U.N.: Israeli airstrike kills UN observers

[JayDiddy]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply distressed" by the "apparently deliberate" strike.

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement.

[Bekim...]

and dirty arabs flew a plane into the WTC... SO SHUT THE FUCK UP

[ShaE]

We really ought to get our asses together before we go jumping down others' throats. Between abu ghraib, torture scandals, gitmo, pitifully inadequate war planning, & MASSIVE federal disaster response incompetence...we are hardly in a position to go nitpicking Israel.

Targeting civilians or un sites is undoubtedly wrong, but we are HARDLY in the right in many areas right now. Pot should not call the kettle black.

[Bekim...]

i hope israel tears a part iran next.. just to do it

[admin]

why are there UN observers in Lebanon in the first place, what are they observing?

[ShaE]

why are there UN observers in Lebanon in the first place, what are they observing?

Well the UN needs accurate information...especially since they send peacekeeping forces & aid ( in some cases ) & the Security council meets etc etc. I don't really think it'd be wise of them to get their info via media...so I figure these "observers" report back to the un on the state of things/events. They have inspectors, guess they have "observers" too lol

And for the record , I think it's ridiculous to suggest Israel purposely targeted UN personnel. There would be NO POINT to that, it just doesn't make any sense.

[admin]

Well the UN needs accurate information...especially since they send peacekeeping forces & aid ( in some cases ) & the Security council meets etc etc. I don't really think it'd be wise of them to get their info via media...so I figure these "observers" report back to the un on the state of things/events. They have inspectors, guess they have "observers" too lol

And for the record , I think it's ridiculous to suggest Israel purposely targeted UN personnel. There would be NO POINT to that, it just doesn't make any sense.

I see, that makes sense now, thanks for the explaination.

[JayDiddy]

BBC is reporting this today: Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

Bad situation.

[Defekted]

The UN peacekeepers have been on the Israeli/Lebanese border since 1978...it was a much bigger force and over time (mostly during the 18 year occupation) dwindled to a small number of troops stationed at a handful of UN outposts (clearly visible and all white with a HUGE BABY BLUE FLAG)....

The Israeli airforce is THE BEST IN THE WORLD, they can tell you which ass cheek they are going to hit before they hit it, so please.... dont even think for a second they didnt know what they were hitting......

[ShaE]

The UN peacekeepers have been on the Israeli/Lebanese border since 1978...it was a much bigger force and over time (mostly during the 18 year occupation) dwindled to a small number of troops stationed at a handful of UN outposts (clearly visible and all white with a HUGE BABY BLUE FLAG)....

The Israeli airforce is THE BEST IN THE WORLD, they can tell you which ass cheek they are going to hit before they hit it, so please.... dont even think for a second they didnt know what they were hitting......

For argument's sake, if highly specialized military never make mistakes/errors...how does friendly- fire happen?

[Bekim...]

The UN peacekeepers have been on the Israeli/Lebanese border since 1978...it was a much bigger force and over time (mostly during the 18 year occupation) dwindled to a small number of troops stationed at a handful of UN outposts (clearly visible and all white with a HUGE BABY BLUE FLAG)....

The Israeli airforce is THE BEST IN THE WORLD, they can tell you which ass cheek they are going to hit before they hit it, so please.... dont even think for a second they didnt know what they were hitting......

nah those dirty arabs that flew planes into the WTC were the BEST airforce in the world.

[Bekim...]

For argument's sake, if highly specialized military never make mistakes/errors...how does friendly- fire happen?

it happens of course it does

[Defekted]

For argument's sake, if highly specialized military never make mistakes/errors...how does friendly- fire happen?

