By
Sarah Meyer 20 September 2006 http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/ * More on IDF use of chemical weapons - July 31-August 1, 2006 - from Readers [PDF] * Sarah Meyer articles and researches published by the BRussells Tribunal. * See also: Index On Illegal Weapons in Lebanon (30 July 2006) | Death in Lebanon (10 August 2006) | APPENDIX TO ILLEGAL WEAPONS IN LEBANON (15 August 2006) | APPENDIX II: INDEX ON WEAPONS IN LEBANON: WAR CRIMES in LEBANON and PALESTINE (15 August 2006) |
photo: Carolyn Brown
"The arms trade is the
modern slave trade. It is an industry out of control: every day more than 1,000 people are killed by
conventional weapons. The vast majority of those people are innocent men, women and children."
Desmond Tutu.
The Israel-Lebanon conflict, known in Lebanon as The July War and in Israel as the Second Lebanese War, was
from 12 July to 14 August 2006, when the UN ceasefire went into effect. The Israelis continued to blockade
Lebanon until the 8th of September.
1. Lebanon
Infrastructure & Environment
2. Cluster Bombs
3. Phosphorus Bombs
4. Depleted Uranium
5. Other Gruesome
Weaponry?
6. Displacement and
Death
7. Calls for War
Crimes Trials
8. Other Responses:
Israel, UK, USA
9.
'Anti-Semitism'
Lebanon Infrastructure and Environment
On the 23rd of August, Amnesty International presented first hand information on the Israeli policy of deliberate destruction of the civilian infrastructure. The Amnesty report was followed nine days later by a report of The European Commission. This report said that:
The Red Cross reported (12.09): "During the conflict the majority of people affected were civilians and
two thirds of them were women and children."
Hezbollah, meanwhile, was rapidly managing to do what the US has failed to do either in Iraq or Afghanistan:
make
funds available to rebuild the country. By handing out $US 12,000 to families whose homes had been
destroyed, and swiftly distributing food, it immediately won the support of the Lebanese people. Not to be
outdone by Hezbollah's generosity, the
Lebanese government said it, too, would compensate war victims. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has
said his government would pay $40,000 to families whose homes were destroyed. Meanwhile, in
Beint Jbeil, the Hezbollah are eager to work. A surveyor working with the council spoke of official
shortcomings. 'Hezbollah intervenes quickly; it pays straightaway. It is much faster and less bureaucratic.'
The corporate world raised its profile when the milk factory was bombed in Lebanon.
Nestlé's Israeli branch allegedly held the UNIFIL milk contract until 2001. Until the factory was bombed
by Israel recently, Lebanon held the contract. Nestle refuses to return calls. Nestle owns 50.1 percent of
Israeli food maker Osem Investments and the two together produce snack foods at a plant in Sderot. Nestle
also own: Perrier water, Hagen Dazs ice cream, around 50% of l'Oreal, baby milk powder, snack foods, dog and
cat food brands, etc. Nestlé says it has over 200, 000 shareholders. (Stop buying Nestle products!)
The oil spill, due to an Israeli strike on the Jeyyeh power station, threatened the entire 105 mile coastline
and was spreading out to sea. It was said that it could take 10 years for the affected area to recover.
Crisis talks with officials from the UN, EU and National Maritime Association were scheduled to take
place in Greece. Israel was unhelpful, as their blockade
prevented the clean-up of the oil spill. Environmentalists were prevented from acquiring detailed
information on the locations and trajectory of the oil spill.
Ancient civilian heritage was also damaged by oil, and by bombs. UNESCO has launched an
appeal to save Lebanese historic sites. Both ancient and medieval remains were coated in oil following
the Israeli bombing of this power plant. Tyre and Baalbek need restorative care from explosions.
On the 14th of September, Lebanon was preparing legal action to
sue Israel. This doesn't help the farmer whose olive trees are being cut down and land leveled by
Israeli bulldozers whilst the international forces stand by and do nothing but write down the violations
in their notebooks.
Ten years to clear the 100,000 cluster bombs in Lebanon.
Israeli forces demolish home with family still inside, father and son killed
16. 08.06. Maan News Agency.
South Lebanon littered with war's lethal leftovers
16.08.06. Reuters. Unexploded ordinance, also known as UXO, have killed at least four people and injured at
least eight since a U.N.-backed truce halted fighting between Israel and Hizbollah on Monday. Jawad Najam, a
doctor at a private hospital in nearby Tyre, said his staff had treated 25 people for cluster bomb injuries
in 24 hours. He described the bombs as looking "like toys".
