Human Rights Watch Opinion on Qana

[LA lady]

(this is the first thread I have ever started here, please move if I messed up)

White flags, not a legitimate target
Israel must take responsibility for the dreadful human toll in Lebanon

Day after day, Israeli government spokesmen insist that everything they are doing accords with international humanitarian law. Endless communiqués insist that Israel's behaviour is "proportionate". Let us be blunt: those claims are fantasy, as the carnage in Qana has shown once again. (snip)

Israel blames Hezbollah for the massive civilian toll in Lebanon, claiming that they are hiding the rockets they are firing at Israel, in civilian homes, and that they are fighting from within the civilian population. This is a convenient excuse. Human Rights Watch has consistently documented Hezbollah's war crimes, including deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians, as well as the taking of hostages. But our investigations have not found evidence to support Israeli allegations that Hezbollah are intentionally endangering Lebanese civilians by systematically fighting from civilian positions. We can't exclude the possibility that it happens - but time and again villagers tell us that Hezbollah is fighting from the hills. Meanwhile, the homes hit by Israel have only civilians in them.

The current Israeli actions are not only wrong, but - short of compelling evidence to the contrary, which so far is nowhere to be found - also war crimes. Israel's leaders, and their friends elsewhere in the world, must face up to that truth.


http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/31/isrlpa13882.htm

[Wonk]

1. "Let us be blunt: those claims are fantasy" but often repeated here.

K & R

[Tom Joad]

2. We must work in our unions, our communities... we must divest from

Israel. Any corporation profiting from the warmaking must be held accountable. For starters, let's look at Caterpillar. this corporation sells huge bulldozers to Israel, which are in turn weaponized and used to destroy the homes of Palestinians. Stop Caterpillar. http://www.catdestroyshomes.org/

[eridani]

3. See also--

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0801-02.htm

Red Cross workers and residents of Qana, where Israeli bombing killed at least 60 civilians, have told IPS that no Hezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli air strike.

The Israeli military has said it bombed the building in which several people had taken shelter, more than half of them children, because the Army had faced rocket fire from Qana. The Israeli military has said that
Hezbollah was therefore responsible for the deaths.

"There were no Hezbollah rockets fired from here," 32-year-old Ali Abdel told IPS. "Anyone in this village will tell you this, because it is the truth."

<snip>

Qana had been a shelter because no rockets were being fired from there, survivors said. "When Hezbollah fires their rockets, everyone runs away because they know an Israeli bombardment will come soon," Abdel said.
"That is why everyone stayed in the shelter and nearby homes, because we all thought we'd be all right since there were no Hezbollah fighters in Qana."

Lebanese Red Cross workers in the nearby coastal city of Tyre told IPS that there was no basis for Israeli claims that Hezbollah had launched rockets from Qana.

"We found no evidence of Hezbollah fighters in Qana," Kassem Shaulan, a 28-year-old medic and training manager for the Red Cross in Tyre told IPS at their headquarters. "When we rescue people or recover bodies from villages, we usually see rocket launchers or Hezbollah fighters if they are there, but in Qana I can say that the village was 100 percent clear of either of those."

[breakaleg]

4. I'm so disheartened by these events that I no longer hold out any

hope that reports like this will affect any real change.

Israel doesn't care. The UN is powerless to stop them until the US makes a major policy stance - not going to happen.

[AliceWonderland]

5. Thank you for posting.

As always, it will be interesting to see who shows up, and who doesn't, in this thread.

[Baselinereality]

6. I Find This Debate Saddening Within the Context of the Iraq War.

I do not find the Israeli offensive to be justified, and I am horrified and saddened that the American government did not have the moral authority or desire to call for a ceasefire before the despotic Saudi Arabian government did.

But, as we sit and type and lamet about the unjust deaths of Lebanese civilians, what do we have to say about the untold numbers of Iraqi people that are slaughtered day in and day out?

It just amazes me that people seem so eager to complain about Israel while forgetting about the horrendous damage the United States of America is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But, then again, I've always tried to maintain my focus on the true source of outrage, George Bush, so maybe it's just me. I'm a little nutty in that sane way.

[Lerkfish]

7. well, I think its this way: we've been outraged all along, for several

years about Iraq, we've complained about it and been upset about it. But nothing seems to help.
so its on a high simmer.
Then, this action between Isreal and Hezbollah takes place, with lebanese civilians caught in the crossfire, and the high simmer gets turned up several notches.

I don't think outrage against the actions of Isreal or Hezbollah are mutually exclusive of the outrage against the US for Iraq. I think they're cumulative, and further, i think they are interconnected.
I think the current action in Lebanon is part of the whole strategy to get us into war with Syria and Iran.

HOWEVER, why this is MORE upsetting than what has already existed, is that a fire has been burning near an ammo dump, dangerous enough as it is, then people start throwing malatov cocktails directly into the dump. Which are you going to try to stop first, the existing dangerous fire, or the molotav cocktails into the ammo dump?

[mom cat]

8. Thanks for posting this!