Absolutely it happens,

but when you are talking about South Lebanon, barren farmlands, hilly terrain .... not a condensed metropolis by any means ... and the fact that there are only a HANDFUL of UN outposts, painted in white and ones the Israel knows very well where they are, because they occupied those lands for 18 years.... and when the UN made relentless statements to Israel to watch the UN team on the ground, contacting the IDF routinely, daily that there are active UN personel on the ground ...... well, forgive me if im skeptical.....

i mean, The israels know every 'civilian' house the hezbullah is firing from, according to them, so you want to tell me it doesnt know where the UNIFIL bases are? no chance

[gp1]

shae, the israeli military is notorious for firing on civilians. in fact, media in the area are more frightened by the israelis than any "terror" group. israel has a long history of firing on any group, civilian or otherwise, that reports critically of them.


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/07...y1818343.shtml
they also just shot at FOX reports live on tv last week.

the UN has been pretty critical of the israel's action, as they have in the past. something like 250 UN peacekeepers in lebanon have been killed in the last 10 years, the majority of them at the hands of israelis. it's no coincidence that when someone speaks out against them, israeli soldiers are known to retaliate. this is why the UN suspects israel did this on purpose.

the editor of IPI had to send a letter to israel urging them to stop this behavior:

His Excellency Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister
Israel

Fax: (+ 972-2) 513 950

Vienna, 13 March 2002

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the Israeli army’s most recent attacks on journalists and media outlets in the city of Ramallah.

According to IPI’s sources, on 12 and 13 March the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) stormed Ramallah in its largest military offensive against Palestinians for 35 years. Supported by at least 150 tanks, bulldozers, artillery and the air force, the IDF laid siege to the city in an apparent punitive action against Palestinians following an escalation in violence between the two sides.

On 13 March, an Italian freelance photographer was shot and killed in Ramallah. According to several news reports, Raffaele Ciriello was hit six or seven times in the chest by Israeli gunfire and died shortly afterwards. On the same day, a French journalist, who was not immediately identified, was wounded in the leg by gunfire in Ramallah.

Ciriello had worked in a number of war zones around the world, including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the Yugoslavian province of Kosovo. He was the first foreign journalist to be killed in the 17-month conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Since November 2000, four Palestinian journalists have also been killed and many others injured.

According to eyewitness accounts, on 12 March Israeli troops in Ramallah confiscated a vehicle belonging to a media organisation – an initial report said it belonged to Abu Dhabi Television – in an apparent attempt to disguise themselves and carry out military operations against Palestinians. The vehicle carried the word "TV" in large, clear markings.

On the same day, heavy Israeli machinegun fire shattered the windows of a Link Productions office at the City Inn Hotel in Ramallah, narrowly missing Franz Normann, the correspondent for the Austrian public broadcaster, ORF. Around 30 media workers from other media organisations were also present in the building. Fortunately, there were no injuries but gunfire destroyed an ABC camera after the fleeing crew left it on its tripod. Reports from the journalists present indicated that there were no ongoing hostilities in the area and the IDF was aware that journalists occupied the building, most of whom worked for foreign media organisations.

At least two of these press freedom violations appear to be part of a concerted strategy by the Israeli army to control reports on the recent surge in armed hostilities in the region. In addition, IPI believes they have been undertaken with a criminal disregard for civilian lives. Moreover, the apparent decision by the IDF to disguise some of its forces places journalists at risk. In the opinion of IPI the decision represents an intentional blurring of the line between combatants and non-combatants. For this reason, it is inexcusable.

IPI regards these crude attacks on journalists and media outlets and the abuse of media infrastructure as gross violations of everyone’s right to "seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers" as guaranteed by Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call upon Your Excellency to ensure that the attacks on media outlets and journalists of all nationalities in the Palestinian territories are discontinued immediately and unconditionally, and that the perpetrators of such violations are punished. We further urge you to ensure that journalists in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are allowed to carry out their profession without further harassment.

We thank you for your attention.

Johann P. Fritz
Director

[gp1]

oops

[Defekted]

No question,

Israel has been known and well documented for commiting acts that contradict international law. Countless, from the accident killing of journalists or peace keepers, to the accident torture of prisoners, to the accident execution of POWs, to the accident beating, humiliation and killing of civilians, to the accident .... ???

