[LCM Articles] UN to demand Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion

[Loai Naamani]

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506
,L-3592764,00.html 
Report: UN to demand Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion

 

Lebanese media say Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to instruct Israel to take
responsibility for environmental damages caused by 2006 war, including oil
spill following bombing of Beirut power plant 

Roee Nahmias

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will demand that Israel pay Lebanon $1
billion in compensation over damages caused during the Jewish state's 2006
war against Hizbullah, Lebanese media reported Saturday.

 

According to the report, the sum, based on World Bank appraisals, is aimed
at covering the environmental and material damages caused by the Second
Lebanon War, to neighboring countries as well.

 

The fundamental part of the compensation demanded is for the damage caused
to the Lebanese coast due to an oil spill following an Israeli bombing of a
southern Beirut power plant, which the Lebanese said had caused "an
ecological disaster."

 

According to the report, Ban plans to submit a report to the United Nations
General Assembly at the end of the month, stating that damage Israel caused
to the oil reservoir polluted Lebanon's coast, and that the pollution spread
to neighboring countries, especially Syria.

 

Ban further notes that the UN rehabilitation plan managed to clean some of
the oil spill in several areas in northern Lebanon seashores.

 

The oil spill, which was defined the greatest natural disaster in Lebanon's
history, took place after Israel Air Force planes hit a power plant and
caused some 110,000 oil barrels to leak into the Mediterranean Sea.

 

The report said that the UN wants Israel to compensate the countries harmed
by the oil spill and restore the environmental situation along the Lebanon
coast. The Jewish state has yet to respond to the demand, despite messages
conveyed in August 2007.

 

About half a year ago, new agencies reported that the German government
granted Lebanon 4.5 million euros (about $6.4 million) to help finance
environmental projects and damage restoration activities following the war.

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