Qana again

The symmetry of yesterday's bombing of Qana, in which more than 50 Lebanese civilians died, and Israel's shelling of the same village ten years ago, in which more than 100 civilians were killed, has escaped no one — even though the precise terms of the comparison are being vigorously debated.

On April 18, 1996, 106 Lebanese civilians, many of them women and children, died when a UN compound in Qana, defended by a battalion of Fijian soldiers, came under concentrated attack from Israeli artillery. The Israeli army claimed that rockets had been fired from the village shortly before.

A subsequent UN investigation found that 17 explosions had taken place either above or very near to the compound. Most of the shells were equipped with "proximity fuses", which made them explode before they hit the ground and therefore particularly lethal to the 800 or so people sheltering in the UN buildings.

Major-General Franklin van Kappen, who carried out the UN inquiry, found that the artillery fire, apparently guided by an Israeli unmanned aircraft, had increasingly focused on the compound throughout the bombardment and that it was "unlikely" that the targeting had been a mistake.

As with yesterday's bombing, the raid on Qana was part of a short, though lesser, offensive against Hezbollah and a range of Lebanese Shia militias. Operation "Grapes of Wrath", as it was known, was launched by the then Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, after weeks of intensifying exchanges of rocket and artillery fire between the Israeli Defence Forces and Hezbollah.

Forty-eight hours after the Qana massacre in 1996, Operation Grapes of Wrath came to an end. The 2006 shelling of Qana appears likely to bring about a similar ceasefire. As The New York Times reported today: “Qana was already a martyrs’ town." But here, consensus ends.

This time Israeli officials are determined this time to stand by the fact that the civilians of Qana were being used by Hezbollah as human shields and that they knew the village was going to be bombed. The Israeli army, likewise, has made no denial that the building where the civilians were sheltering was their intended target.

As Naomi Ragen writes in today's Haaretz: "Terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about civilian casualties, since all they have is one goal: this entire war is to target civilians."

But as The Jerusalem Post points out today, the outcome of the second Qana bombing, like the first, is not under Israel's control: "Ultimately, it will be Condoleezza Rice and George Bush who decide whether Israel will be allowed to exorcise the ghosts of Qana," the newspaper writes.

The Daily Star, in Beirut, says that with the second tragedy "the idea of forgetting has become all the more unthinkable".

For more on the first Qana bombing, read Robert Fisk's eyewitness account, the first and most important Western coverage of the massacre. The UN report is here. Time magazine followed the report with this excellent analysis. Amnesty International later published this report on civilian casualties during Operation Grapes of Wrath.

Comments

[zahraa]

To all the people who sent there disgusting comments.
I am very offended of how you people think. How can u judge people that you don’t even know? How can u judge Sayid Hassan Nasrallah, a very religious person, who follows his religion? Please understand something; Islam is not about terrorism it is about peace. Israel bombed all of Lebanon, even in places where Hezbollah were not apart of. Why where there more deaths in Lebanon then in Israel? Why were there more children that have died in the war in Lebanon then in Israel? This wasn’t the first time Hezbollah has kidnapped Israeli people; Lebanon and Israel have negotiated before about freeing Lebanese civilians imprisoned in Israel, which still remain there until now. Where were the Lebanese civilians supposed to go? Israel bombed everywhere. And Hezbollah did offer to return the solders but it was Israel who said no, so get your facts right. The second day of the war Israel bombed schools and they bombed ambulances going to hospitals in Lebanon, why aren’t the Israel’s classified as gorillas or terrorists, ooooppppssss I forgot there not Muslims it’s only the Muslims who are classified as terrorists. Islam isn’t about terrorism, nor will it ever be. Our Quran (Muslim bible) has been the same for many decades ago, nothing will change. Please have a read of it and see for yourself if there is anything in it about killing or terrorism they are also translated in English. Our prophet Muhammed, the messenger of islam was neighbors with a Christian. Did any of you know that in the Jewish religion it is believed that Lebanon, Syria and what is left of Palestine are Promised Land for them?, that it is meant to be for them and they will take over those countries, it isn’t there land. Isn’t that apart of terrorism? I hope I have reflected some things you didn’t know. I hope you can understand what Islam is about and what Hezbollah is doing; it is just trying to free the Lebanese people in Israel. And lastly I leave you all with a question what would you do if your people where imprisoned in another country for over 20 years?

