U.N. Rights Body
Condemns Israel for War
By ELIANE ENGELER,
AP-guardian.co.uk from the Web, August 13, 2006
GENEVA, Aug.11 -- The U.N.
Human Rights Council on Friday condemned Israel for "massive bombardment of
Lebanese civilian populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations,
and decided to send a commission to investigate.
European countries, Japan and Canada voted against the resolution, primarily
because it lacked balance in failing to name the Hezbollah militia. The
United States, which is an observer, has no vote on the 47-member council.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the discussions were one-sided, referring
only to civilian losses in Lebanon while ignoring the deadly Hezbollah missile
attacks on northern Israel.
"It is painful and regrettable that the council made a distinction between the
sufferings, the blood and the deaths, and this failure will forever be written
in the annals of that body," he said.
The council voted 27-11 to pass the resolution, which was proposed by the
57-country Organization of the Islamic Conference. Among those voting for
the resolution were China, Russia, India, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru,
Ecuador, Uruguay, Zambia and South Africa. Guatemala and seven other countries
abstained.
Although the OIC refused to insert "Hezbollah" in the text, it amended its
wording to make an indirect reference to the Lebanese militia, urging "all
concerned parties to respect the rules of international humanitarian law (and)
to refrain from violence against the civilian population."
Louise Arbour, the U.N.'s high commissioner for human rights, told the council
it was obligated to consider violations by both sides.
"Israeli attacks affecting civilians continue unabated," she said. "Also
unrelenting is Hezbollah's indiscriminate shelling of densely populated centers
in northern Israel which has brought death and destruction.
"There have also been repeated allegations of Hezbollah's systematic use of
civilians as human shields," she said.
It was the second time the new council has singled out Israel in emergency
sessions this summer.
In a meeting July 6, the body voted 29-11 to deplore Israel's military
operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It has no powers to punish
countries beyond public condemnation. However, Arbour, a former Canadian
Supreme Court justice, warned there could be other proceedings for any war
crimes.
"I remind all belligerents that war crimes and crimes against humanity may be
committed even by those who believe, accurately or not, that their combat is a
just one and their cause a worthy pursuit," she said.
The resolution said an inquiry commission of experts should go immediately "to
investigate the systematic targeting and killings of civilians by Israel in
Lebanon; to examine the types of weapons used by Israel and their conformity
with the international law; to assess the extent and deadly impact of Israeli
attacks on human life, property, critical infrastructure and the environment."
It said the Israelis had "caused thousands of deaths and injuries, mostly among
children and women, and the displacement of 1 million civilians, according to a
preliminary assessment."
It also condemned "Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which constitute
gross and systematic human rights violations" and "the massive bombardment of
Lebanese civilian populations, especially the massacres in Qana," where 28
people were killed in a July 30 Israeli airstrike, and other Lebanese towns.
The fighting began July 12 after Hezbollah guerrillas based in southern Lebanon
kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Israel responded
with an air campaign and later a ground offensive. Hezbollah has fired
thousands of rockets into northern Israel.
International efforts to agree on a plan for trying to end the fighting have so
far failed.
The OIC, which gathered enough signatures to require Friday's meeting in Geneva,
kept its focus only on Israel.
"The situation in Lebanon is appalling," said Pakistan Ambassador Masood Khan,
speaking for the group of Arab countries and other countries with large Muslim
populations.
Lebanon Ambassador Gebran Soufan said Lebanese were being "collectively
slaughtered and punished" by the Israelis.
Levanon said both Israeli and Lebanese civilians were suffering from the
conflict and that Hezbollah was conducting a "vicious campaign of terror."
He said the council also should recognize as a deeper cause of the conflict the
behind-the-scenes roles of Syria and Iran -- "those cowardly states which
cynically seek to fight their battles through others, on foreign soil."
U.S. Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor objected to the session being held, saying it
was "unhelpful and potentially counterproductive to the (U.N.) Security
Council's efforts to address the complex issues involved in this conflict."
European diplomats said they tried unsuccessfully to persuade the OIC to put
more balance into the resolution, which they considered one-sided.
Associated Press writer Alexander G. Higgins contributed to
this report.
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