Humanitarian Crisis Feared as Israel-Hezbollah Conflict Escalates
Jul 24th, 2006 • Posted in: NewsNEW YORK
As Hezbollah guerillas and Israeli forces continued to pound each other late last week, the United Nations warned of an impending humanitarian crisis, the agency’s human rights commissioner hinted at possible liability for war crimes on both sides, and many worldwide debated whether whatever “ethics of war” that may exist justify what some claim is a disproportionate response by Israel.
A day after the U.N. warned of a growing threat to the general population caught up in the conflict, an Israeli envoy confirmed that aid supplies will be allowed into Lebanon through a humanitarian corridor for food, medicine, and other supplies, UPI reported.
Transport lanes had been blocked by an Israeli air and sea blockade, and roads, bridges, and airport facilities in Lebanon have suffered heavy damage, according to the Toronto Star.
As of late last week, about 300 people had been killed in the conflict and more than 700 injured, with an estimated 500,000 people displaced and seeking shelter, the Reuters news agency reported.
As the fighting escalated, U.N. Human Rights commissioner Louise Arbor issued a sharp warning to the leaders of Israel and Hezbollah, claiming that what she called “the perpetrators of wanton violence against civilians in the current Middle East conflict” face possible “liability for war crimes,” according to a report from the Christian Science Monitor.
In a press release reproduced in part in an analysis on the University of Pittsburgh’s legal-affairs website, The Jurist, Arbor said, “Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians…. Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable.”
International debate last week focused on whether Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon has been in reasonable proportion to the need to fight terrorism and secure the release of captive Israeli soldiers. Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement affirming Israel’s right to defend itself but added that “the unprecedented scale of the casualties and destruction” in Lebanon indicates that Israel is using too much force, according to a report from the Associated Press.
According to the BBC, British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells also criticized Israel for allegedly disproportionate attacks that were not “surgical,” joining many across the United Kingdom who have been protesting the breadth and severity of the impact of the attacks on Lebanon’s infrastructure and civilian population.
President Bush last week continued to support Israel’s strategies, using his Saturday radio address to stress that ending the violence in Lebanon must involve confronting Hezbollah and the nations that back the terror attacks, the Voice of America reported.
Print This Story
Email This Story
[...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 24, 2006 — Related Newsline story, July 24, 2006 — Related Newsline story, [...]