The Two Sides Face Off
Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, accused Hizbullah
of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians and causing
the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border
violence with Israel. In contrast to the modern and widely
accepted rules of war that mandate a clear separation between
those who are fighting and those who are not, so that each
side can target only the combatants, Hizbullah has built most
of its facilities in and around places where civilian non-
combatants live, thus ensuring that legitimate Israeli
military activity targeted at fighters will also cause harm
and suffering to civilians.
According to the modern rules of warfare, military personnel
must wear clearly and easily identifiable uniforms, and
military facilities must also be separate from civilians.
According to Ha'aretz, Egeland spoke with reporters in
Cyprus after a visit to Lebanon on his mission to coordinate
an international aid effort. On Sunday he toured the rubble
of Beirut's southern suburbs, a once-teeming Shiite district
where Hizbullah had its military headquarters and was thus a
legitimate target of Israeli military activity.
During that visit he condemned the killing and wounding of
civilians by both sides, and called Israel's offensive
"disproportionate" and "a violation of international
humanitarian law."
On Monday, in Cyprus, he also had strong words for Hizbullah.
"Consistently, from the Hizbullah heartland, my message was
that Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending . . . among
women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud
because they lost very few fighters and that it was the
civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone
should be proud of having many more children and women dead
than armed men.
"We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war
where civilians are paying the price," said Egeland, before
flying to Israel. Later at Ben-Gurion airport, Egeland said
he will visit Nahariya, hit hard by Hizbullah rockets.
Although Egeland's description of Hizbullah's methods of
operations — which is verified by all other reports
from the areas — implies that Hizbullah is guilty of
war crimes, Egeland did not explicitly draw that
consequence.
At least 600,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, according to
the World Health Organization. One estimate by Lebanon's
finance minister putting the number at 750,000, nearly 20
percent of the population.
Israel's death toll is at least 40, with 17 people killed by
Hizbullah rockets and 23 soldiers killed in the fighting,
authorities said. Many thousands have also been displaced by
Hizbullah attacks on peaceful residential areas with no
military value.
Hizbullah is thus doubly guilty: it targets civilian
noncombatants including Israel Arabs, and it endangers its
own civilian noncombatants by deliberately locating its bases
and fighters among them.
Hamas in the Gaza Strip uses the same anti-civilian
approach.
The actions and polices of the Hamas leaders are directed
towards gaining political and public relations advantages.
The suffering of their own civilians is of lesser concern to
them, at best.
After its unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif, Israel was
prepared to spend over $100 million improving the passages
into and out of Gaza to make life better and easier for the
Palestinian residents since all their trade goes through
Israel. However militant terrorists constantly attacked the
passages, forcing Israel to keep them closed. The fruits and
vegetables grown in the hothouses the Israeli settlers left
behind ended up rotting.
Israel tried to bypass the security problems of some of the
crossings by offering to open other crossings at Kerem Shalom
and Sufa.
However on July 12, the United Nation's Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied
Palestinian territory reported that the offer had been
rejected by the PA. The PA has consistently refused to allow
its citizens to use the Kerem Shalom crossing, even when they
were suffering because the Rafah crossing was closed.
Three weeks ago some 5,000 Gazans returning from Egypt were
stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, which
was closed due to the fighting that followed the abduction of
IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit. Eight died waiting to get in.
Israel agreed at an early stage to allow all 5,000 to enter
Gaza, without even an Israeli security check, via the Kerem
Shalom Israel-Egypt-Gaza terminal. Again Hamas authorities in
Gaza refused. No reason was given but the only apparent
reason is political.
All the international donors to the Palestinians have been
looking for a way to send money directly to the people who
need it, bypassing the openly terrorist Hamas officials. The
European Union began a such fund for Palestinian humanitarian
aid that is channeled directly to the needy. Israel agreed to
this program for alleviating Palestinian suffering.
But in early July PA Health Minister Basim Naeem asked
Palestinian hospital directors not to cooperate and to refuse
to accept cash allowances paid directly to government doctors
and nurses.
