UN finds `flagrant violations` in "Israeli" prosecution of war

UN finds `flagrant violations` in "Israeli" prosecution of war
`Excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force`
Source: Agencies, 22-11-2006
A UN commission on Tuesday accused "Israel" of "flagrant violations" of international human rights law in its month-long war on Lebanon this past summer, while Amnesty International called for a UN-led inquiry to investigate the conflict. A team of three legal experts sent to Lebanon by the top UN human rights body, the Human Rights Council, said that "Israel" was guilty of "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force" during its war against Hizbullah.
"The commission has formed a clear view that, cumulatively, the deliberate and lethal attacks by the "Israeli" Army on civilians and civilian objects amounted to collective punishment," the UN said in a report on the council`s Web site.
The team consisted of Joao Clemente Baena Soares, a former secretary general of the Organization of American States; Mohammad Chande Othman, a judge on Tanzania`s Supreme Court; and Stelios Perrakis, a professor at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens.
The commission called on the Human Rights Council, which will consider the report at its next meeting on Monday, to ensure that United Nations agencies and bodies such as the World Bank provide adequate reconstruction aid to Lebanon.
There was no immediate response from "Israel", which claims Hizbullah provoked the conflict by capturing two "Israeli" soldiers and launching rockets into northern "Israel".
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Tuesday that an impartial and complete UN-led inquiry into the war was urgently needed.
The London-based human rights group issued the call for an inquiry as it published its own report chronicling evidence of violations of international law during the 34-day conflict.
"A full, impartial UN-led inquiry that includes provision for reparations to the victims is urgently needed," said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty`s Middle East and North Africa program.
"Anything less would not only be a gross betrayal of the civilian victims, more than 1,000 of whom were killed, but also a recipe for further civilian bloodshed with impunity."
Titled ""Israel"/Lebanon, Out of All Proportion: Civilians Bear the Brunt of the War," the report says "Israeli" forces carried out "indiscriminate" and "disproportionate" attacks on civilians in South Lebanon.
""Israeli" forces committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes," said a summary issued with the report.
"In particular, "Israeli" forces carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on a large scale. These include the sustained artillery bombardment of South Lebanon and, in particular, the widespread use of cluster bombs in civilian areas in the last days of fighting, leaving a lethal legacy which continues to blight civilian lives."
The report, the third published by Amnesty on various aspects of the conflict, focuses on "Israeli" attacks in which civilians were killed as well as the impact on civilians of other attacks by "Israeli" forces.
It said that the bombardment devastated Lebanon`s infrastructure, major roads and bridges, power stations and water plants. Thousands of homes and commercial properties were reduced to rubble. A million people were displaced during the conflict and many families found themselves destitute and homeless after the August 14 cease-fire.
Amnesty singled out "Israel`s" use during the campaign of cluster bombs - bombs which contain dozens of smaller explosive devices that spread over a wide area - thousands of which were dropped on South Lebanon during the conflict and failed to explode.
Since August 14, 23 people have been killed and another 136 wounded in Lebanon after stepping on or handling unexploded ordnance.
Reports surfaced in "Israel" Monday claiming "Israeli" ground forces had disobeyed an "explicit" order from the military`s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, not to use cluster bombs. Later in the day, a spokesman for Halutz confirmed this version of events.
Amnesty also investigated "Israel`s" claims that Hizbullah used civilians as "human shields" during the conflict.
While noting that Hizbullah stored rockets in villages and fired them from civilian areas, "it is not apparent that civilians were present and used as `human shields` in the instances examined," the Amnesty report said.
The group said inquiries on both sides had either been non-existent or inadequate.
""Israeli" authorities regularly expressed regret for civilian casualties but have given no or inadequate explanations for specific attacks," the group said. "No investigation into violations of international humanitarian law by Hizbullah is known to have been conducted by Hizbullah commanders or by the Lebanese authorities."
Amnesty called for the imposition of an arms embargo on both "Israel" and Hizbullah and an "immediate moratorium on cluster weapons."