A New Thread fot the Current Israel/Palestine/Lebanon mess

Report: U.N. observers' calls unheeded

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press WriterWed Jul 26, 6:19 PM ET

U.N. observers in Lebanon telephoned the Israeli military 10 times in six hours to ask it to stop shelling near their position before an attack killed four observers and sparked international anger with Israel, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

The U.N. observation post near Khiam came under close Israeli fire 21 times Tuesday — including 12 hits within 100 yards and five direct hits from 1:20 p.m. until the peacekeepers' post was destroyed at 7:30 p.m., Jane Lute, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the U.N. Security Council in New York.

U.N. officials said Hezbollah militants had been operating in the area of the post near the eastern end of the border with Israel, a routine tactic to prevent Israel from attacking them.

"We did repeatedly in recent days say (to Israel) that this was an exposed position, that Hezbollah militants were 500 meters (yards) away shielding themselves near U.N. workers and civilians," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said. "That's why it is so inexplicable that what happened happened."

Israeli officials had told the United Nations that the bombing around the base was part of an "an aerial preparation for a ground operation," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials in the outpost called the Israeli army 10 times during those six hours, and each time an army official promised to have the bombing stopped, according to a preliminary U.N. report on the incident, which was shown to an Associated Press reporter on Wednesday.

Once it became clear those pleas were being ignored, the force's commander sought the involvement of top officials in New York, a senior U.N. official in New York said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation of the incident was not yet complete.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown and Lute herself then made several calls to Israel's U.N. mission "reiterating these protests and calling for an abatement of the shelling," Lute said.

The bombing put Israel on the defensive two weeks into its campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep regret" for the deaths and dismay over U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's accusation that the attack was "apparently deliberate."

Olmert told Annan in a phone call Wednesday that the attack was inadvertent and he promised a "thorough investigation," his office said in a statement.

"It's inconceivable for the U.N. to define an error as an apparently deliberate action," Olmert said.

China called for an Israeli apology and asked the U.N. Security Council to condemn the bombing — which killed one of its citizens — and demand Israel stop attacking U.N. positions and personnel.

"For China and for others, we condemn this because I think any attack on the United Nations positions and the United Nations personnel is inexcusable and unacceptable," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

Austria and Finland, both of which also lost citizens in the attack, condemned the bombing, with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja calling it "truly tragic." The fourth victim was Canadian.

"These so-called precision attacks seem to be mainly targeting everyone else except the Hezbollah," Tuomioja said. "The longer this continues, the more likely it is that there will be more similar victims."

White House spokesman Tony Snow described the strike as a "horrible thing," but said Israel was behaving responsibly in its aftermath.

"They'll be completely transparent in the way they conduct the investigation," Snow said. "And I think that's the appropriate way to proceed."

U.N. officials said the observation position was well marked. A picture the world body released Wednesday showed the three-story building was painted white with the letters "U.N." emblazoned in large black letters on all sides, and a light blue U.N. flag hung from a nearby flagpole that was roughly 50 feet high. Witnesses said the building, which was surrounded by concrete blast walls and barbed wire, also had the letters U.N. painted on the roof and it was illuminated by floodlights at night.

During the shelling, the observers took refuge in a bomb shelter designed to withstand a strike by a 155mm artillery shell, U.N. officials said. The bunker collapsed in the attack, and the extent of the damage suggests it was hit with a large bomb, said Brig. Gen. J.P. Nehra, the deputy force commander for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL.

"We can only say the destruction of the bunker was quite devastating, of the kind that aerial bombs can achieve. The ones of the very heavy variety," he said.

After the blast, Israel agreed to give UNIFIL safe passage for two armored personnel carriers to evacuate the position, Lute said. They arrived at 9:30 p.m. "and found the shelter collapsed and major damage to the rest of the position," she said.

Despite negotiating safe passage, those APCs also came under Israeli attack, she said, adding that the attacks continued Wednesday when an artillery round hit about 10 yards from UNIFIL headquarters in the town of Naqoura.

Since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, there have been several dozen incidents of firing close to U.N. peacekeepers and observers, including direct hits on nine positions, some of them repeatedly, a U.N. official said. As a result of these attacks, 12 U.N. personnel have been killed or injured, U.N. officials said.

During an Israeli offensive against Lebanon in 1996, artillery blasted a U.N. base at Qana in southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 civilians taking refuge with the peacekeepers.

The U.N. mission, which has nearly 2,000 military personnel and more than 300 civilians, is to patrol the border line, known as the Blue Line, drawn by the United Nations after Israel withdrew troops from south Lebanon in 2000 and ended an 18-year occupation.

On Wednesday, dovish lawmaker Ran Cohen, a colonel in the Israeli army reserves, said that from his experience in Lebanon, it was quite possible to make such a mistake.

"I have not even the slightest doubt that we're talking here about a mistake, technical or otherwise. The army, as long as I've known it and I'm fairly critical, never wants to hit UNIFIL forces," Cohen said.

___

Associated Press reporter Nick Wadhams contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Not that that exonerates Israel of this last bombing, but they're two totally different things. I don't see them as establishing a pattern of Israel targeting the U.N.

Yep, I guess I didn't think it through. Silly me.

unless you're a fuckin' nut like the squirrel policeman.

[1] Justifiable.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9604/17/lebanon.israel/10am/index.html

Pretty entertaining for deja-vu value.

S_P, I would hardly call "oh, don't worry, we're going to stop the bombing, we won't hit you" advanced warning.

It's a really sad and cruel that these people were murdered.
But I think this incident, no matter how tragic, is peripheral
to the larger issues at hand.

Don't go into hysterics.

"We did repeatedly in recent days say (to Israel) that this was an exposed position, that Hezbollah militants were 500 meters (yards) away shielding themselves near U.N. workers and civilians," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said. "That's why it is so inexplicable that what happened happened."

5 and 1/2 football fields away, for us dumb americans.

I think what I'm trying very hard to understand is what purpose does UNIFIL still serve by being in Souther Lebanon at this point? Clearly there is no more peace to keep. The border is full of holes punched by the IAF and Israeli ground forces. Supply lines are cut that would allow UNIFIL to provide humanitarian relief (which I am not sure is part of UNIFIL's mandate). It seems that UN brass is well aware of the position that they find themselves in, yet is unwilling (or unable?) to place their troops out of harms way.

I think what I'm trying very hard to understand is why you think that - barring any orders from the UN to leave, not to mention that movement during a battle only encourages you to be fired upon, not to mention that there aren't any fuckin' roads in that part of lebanon any more - the UNIFIL soldiers and civilians have any choice at this point?

Clearly there is no more peace to keep. The border is full of holes punched by the IAF and Israeli ground forces. Supply lines are cut that would allow UNIFIL to provide humanitarian relief (which I am not sure is part of UNIFIL's mandate). It seems that UN brass is well aware of the position that they find themselves in, yet is unwilling (or unable?) to place their troops out of harms way.

Again you make this seem as if Annan just waves a magic wand and 2300 people magically evacuate.

"a few days ago, flyers were dropped down on us from the sky. this is one of them. we have deciphered it as a pic of nasrallah coming out of a vase saying "any services?" around him are the president of syria, the leader of hamas, and the iranian president. on the bottom of the vase it says "beirut". oh, and they are all sitting on a map of lebanon. i found this near the Phoenicia Hotel."

from beirut update