Clustered in Fear, and Now Death
16.08.06. B. Wallace, LA Times. AINATA, Lebanon: All the dead were neighbors, killed as they huddled
together in the basement of the Fadlallah family house in the old quarter of this southern Lebanese town.
Lebanon: Israeli Cluster Munitions Threaten Civilians
17.08.06. Human Rights News. Israel Must Provide Data To Save Lives.
Lebanese forces defuse cluster bombs in southern Lebanon
18.08.06. Bahrain News Agency. Lebanese forces have so far defused 10,000 cluster bombs and repaired damage
caused to electricity, telephone and water works caused by the Israelis.
LEBANON: Leftover Israeli cluster bombs kill civilians
21.08.06. Reuters. In the 40 villages the de-mining group had visited around Nabatiyeh, half had been
"severely contaminated" with cluster bombs.
Video. CNN. (3 min). Cluster Bombs in Lebanon (22.08.06).
Israel cluster bombed 170 sites in Lebanon,
23.08.06. Peninsula Qatar.
Report from Southern Lebanon: Ana Nogueira Investigates the Lasting Dangers of Unexploded Israeli Cluster
Bombs
23.08.06. Democracy Now. So the American stuff is much, much worse than the Israeli-manufactured, and
primarily the Israelis have been using American weapons.
IMPRISONED BY BOMBS
29.08.06. Reuters. Sean Sutton of British-based Mines Advisory Group describes a day's work with explosives
experts in southern Lebanon.
UN: Israel spewed cluster bombs over Lebanon in last days of war
30.08.06. UN. (Jan Egeland) said the UN Mine Action Coordination Center had assessed "nearly 85 percent of
bombed areas in south Lebanon" and identified "359 separate cluster bomb strike locations that are
contaminated with as many 100,000 unexploded bomblets. What's shocking and I would say completely immoral is
that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict.
Annan blasts Israel over cluster bombs
31.08.06. Middle East Times. "Those kinds of weapons shouldn't be used in civilian and populated areas ...
and [we need to] move very quickly to disarm them," Annan said ..
BBC: Clearing weapons from South Lebanon. Photos.
IDF defends use of cluster bombs in Lebanon
31.08.06. Jerusalem Post.
Lebanon/Israel: Israel must disclose details of cluster bomb attacks and accept a full investigation
31.08.06. Amnesty International, Press Release.
Pressure for ban on cluster bombs as Israel is accused of targeting civilians
31.08.06. B. Russell, Independent. United Nations officials said that 12 people had been killed, and another
49 injured by such bombs since the war ended and that the casualty rate was likely to rise.
VIDEO.
UN: Over 100,000 cluster bombs in Lebanon. Channel 4 Special Report, 31.08.06.
A decade to clear bombs
01.09.06. Washington Post. Three types of artillery-delivered cluster bombs were used by Israel in Lebanon --
two U.S.-made (M42 and M77) and one Israeli (M85), each with roughly the same failure rate of 40 percent, he
said.
NZ calls for stronger controls on cluster bombs
07.09.06. "The latest information I have from the United Nations Mine Action Service is that the situation
there is without a doubt the worst post-conflict cluster bomb contamination they've ever had to deal with.
The latest estimate is that 50 per cent are not detonating on impact and are there waiting for an innocent
person to come along. There have so far been 68 confirmed casualties, 12 of them fatal."
Vatican asks UN for moratorium on cluster bombs
08.09.06. Ekklesia.
Cluster bombs wound seven people in Lebanon
13.09.06. Raw Story.
A Walk Through the Rubble: Israel's Use of American Cluster Bombs
14.09.06. Dr. F. Lamb, AlSultaneih / Counterpunch. "A desire by Israel to get rid of as much of its U.S.
cluster bomb inventory as possible, which the Pentagon has stipulated must be reduced to a lower level before
Israel can reorder newer models like the M-26. This is why the 33-year old CBU-58, almost extinct, was used
so widely. Israel was cleaning out its CBU closet for new orders, one Lebanese army source reported. Senator
Ted Stevens and those in the Senate who opposed banning cluster bombs on Sept. 9 might want to reflect on
what actual utility the US cluster bombs used by Israel in Lebanon actually achieved."
