense and know exactly that I represent something that is deep and profound."