Israel and Hizbollah broke human rights law, say UN envoys

GENEVA - Israel and Hizbollah committed serious violations of international humanitarian law during the month-long Lebanon war, four UN human rights envoys said today.

Israel did not distinguish between military and civilian targets during the July 12-August 14 conflict, failed to apply the principle of proportionality and did not take all precautions to limit injury and damage to civilians, they said.

According to the investigators, Hizbollah guerrillas, whose seizing of two Israeli soldiers triggered the fighting, violated human rights law by firing rockets loaded with anti-personnel ball bearings at civilian areas in northern Israel.

Violations by both sides led to many deaths and injuries, caused widespread destruction and forced large numbers of people to flee their homes, the investigators said in a 40-page report to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"The mission concludes that serious violations of both human rights and humanitarian law have been committed by Israel," the four envoys said following a visit to Israel and Lebanon.

"In many instances, Hizbollah violated the applicable principles of humanitarian law, in some cases by targeting the civilian population in northern Israel, and in others by disregarding the principle of distinction," they said.

The special United Nations investigator into arbitrary executions Philip Alston, into the right to health, Paul Hunt, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's representative on displaced people, Walter Kaelin, and the rapporteur on housing Miloon Kothari made the visit this month on their own initiative.

A number of human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have already accused both sides in the Lebanese conflict of war crimes.

The mission by the four envoys was separate from a commission of inquiry set up by the Human Rights Council, the UN's top human rights watchdog, and which is currently in the region investigating allegations against Israel.

The report urged Israel to give full details of where its forces had dropped cluster munitions to speed the destruction of unexploded ordnance and minimize further civilian casualties.

Information provided so far was "inadequate and largely unhelpful," it said.

The Hizbollah militant group should recognize it is bound by international law and renounce the targeting of civilians.

Around 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in the fighting and 157 Israelis were killed, mostly soldiers. Hizbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into the Jewish state, while Israel invaded southern Lebanon and heavily bombed Beirut and villages in southern Lebanon.

While accepting Israel had tried to vet targets to make sure they complied with international law, the report said it could not accept that every one was a legitimate military objective.

However, it was also clear that Hizbollah had made use of houses and "other civilian sites" to hide military activities.

- REUTERS