Deadly harvest: The Lebanese fields sown with cluster bombs
18.09.06. P. Cockburn, Independent. The casualty figures will rise sharply in the next month as villagers
begin the harvest, picking olives from trees whose leaves and branches hide bombs that explode at the
smallest movement.
US MAY ban sale of cluster bombs to Israel
20.09.06. P. Cockburn, Independent. "The US State Department is investigating Israel's use of American-made
cluster bombs during the war in Lebanon. In particular, whether or not Israel broke a secret agreement with
the United States not to use cluster bombs against civilians. There are letters scrawled in Hebrew on the
metal but most of the writing is in English; CBU [Clusturer is identified as Lanson Industries. There are a
number of cryptic code numbers reading "Part No 7127151/22290" and "FSN 1325-758-0417" and contract no
F42600-72-2676. The bomb was made before the Vietnam War had ended, because there is a marking showing that
its warranty ended on 7 February 1974. The expiry of the warranty more than 30 years ago suggests that the
manufacturer expected some deterioration in the product."
Why sell cluster bombs in the first place? All production of cluster bombs should be stopped, now. Any
company found manufacturing cluster bombs should be prosecuted. The sale / purchase of cluster bombs should
be illegal. Meanwhile, it is the Israeli and the U.S. governments who should pay the cost for - and do the
work of - clearing the cluster bombs in Lebanon.
Israel utilized white phosphorus in its bombardments of Lebanon
27.08.06. granma.cu. At least three corpses with clear signs of having been attacked with white phosphorus, a
chemical weapon banned for use against human beings, were taken to a hospital in the Lebanese city of Baalbek
during the war. Samples from the corpses to Beirut have been forwarded to a chemical weapons research
laboratory in Paris to be analyzed.
See Israeli confirmation of the use of phosphorus bombs below, or
here.
Iraqi child affected by DU. ALJAZEERA
Whilst there have been many
articles on the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon, there has been an inexcusable and irresponsible lack of
information concerning the amount of depleted uranium used in Lebanon. In addition to the information given
in
Index on Illegal US Weapons in Israel, the following information is available.
In March 2006, Raw Story printed an article by John Byrne:
U.S. signs $38 million deal for depleted uranium tank shells. It should be asked if these depleted
uranium munitions, made by Alliant Techsystems, were used by the Israelis in their war against Lebanon, or if
any other DU munitions were sent to Israel.
Dr. Rokke talks about depleted uranium, used in Lebanon
16.08.06. INN World report. If you don't believe DU is dangerous both to humans and the environment, watch
this video and see the results of DU. The use of depleted uranium is a war crime.
Scientists suspect Israeli arms used in South contain radioactive matter
21.08.06. Daily Star / ICH.
Global Diabetes Epidemic Caused by Depleted Uranium
23.08.06. L. Moret, Rense.com. 2 maps of destruction in Lebanon. Short precis on depleted uranium, cluster
bombs, missiles and white phosphorus in Lebanon. (DU) will contaminate the entire Mediterranean, Europe, and
beyond... wherever the winds take it, to be rained and snowed out in our back yards.
Roof-top protest at Brighton arms manufacturer
23.08.06. AFP. Parts for the Hellfire missile are made by EDO MBM in Brighton. EDO (UK) Limited, formerly EDO
MBM Technology Limited, is part of the US-based EDO corporation, and designs, develops and manufactures
weapon carriage and release systems for the aerospace and defence industries. Clients include Britain's Royal
Navy and Royal Air Force, according to its website.
The Middle East : Lethal Legacy
13.09.06. F. Arbuthnot. A silent holocaust across the region.
The United States does not have a problem with the illegality of depleted uranium. In fact, according to an
AP story, the U.S. has just ordered a new bigger and better vehicle, the
MGS, which will carry both a depleted uranium armor-piercing round and a canister round filled with 2,300
tungsten ball bearings.
For more photographic evidence
of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon, click
here.
What Types of Gruesome Weapons Did Israel Use in Lebanon?
23.08.06. N. Sayad, Samidoun Media Center / Global Research. Dr. Omar Morabi, the president of the
Association of the Lebanese Belgian Friendship in Brussels, said that a mission of the World Health
Organization (WHO) would be traveling to Lebanon with a view to taking samples from dead bodies in South
Lebanon.
Lebanon digs mass graves for war dead
17.08.06. TVNZ.
Lebanon's pain grows by the hour as death toll hits 1,300
17.08.06. R. Fisk, Independent.
War inflicted $3.6b. damage on Lebanon.
