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TechnoratiIsrael Hands Over Lebanon Cluster Bomb Maps - UN
BEIRUT - Israel handed over to U.N. peacekeepers on Tuesday maps of where it dropped cluster bombs in Lebanon during the 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said.
![[Demining personnel search for cluster bombs in a field in the village of Siddiqin in southern Lebanon, 2008. Israel has given a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon details of where it dropped cluster bombs during its 34-day war with Hezbollah in 2006.
(AFP/File/Ramzi Haidar)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/clusterbombs_lebanon.jpg "clusterbombs_lebanon.jpg")
The United Nations and the Lebanese government have repeatedly called on Israel to hand over the maps of where it dropped the munitions, most of which were fired in the last 72 hours of the 34-day war.
"UNIFIL received from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) today technical strike data and related maps on the cluster munitions fired by the IDF over Lebanon during the 2006 conflict," UNIFIL said in a statement. "Technical experts from UNIFIL are currently examining and assessing the data received," it added.
An Israeli army spokesman said maps showing cluster bomb locations had been given to UNIFIL last year. He could not immediately confirm if new maps had been handed over on Tuesday.
Dozens of people have been killed and several hundred wounded in mainly rural south Lebanon by munitions left behind by the 2006 war.
A U.N. Security Council resolution which halted the war called on Israel to give the United Nations all remaining maps showing land mine sites in Lebanon.
"These maps and locations should have been handed over immediately after the issuance of the international resolution," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a statement.
The war was triggered when Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed political and military movement, captured two Israeli soldiers during a raid into Israel, saying it wanted to negotiate a prisoner exchange.
(Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut)
8 Comments so far
Show AllThe locations should have been handed over immediately, after all, George W. Bush rushed many of these cluster bombs to Israel at supersonic speed and public expense to drop on children at the last minute.
the horror, the horror. typical tid bit add on at the bottom of the article. it is about the cluster bombs, not the captive. israel always get to twist the pretzel their way. shame.
Tom Perry perpetuates the Israeli myth with his reporting. The 2006 Lebanon War began when Israel initiated blanket bombing of the country. Contrary to Mr. Perry's POV, Hezbollah did not initiate the war. They merely triumphantly responded to Israel's violent blitzkrieg aggression and sent them packing back to their kibbutzs.
Israel gives its neighbors the gifts that keep on giving...and giving...and giving.
They are such compassionate, humane, caring. loving, giving human beings. When god decided to designate them as his Chosen People, he sure as hell knew what he was doing, didn't he? And there isn't a moment that the Jews let anybody forget that. Power to the pride and joy of the human race!
Israel needs to PAY to have the cluster bomb removal done...and NOT with U.S. aid money.///
And how many children lost their hands when they picked up what looked like a colorful toy?
No shred of human decency - nothing but cynical PR moves.
Israeli terrorists now cooperate with the UN a tiny bit? Well isn't that nice?
Wow, another article out of MSM that points the finger at the "guerrillas", but does not say anything about the fact that Isreal targeted civilian infrastructure. It was a wholesale slaughter, and to blame a small group of insurgents is outrageous!!!