<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="country-region"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Georgia;
panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:windowtext;}
h1
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;
font-weight:bold;}
h2
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;
font-weight:bold;}
h6
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:7.5pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;
font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<h6><b><font size=1 color=black face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:7.5pt;
font-family:Helvetica'><a href="http://hrw.org/">HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h6>
<h1><b><font size=5 color=black face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>White flags, not a legitimate target <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2><b><i><font size=4 color=black face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Helvetica;font-style:italic'>Israel must take responsibility for
the dreadful human toll in Lebanon<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></b></h2>
<p style='line-height:14.25pt'><font size=2 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Georgia'>By , published in <i><span
style='font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1834063,00.html" target="_blank">Guardian
Unlimited </a></span><!-- 31-7-2006 --></i><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.25pt'><font size=2 face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Georgia'>Monday July 31, 2006 <br>
<br>
Day after day, Israeli government spokesmen insist that everything they are
doing accords with international humanitarian law. Endless communiqués insist
that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
behaviour is "proportionate". Let us be blunt: those claims are
fantasy, as the carnage in Qana has shown once again. <br>
<br>
I have seen my share of modern wars, as a researcher at Human Rights Watch. In <st1:City
w:st="on">Kosovo</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
we found many civilian casualties due to bombing campaigns. Civilians fleeing
attacks were hit by mistake. In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
US bombs often hit civilian homes, hours after Saddam Hussein or members of his
inner circle had left, missing their legitimate targets but killing civilians.
In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
it is a very different picture. Time after time, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> strikes at civilian homes and
civilian vehicles attempting to flee the besieged southern border zone, killing
families without any military objective in sight. <br>
<br>
In an extraordinary, and extraordinarily revealing comment, the Israeli Justice
Minister, Haim Ramon, reportedly said, "All those now in south <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> are
terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah." So if you take to
the roads to flee, you are a terrorist - who else would travel the southern
roads now? And, if you stay at home because the danger is so great, you are
also a terrorist. For the innocent civilian, there is literally no way out.
<br>
<br>
Take the example of Manal, a 22-year-old housewife, who had just arrived in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beirut</st1:place></st1:City> when I met her a
few days ago. For nearly two weeks, Israeli warplanes struck Manal's border <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">village</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Aitaroun</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, obliterating homes and
families. A Canadian-Lebanese family vacationing in the village was killed; the
next day, another rocket destroyed a home 100 meters away from Manal's house,
killing at least nine members of a family. So many were killed in her village
that she finds it difficult to remember all the names. <br>
<br>
When the Israelis dropped leaflets instructing all villages south of the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Litani</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
to evacuate immediately "for your own safety," Manal and dozens of
her neighbors set off in three cars, waving white flags. As they left, an
Israeli warplane dropped bombs 10 meters in front of and behind the convoy,
which raced on. As far too many Lebanese civilians have found, Manal's
experience is not exceptional, on the contrary. <br>
<br>
In another case, Israeli forces struck the home of a Shi'a cleric Sheikh Adil
Mohammad Akash, who was reportedly affiliated with Hezbollah but without a
direct military role. Even if the sheikh had been a fighter, the bomb killed
him, his wife, their ten children, and the family's Sri Lankan maid. The ratio
of twelve for one reveals <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
disregard for civilian lives. <br>
<br>
Although mistakes are made in the fog of fighting, the pattern of Israeli
behavior in southern <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>
suggests a deliberate policy. My notebook overflows with reports of civilian
deaths, day after day. <br>
<br>
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 <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
have only civilians in them. <br>
<br>
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. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
leaders, and their friends elsewhere in the world, must face up to that truth.
<br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Peter Bouckaert is Emergencies Director at
Human Rights Watch</span></i> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>