18.08.06. Reuters. 1/4th of the population, or 90,000 are displaced.
The Geneva Conventions
Protocol I, Article 85, Section 3 of the Geneva Convention: "An indiscriminate attack affecting the
civilian population or civilian objects and resulting in excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or
damage to civilian objects is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions."
A War Crimes Tribunal May be the Only Deterrent to a Global War
01.07.06. F. Boyle, Counterpunch.
Online petition to try Israel for war crimes urged
16.08.06. Gulf Daily News.
The real threat we face is Blair
17.08.06. J. Pilger, New Statesman / ICH. "By any measure of international law, from Nuremberg to the Geneva
accords, Blair is a major prima facie war criminal."
War Crimes: The case against Israel
18.08.06. Pravda. "The State of Israel is hereby accused of committing War Crimes in the conflict with
Hezbollah IN Lebanon (July 12th to August 12th 2006). We present and document four counts where the Geneva
Convention has been seriously breached."
Envoy condemns Israel's crimes in Lebanon
18.08.06. iran mania. "According to an IRNA report, Iranian Ambassador to Beirut Mohammad-Reza Sheybani in a
meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, condemned Israel's crimes in Lebanon. He urged the
need to pursue the crimes, which were committed by the Zionists, through regional and international bodies."
Campaign for Accountability for U.S./Israeli War Crimes
20.08.06. Ramsey Clark.
Government studies options to sue Israel for war crimes
22.08.06. Daily Star.
War Crimes: The case against Israel
23.08.06. T. Bancroft-Hiunchey, Pravda. We present and document four counts where the Geneva Convention has
been seriously breached.
Lebanon Considers Suing Israel for War Crimes,
30.08.06. Democracy Now. Lebanese parliament member Ghassan Moukheiber is leading the charge in the case.
He's an attorney and a member of the parliamentary human rights committee.
U.N. Names Panel to Probe Israel Abuses.
01.09.06. AP / Washington Post. They leave for Lebanon on the 23rd of September.
Israel officials warned of possible war crimes prosecutions abroad.
04.09.06. The Jurist.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] has warned senior government and military
officials that inflammatory statements some made about the recent conflict with Lebanon, such as advocating
the bombing of villages that housed Hezbollah rebels, could lead to war crimes prosecutions abroad, the
Israeli Army Radio reported Monday.
Groups prepare to charge Israel with war crimes
13.09.06. Jerusalem newswire.
& also, but with more detail,
Groups gather evidence of possible Israeli war crimes in Lebanon,
13.09.06 AP.
Under fire: Hizbullah's attacks on northern Israel,
14.09.06. Amnesty International.
Moroccan Jews charge Israel with war crimes,
14.12.06. workers.org.
In the Swiftian tradition,
Prison Planet replied to a discussion following an Israel Lobby Watch article in the Nation: "All this
bickering can be put to rest quite simply by the UN issuing an amendment that stipulates the Geneva war
convention rules apply to all nations EXCEPT the US, UK and Israel".
It is not the UN that is trying to change the rules, however. It is President Bush who, fearful of his own
part in committing War Crimes, and with the help of supportive 'lawyers' is trying to
change the rules.
With all the contradictory stories flying around, it was good to read an interview with the excellent U.S.
reporter, Dahr Jamail, who felt
The World Just Stood By.
Israel
The hidden story of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails
18.08.06. S. Assaf, uruknet. A secret list has revealed the names of 67 men known to have been kidnapped by
Israel and its allies during 18 years of occupation. Thousands of others are missing.
Haaretz (22.08.06) said that
Israeli Arabs would get less government war compensation than Jews.
The truth started to emerge from some of the Israeli military.
Video. Channel 4 news (23.08.06, 11 min.) A senior tank commander says at the height of the offensive
he disobeyed orders - refusing to send his men into high-risk battle because they just weren't ready. To
watch Israeli's Protest at War Effort, click
here.
IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon
12.09.06. Haaretz / ICH. What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs, the
head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during
the war. Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster
bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets. In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units
testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international
law."
and
Israeli commander says, what the IDF did was "crazy and monstrous.