[JayDiddy]

One things for sure. More and more people here are now realizing what some of us already knew about Israel.

[gp1]

One things for sure. More and more people here are now realizing what some of us already knew about Israel.

the ulitmate irony to me is all these people screaming foul about the kidnappings, even using it to justify the war. but, israel's high court has been condoned kidnapping people in their homes, without reason or trial, only to be held as "bargaining chips." it's interesting when one side does it, it's an act of war, but for the other side it's legally acceptable. it's these little things that i don't think the average person is aware of. dont get me wrong, it doesnt absolve hezbollah of fault, but if american media made these little things more public, it would help cast a better light on the situation.


http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE150211998

Israel/Lebanon: Israeli Supreme Court endorses hostage-taking

The Israeli Supreme Court's ruling authorizing the Israeli Government to hold 10 Lebanese detainees as hostages to secure the release of Israeli servicemen missing in action is contemptible and explicitly legitimizes hostage-taking, Amnesty International declared today.

"The decision is intolerable", the organization said. "Those held as hostages include people who were only 16 when they were taken from their village and have now spent up to 11 years in detention, often secret and incommunicado. These are real people, not objects to be used as political pawns."

When armed groups take hostages, it is universally condemned. Yet the Supreme Court of Israel has now characterised human beings, who should have the right to security and freedom from arbitrary detention, as "bargaining chips" which can be exchanged in pursuit of a "vital interest of state".

The Supreme Court ruling, which covers 10 of the 21 Lebanese hostages held by Israeli authorities, was made in November last year, but only made public on Wednesday, reportedly after a long struggle by the lawyer whose original petition was made as far back as 1994.

The Israeli Government has acknowledged that the detainees themselves pose no threat to state security. Their continued detention therefore has no basis in international law.

"They kidnapped us from our villages, from our homes, with bread in our hands, not from battle, with guns in our hands," wrote one detainee to an Amnesty International group.

The families of the detainees are not allowed visits. In March 1996 the mother of Ghassan al-Dirani travelled from Lebanon to the prison hospital where her son, mentally and physically sick, was being held. After two days of pleading, she was still forbidden to see him. "I was in tears, the Red Cross delegate also," she writes. An Israel Defence Forces spokesperson said: "As long as there is no news of Ron Arad [an Israeli missing in action captured in 1986 by Amal, a Lebanese Shi'a militia], there will be no meetings with [Lebanese] detainees in Israel and no information about the detainees will be released."

In violation of the Geneva Conventions, ratified by Israel, two of the detainees, Mustafa al-Dirani and Shaykh 'Abd al-Karim 'Ubayd, have never had access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

At least 150 other Lebanese nationals are detained in Khiam Detention Centre, run by the South Lebanese Army, a militia allied to Israel in the part of South Lebanon occupied by Israel. Some have been there without charge, trial or any legal status since 1986. Since September 1997 they have had no access to the ICRC.

Amnesty International has long expressed its concern to the Israeli authorities over the way in which these detainees have been held. The organization is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Lebanese hostages held in Israel.

[Defekted]

[QUOTE=gp1]the ulitmate irony to me is all these people screaming foul about the kidnappings, even using it to justify the war. but, israel's high court has been condoned kidnapping people in their homes, without reason or trial, only to be held as "bargaining chips." it's interesting when one side does it, it's an act of war, but for the other side it's legally acceptable. it's these little things that i don't think the average person is aware of. dont get me wrong, it doesnt absolve hezbollah of fault, but if american media made these little things more public, it would help cast a better light on the situation.


http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE150211998

Israel/Lebanon: Israeli Supreme Court endorses hostage-taking

QUOTE]

well done!

[Bekim...]

one fucking mistake compared to all the terror acts commited by ARABS. Please guys you can't be for real, go read the list in my other thread and thats being conservative.