28 July 2006

So southern Lebanon is now in Israel?

After first bombing a clearly-marked United Nations observation post at Khiyyam in southern Lebanon, killing four international observers from the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, Israel is now saying they will not let the UN be part of any probe into whether the bombing was deliberate as Kofi Annan has alleged. At a Security Council meeting to discuss the issue, Jane Lute, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping -- who also happens to be an American national -- formally briefed ambassadors that cil that the outpost came under Israeli fire 21 times, including four direct hits. Prior to the disastrous bombing, the UN had also told Israel to stop dropping bombs in the vicinity of the post.

So why can't the UN join the probe? This is what Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador in New York was quoted by Ha'aretz as saying:
Israel has never agreed to a joint investigation, and I don't think that if
anything happened in this country, or in Britain or in Italy or in France, the
government of that country would agree to a joint investigation.
Nice going, Dan, except the UN post was not in Israel but in Lebanon.

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