14.09.06. M. Rapoport, Haaretz. "The IDF also used cluster shells fired by 155 mm artillery cannons,
so the number of cluster bombs fired on Lebanon is even higher. At the same time, soldiers in the
artillery corps testified that the IDF used phosphorous shells, which many experts say is prohibited by
international law. According to the claims, the overwhelming majority of the weapons mentioned were fired
during the last ten days of the war. At the same time, soldiers are reporting that they fired phosphorous
shells, which are supposed to be used by the IDF for marking or setting fire to areas, in order to start
fires in Lebanon. The artillery commander says he saw trucks with phosphorous shells en route to artillery
batteries in the North."
A
former IDF chief said that soldiers were sacrificed as spin (14.09.06 Haaretz). One
Israeli general resigned over the Lebanon war (14.09.06, English People).
The Jewish Voice For Peace published the statistics of
U.S. Military Aid and Israel.
Israel Buys 2 Nuclear-Capable Submarines
24.08.06. All Headline News. Israel has purchased two additional German-made Dolphin submarines enabled to
fire nuclear warheads. Military experts say Israel is clearly indicating to Iran that it can retaliate if
attacked by nuclear weapons.
And the Israeli air force chief is going to
plan the war on Iran. The pot calls the kettle black: Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said the
world
cannot afford for Iran to have nuclear weapons.
And what now?
Israel Drawing Up Battle Plans For Next Lebanon War
18.09.06, all headlines.
Meanwhile, there is, writes L. Susser (18.09.06)
trouble brewing in Israel as "more and more politicians and Israel Defense Force commanders are going
public and blaming each other for the war's failures and shortcomings. The public mood and the commission's
findings could have major consequences for Israel's military and political leadership."
UK
On the 13th of July, the day
after the war started in Lebanon, a Briefing Paper for a parliamentary lobby was presented:
Israel's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Cause for Concern. In this paper see: Weapons, Delivery Systems,
Use of: pp. 2 5; Israeli Arms Trade pp. 12 15.
The majority of people in England were very agitated about the 'Bliar' (sic) government response. Over
100,000 people attended a demonstration during the Lebanese war. A legal bid to
block the use of British airports by US planes supplying bombs to Israel has been rejected by the High
Court. A judge in London dismissed a plea by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) for permission to
seek judicial review and an injunction against the Government, based on the argument that it was knowingly
assisting "acts of terrorism" by Israel in its campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Belatedly, the European nations decided not to allow
stop-overs of Israeli arms flights. The nations now refusing airport access to Israel include
Britain, Germany and Italy.
Blair, already in deep trouble because of the Iraq war and polls which show British people feel less safe
since 9/11, was now hit by Lebanon
backlash.
A minister admitted the government's ceasefire 'mistake.' (14.09.06. A. McSmith, Independent.) A Foreign
Office minister has conceded that Tony Blair's refusal to call for a ceasefire during 34 days of slaughter in
Lebanon may have been a mistake. The former foreign office minister, Denis MacShane, a Blair supporter,
said: "In geopolitical terms, calling for a ceasefire would not have stopped a single bomb from being dropped
or a single rocket from being fired, but the whole of Britain was outraged by what they saw on television and
there are times when government must consider public opinion." (sm italics)
U.S.A.
Hollywood stars blast Nasrallah,
17.08.06, Ynet news. Some 84 movie stars, film industry members sign a statement condemning Hizbullah, Hamas
activities in Middle East. Including: Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone,
Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton, William Hurt, Ridley
Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner, Sam Raimi; Sumner Redstone; Haim Saban; also: Serena Williams,
Rupert Murdoch. Actor Adam Sandler announced that he would donate $100,000 to the children of the north and
south, and about 400 Play-Station games purchased by the actor are expected to be transferred to the Foreign
Ministry in Jerusalem in the coming days.
I have been informed that all donations from Jewish Americans to the Israeli government are US - tax
deductible, so perhaps the donations are not quite what they seem.
US extends credit line to Israel.
20.08.06. Ynet / ICH. Bush administration agrees to extend by three-year loan guarantees for Israel given to
Israel in 2003; Israel has used USD 4.9 billion of a total USD 9 billion. To add insult to injury, the
US may consider additional aid to IDF (31.08.06. J/ Katz, Jerusalem Post) If Israel asks, the US would
seriously consider granting the Defense Ministry additional financial assistance because of the huge expenses
incurred during the war in Lebanon, a high-ranking US diplomat revealed Wednesday.
US aid to help clear Lebanon mines.
