UN Says Israel Violated International Law

The U.N. envoy for children says that Israel’s actions last summer violated international law, according to USAToday. She said that this would be discussed on her trip to the Middle East, and that she would also press for locations of cluster bombs dropped in southern Lebanon toward the end of the war.

1200 Lebanese were killed during the war. Another 29 were killed and 215 injured afterwards by unexploded cluster bombs. The bombing of infrastructure is costing 2.8 billion USD in repairs.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, United Nations

Numbers from 2006

Afghanistan
An unknown number of civilians killed (FAIR)
An unknown number of civilians wounded (FAIR)

Darfur
An unknown number of civilians killed
An unknown number of civilians wounded
An unknown number of civilian displaced

Iraq
An unknown number of civilians killed
An unknown number of civilians wounded

Lebanon-Israel
43 Israeli civilians killed (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
51 foreign civilians killed (Various sources, links on Wikipedia)
Somewhere over 1,000 Lebanese civilians killed (Arutz Sheva)

Palestine-Israel
2 Israeli children killed (Remember These Children Memorial)
141 Palestinian children killed (BBC News)
332 Civilian Palestinians killed (BBC News)
23 Israelis killed (BBC News)
738 Palestinians held without trial or knowledge of charges as of November (BBC News)
22 Palestinians minors held without trial or knowledge of charges as of November (BBC News)

Somalia
Hundreds killed (Reuters)
Hundreds of civilians wounded (Reuters)
Thousands of civilians displaced (Reuters)

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Afghanistan, Children, Ethiopia, Israel in Lebanon, Numbers, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, US in Iraq, UIC, Israel, Red Cross, Lebanon, ICRC, Iraq, Darfur, 2006

Bomb Treaty with Absences

A global treaty to prevent civilian deaths by cleaning up cluster bombs has come into force, according to Aljazeera. 25 countries signed, there are, however, notable absences in the list of signatories, namely: the China, Israel, Russia, and the United States.

Since the fighting in Lebanon ended, 23 people have died and 136 have been wounded by unexploded cluster bombs. The process of removing the bomblets has been slowed by Israel’s refusal to give details about targets.

18 countries have also backed a UN ban of cluster bombs. The ban is opposed by both the US and the UK.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Israel, Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, United States

Unexploded Bombs in Israel

Unexploded bombs fired by Hezbollah into Israel may still threaten lives, according to Reuters. Hezbollah fired almost 4,000 rockets, among them about 100 cluster bombs, into Israel over the summer, killing 43. Though the bombs have not killed anyone recently, there is concern that the unexploded ones might still kill.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, Israel, Hezbollah

Israel Admits to Using Phosphorus

Israel has admitted it used phosphorus bombs in Lebanon over the summer, according to USA Today. Until now, Israel maintained that it used phosphorus only to mark targets or territory, but it has now acknowledged that the IDF used the weapons against Hezbollah militants. Israel denies using it against anything but military targets.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Phosphorus, Israel, Lebanon

Cluster Bombs Continue to Kill

Cluster bomblets dropped into southern Lebanon by Israel over the summer continue to kill and injure three or four people a day, according to BBC. The UN estimates that there may be up to a million unexploded bomblets still in the region.

According to Landmine Action, about 35% of those killed or injured in southern Lebanon are under the age of 18. The bomblets are also preventing people from farming their land.

It is also possible that Hezbollah used cluster bombs against Israel, though Hezbollah so far denies it.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, Israel, Lebanon

Hezbollah May Have Used Cluster Bombs

Hezbollah may have used cluster bombs against civilian areas over the summer, according to the Boston Globe, which cites a branch director from Human Rights Watch. It has already been confirmed that Israel used cluster bombs in Lebanon.

Cluster bombs are highly criticized by human rights groups because of their extremely high failure rates, which creates minefields, as well as because of their inaccuracy.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, Hezbollah, Lebanon

Permission to Fire at Stone-Throwers

Israeli forces in Lebanon have been given permission to fire on stone-throwers, according to the Jerusalem Post. First they can fire above their heads, then at the legs, then to kill if they feel threatened. This obviously raises a number of questions, one of which is why they can fire before they feel threatened. If they can’t shoot to kill before they feel threatened, but can fire at their legs before feeling threatened, why do they need to fire if they don’t feel threatened?

More importantly though, this raises questions about what a civilian is. Someone throwing stones isn’t likely to kill or even seriously injure someone, but are they still a civilian?

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Stones, Israel, Lebanon

Sale of Cluster Bombs to Israel May be Banned

The sale of cluster bombs to Israel may be banned in the United States, according to the Independent, due to Israel’s use of them in their invasion of Lebanon. The roughly 1.2 million bomblets fired by Israel have a failure rate of up to 30%, leaving mines that result in civilians, especially children, being killed. The high failure rate likely is in part due to the age of the bombs, which apparently “expired” in 1974, though clearly they still explode eventually.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, Israel, Lebanon

Israel’s Use of Weapons

“In Lebanon, we covered entire villages with cluster bombs, what we did there was crazy and monstrous,” according to a commander in the Israel Defense Forces’ MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) unit. Haaretz has published an article about the weapons used by Israel in the invasion of Lebanon, such as phosphorus and cluster bombs.

According to the article, commanders solved the problem of the inaccuracy of the cluster rockets by “flooding” the target area with them. When the IDF trains with these weapons, they rarely use live rockets, because there are so many “duds” that end up as mines, and they obviously didn’t want their training grounds covered with such dangers.

Also, Israeli soldiers report that they used phosphorus shells in Lebanon. Phosphorus causes painful death and severe burns.

Technorati Tags: Civilian Casualties, Civilian Deaths, Peace, War, Israel in Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, Phosphorus, Lebanon