HIDING AMONG CIVILIANS
August 09, 2006
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
The civilian death toll in Lebanon is skyrocketing, and each day it gets worse. While Freedland's piece in the Guardian suggests that Hezbollah is using civilians as shields, forcing Israel to kill civilians in an attempt to strike Hezbollah rocket launchers and fighters, independent research groups in Lebanon (particularly, Human Rights Watch) state the opposite.
"The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military's disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians. Our research shows that Israel's claim that Hezbollah [sic] fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel's indiscriminate warfare."
Citing 24 particular incidents, they report that Israeli forces "appear to have deliberately targeted civilians," and in certain cases, "researchers could find no evidence that Hizbullah was operating in or near the areas that were attacked by the Israeli air force."
Furthermore, regarding Hezbollah fighters "blending into crowds," Johnathan Cook (writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Northern Israel) writes:
Echoing comments by the UN's Jan Egeland, he says Hizbullah fighters are "cowardly blending" with Lebanon's civilian population. It is difficult to know what to make of this observation. If Freedland means that Hizbullah fighters come from Lebanese towns and villages and have families living there whom they visit and live among, he is right. But exactly the same can be said of Israel and its soldiers, who return from the battlefront (in this case inside Lebanon, as they are now an invading army) to live with parents or spouses in Israeli communities. Armed and uniformed soldiers can be seen all over Israel, sitting in trains, queuing in banks, waiting with civilians at bus stops. Does that mean they are "cowardly blending' with Israel's civilian population?
Cook also writes that rockets were fired into his town of Nazareth a week into the conflict, and that while Israel claimed that Hezbollah fired indicriminately into a civilian town (even though Nazareth has a muslim majority), Hezbollah's Nasrallah immediately offered an appology, stating that the attack was a mistake. Cook writes:
The real target of the strike was known to Nazarenes: close by the city are a military weapons factory and a large military camp.
Furthermore:
There are hundreds of similar military installations next to or inside Israel's northern communities. Some distance from Nazareth, for example, Israel has built a large weapons factory virtually on top of an Arab town -- so close to it, in fact, that the factory's perimeter fence is only a few metres from the main building of the local junior school. There have been reports of rockets landing close to that Arab community. (emphasis mine)
The spin on information about Hezbollah hiding among civilians (instead of... standing in a field to get picked off?) is no different than Israel's military bases planted within neighborhoods and near schools. The only difference is that Hezbollah has only killed 100 civilians, whereas Israel's blatant disregard for Lebanese people has resulted in the death of over 1,000.
"The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military's disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians. Our research shows that Israel's claim that Hezbollah [sic] fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel's indiscriminate warfare."
Citing 24 particular incidents, they report that Israeli forces "appear to have deliberately targeted civilians," and in certain cases, "researchers could find no evidence that Hizbullah was operating in or near the areas that were attacked by the Israeli air force."
Furthermore, regarding Hezbollah fighters "blending into crowds," Johnathan Cook (writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Northern Israel) writes:
Echoing comments by the UN's Jan Egeland, he says Hizbullah fighters are "cowardly blending" with Lebanon's civilian population. It is difficult to know what to make of this observation. If Freedland means that Hizbullah fighters come from Lebanese towns and villages and have families living there whom they visit and live among, he is right. But exactly the same can be said of Israel and its soldiers, who return from the battlefront (in this case inside Lebanon, as they are now an invading army) to live with parents or spouses in Israeli communities. Armed and uniformed soldiers can be seen all over Israel, sitting in trains, queuing in banks, waiting with civilians at bus stops. Does that mean they are "cowardly blending' with Israel's civilian population?
Cook also writes that rockets were fired into his town of Nazareth a week into the conflict, and that while Israel claimed that Hezbollah fired indicriminately into a civilian town (even though Nazareth has a muslim majority), Hezbollah's Nasrallah immediately offered an appology, stating that the attack was a mistake. Cook writes:
The real target of the strike was known to Nazarenes: close by the city are a military weapons factory and a large military camp.
Furthermore:
There are hundreds of similar military installations next to or inside Israel's northern communities. Some distance from Nazareth, for example, Israel has built a large weapons factory virtually on top of an Arab town -- so close to it, in fact, that the factory's perimeter fence is only a few metres from the main building of the local junior school. There have been reports of rockets landing close to that Arab community. (emphasis mine)
The spin on information about Hezbollah hiding among civilians (instead of... standing in a field to get picked off?) is no different than Israel's military bases planted within neighborhoods and near schools. The only difference is that Hezbollah has only killed 100 civilians, whereas Israel's blatant disregard for Lebanese people has resulted in the death of over 1,000.