AFP
Fifty-two people have killed, more than half of them children, in an Israeli air blitz on the Lebanese village of Qana, triggering outrage around the world and warnings of retribution for Israel's "war crime."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose latest Middle East mission was thrown into turmoil by the attack, she was "deeply saddened" by the loss of innocent lives and said it was time to "get to a ceasefire" in Lebanon but stopped short of calling for an immediate halt to hostilities on Sunday.
The raid on Qana, which left homes in ruins and villagers trapped under the rubble, was the deadliest single attack since Israel launched its devastating war on the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah 19 days ago. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denounced the Qana carnage as a "war crime," demanding an immediate ceasefire in a conflict that Health Minister Mohammed Khalifeh said had killed 750 people.
An AFP count has put the death toll at more than 500, while the United Nations has said around one third of the casualties were children. The 15-member UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting on the conflict later Sunday, with France circulating a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel expressed "regret" over the civilian deaths and ordered an inquiry but said it had warned residents to leave and pinned the blame on Hezbollah for launching rockets from the village. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was in "no rush" for a truce and told Rice that Israel needed 10 to 14 days more to continue its offensive against the Hezbollah, an Israeli government official said. In Beirut, a mob of angry demonstrators smashed into the UN building as thousands took to the streets in protest while Hezbollah and the ruling Palestinian Islamist militant movement Hamas both vowed revenge. "This horrible massacre, like the others, will not remain unpunished," said Hezbollah, which has fired off waves of rockets against northern Israel since the onslaught began.
Israel and Rice offer little more than lip service to the issue of massacring civilians.
WaPo
Rice will abandon her Middle East negotiations at least temporarily to return to Washington Monday, U.S. officials said Sunday. Rice will shift her diplomatic efforts to the United Nations, aides say. The U.N. Security Council is planning an emergency session this morning. "Her intention is to move to get this thing done in the Security Council," a senior State Department official traveling with Rice told reporters traveling with her.
Earlier, at a hastily called news conference, Rice said she was "deeply saddened" by the "terrible loss of life" and insisted the United States was working harder than any party to try to achieve a ceasefire. Rice said she learned of the attack during a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz and reiterated U.S. concern about Israel's attacks on civilian targets -- a common refrain during Rice's diplomacy, reflecting U.S. frustration with Israeli targeting.
"Concern", "saddened"? I'm outraged the Bush Administration drags us through responsibility for some of the worst atrocities of the Israelis.
1 comment:
Atrocities? Gee, I don't know; it might have something to do with the fact that Hizbollah intentionally hides their rocket launchers in heavily populated areas. They're even using U.N. observers as human shields. I see no mention of Hezbollah's hundreds of rocket attacks on (intentionally) civilian targets, nor of Israel's repeated warnings through leaflet drops to Lebanese civilians before bomb strikes - a move that warns Hizbollah too, so it's not even in Israel's tactical interest to do so. Hizbollah is trying to maximize civilian casualties while Israel is trying to minimize them.
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