24.08.06. news.com. (The) Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement planned to provide an immediate $US420,000
to help remove unexploded mines and cluster bombs left over from the recent 34-day war between Israel and
Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. An additional $US2.0 million ($2.63 million) will be sought to continue the
work into the next fiscal year, which begins October 1. The aid (is) subject to congressional approval.
(sm highlight - ie, NOT 'immediate'). Sure enough, four days the US said it would
withhold aid to Lebanon until troops secure the border (28.08.08, AP). Tom Lantos said Sunday that he
would ask the U.S. administration to freeze the U.S. $230 million aid package to Lebanon proposed by
President George W. Bush until the Lebanese government takes control of its borders with Syria and prevent
arms smuggling to Hezbollah guerrillas.
Inquiry Opened Into Israeli Use of U.S. Bombs
24.08.06. The State Department is investigating whether Israel's use of American-made cluster bombs in
southern Lebanon violated secret agreements with the United States that restrict when it can employ such
weapons, two officials said. The agreements that govern Israel's use of American cluster munitions go back to
the 1970's, when the first sales of the weapons occurred.
Two Congressional Research Service reports were produced
Senate rejects bomb restrictions
09.09.06. JTA. The U.S. Senate voted down a proposal to restrict sales of cluster bombs. Civilians' deaths
and injuries don't matter, I guess.
The Jerusalem Post noted that the US was moving
to scuttle the Arab plan for an international peace conference.
Bush and Co. don't want to be tried as war criminals, so Bush is trying to change Article 3 of the Geneva
Conventions. Even the
NY Times doesn't approve of this.
The media had its
problems, blindspots and corporate considerations during the war. Following the war, the U.S. right -
wing press went into overdrive. One result of this distorted information was a barrage of hate mail. One has
two alternatives: either to 1) junk this post or 2) try to develop a reasonable discussion. The latter has
proved impossible for me. Those who write, accusing me of being anti-semitic, a jew-hater, pathological, a
liar, a hateful person, a hate-filled person, ad nauseum, have no wish to either point out what they find
objectionable in an article, or to read any material sent by reply, or to have a reasonable discussion. If
readers do wish to complain, it would be more logical, human even, to refer to specific issues raised in an
article or speech rather than writing rude and ranting hate-mails.
Following are 4 articles written on the subject of anti-semitism.
+
I would like to conclude this
roundup with two articles. The first is by
James Petras;
The Lobby and the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon: Their Facts and Ours
30.08.06. James Petras, ICH. "The magnitude of the Jewish Lobby's cover-up of Israel's massive military
assault can be measured in great detail. The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) launched 5,000 missiles, 5-ton
bunker-buster bombs and cluster bombs as well as anti-personnel phosphorus bombs each day into Lebanon for 27
days “ totaling over 135,000 missiles, bombs and artillery shells. During the last 7 days of the war Israel
launched 6,000 bombs and shells per day “ over 42,000, for a grand total of 177,000 over a heavily populated
territory the size of the smallest state in the US. In contrast, the Lebanese national resistance launched
4,000 rockets during the entire 34-day period, an average of 118 per day. The ratio was 44 to 1 “ without
mentioning the size differentials, the long-term killing effects of the thousands of un-exploded cluster
bombs (nearly 50 killed or maimed since the end of hostilities) and Israel's scorched earth military
incursion.
and the second is by the Nobel
Prize winner,
Desmond Tutu.
The Modern Successor to the Slave Trade
13.09.06. Desmond Tutu. Independent / ICH.
In 2005, Russia, the United States, France, Germany and the UK accounted for an estimated 82 per cent of the
global arms market. And it's big business: the amount rich countries spend on fighting HIV/Aids every year
represents just 18 days' global spending on arms.
We must end impunity for governments who authorize the supply of weapons when they know there's a great
danger those weapons will be used for gross human rights abuses.
+
Index Research articles on
Lebanon:
Lebanon vs. The BBC
(23.07.06)
Index on Illegal US Weapons in Lebanon
(30.07.06)
Death in Lebanon
(11.08.06)
Appendix to Illegal US Weapons in Lebanon
(16.08.06)
Appendix II: Index on Weapons in Lebanon: War Crimes in Lebanon and Palestine.
(16.08.06)
The url to Lebanon: The Aftermath of War. A Synthesis is
http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/09/lebanon-aftermath-of-war-synthesis.html
This article was first published by the BRussells
Tribunal:
http://www.brusselstribunal.org/MeyerLebanon2.htm
Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the United Kingdom.