[Ellis]

"Can someone please enlighten me to why the American, Jewish, and British lives are more valued than the rest of humanity; because it will help me understand Why the Lebanese children deserved to die in their sleep; and afterwards, the rest of the World continues to watch and sip on Tea and Coffee....and simply say: "What happened in Lebanon is horrible...well, I have Cuban cigars, do you want one?"
You seem to miss the point here, its not that jewish blood or english blood or any blood has more worth- Israel is under existential threat- the words of Nassrallah and Rafsanjani may seem like ramblings of lunatics but trust me on this they mean business, at some point in time someone will press the button and then you will ask yourselves a differnet question " how did we allow another 6 million Israelis to die"
the fact that the cowardly hizbollah uses innocent civilians as human sheilds doesn't do much for their cause. The fact that they are part of the lebanese government(holding ministerial seats in the coalition) doesn't do much for their cause, and please tell me what an ostensibly political organisation is doing with 13,000 short to medium range missiles ?
Israel just happens to be on the front lines of a war- which if it loses may signal the end of western civilisation as we know it.
There is only one real solution to the middle east problem, and it lies not in the hands of the United Nations nor in the hands of the US senate or the British parliament- it lies oddly enough in the R&D labs of silicon valley and major corporations.
A sustainable souce of reusable energy not based on oil economics will change the face of international diplomacy- as long as we need the middle eastern oil they will keep playing one western country off against the other- take away their oil then you take away the major source of funding for international terror.

[JohnHeraux]

Gentlemen,
In all wars there are casualties and always the innocent pays an unfair toll.
We deplore the Cana incident and do mourn for those families who lost their loved ones
Hezbolah has the perfect right to fight Israel; but not from the safety of another sovereign neighbour nation hoping that their acts of war will be protected from retaliation because they operate from the midst of a civilian population in another country.
Israel has the full right and duty to defend and protect its citizens and territory where and whenever a threat is manifested. It is not only the Right and Duty of Israel but of any Nation confronting similar situations.
Thank you

[Michael Galak]

Dear Sir,
there is only one reason for this and all the previous wars in the Middle East - continuous refusal of the Arab States to accept the existence of the modern, prosperous and democratic State in the midst of decrepit and disfunctional medieval countries. These countries, instead of asking - what's wrong with us - blame all their troubles on the West and Israel. Existence of Israel demonstrates the incompetence of the Arab leadership, just like West Berlin demonstrated the incompetence of the Soviets in bringing prosperity and democracy to their people.
Hisballah, paid and equipped by the Iranian and Syrian paymasters are spearheading the war on the West - Israel is just a small interlude in the overall campaign of the spread of militant Islam .

[evelinda urman]

The suffering of any human being is very sad. However, whenever you are going to report on suffering, please include BOTH sides. Also, please use your reporting skills to track down the time line of Qana. Why were children placed in a war zone? Why are they used as shields? Why did the building collapse hours after the strike? I would love to read about this.

[Yehuda]

Israel must defend its civilian population from the thousands of rockets fired directly at civilian targets in Israel. If Hizbollah cared so much about their civilian population then they would stop firing rockets from populated areas. I am sorry for the innocent Lebanese who get hurt, I hope they stay away from Hizbollah.

[Ilana Rosen]

Because of Hizbullah's amoral and cynical use of civilians as shields whilst they hide in fortified bunkers, the world's media has forgotten that Israel did not want this war in the first place. She has to defend the right to live of each and every one of her citizens against a foe who, if they win, will destroy each and every Israeli. Fuad Siniora is as much to blame as Hizbullah, the blood of the Lebanese casualties is on his hands too. Please stop this skewed moral equivalency and look beyond the playing to the gallery which is another underhand way Hizbullah fights this war.

[John]

Hezbollah terrorists dress in civilian clothing and use densly populated areas as launching sites for their weapons. As long as Hezbollah uses civilians as a shield and source of propaganda, they are responsible for any resultant civilian deaths. See this article ("Photos that damn Hesbollah")in the Australian Herald Sun: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19955774-5007220,00.html

[jerry]

The people that really have no consideration for women and children are the Arab terrorists that are constantly targeting Israeli civilians in towns throughout Northern Israel and then forcibly house their own civilians in locations that they use to either store their own explosives in or that are used as staging areas for firing missiles at the Israeli civilians!
An interesting side-point is that Israel supposedly bombed the building in Qana at midnight, yet according to reports the building was destroyed only "in the early morning hours" - could this have been the Hizboulla explosives that destroyed the building?

[ayelet]

The ones who killed these people are the ones who choose to fire over 100 missiles from there. I guess even the overwhelmingly-ultra-moral France would try to stop whoever is constantly firing missiles on Paris.

[Rachel]

When will arab countries take responsibilitiy for its criminals?
Are the Hizbolla really cowards that they hide behind women and children?

Why is it always Israel's responsibility?
Are the incapable of doing anything?

[Johan Adam Wong]

Contrary to popular belief, Israel's blitzing of Lebanon to get at Hezbollah, and Hezbollah's blasting of Israeli frontier towns and cities with rockets fired from civilian sites is not war. No war is ever fought with civilian targets as primary objective.

I say it again - this is not war. This is wanton senseless murder of innocent people on both sides. Everything the Israeli and Hezbollah perpetrators of violence are doing is simply zeroing-in on civilians caught in the quagmire. The innocents have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. They can only stand where they are and see their homes, families and loved ones mowed down in this senseless slaughter. Qana is a perfect example of the carnage, then and now.

To London's point, I agree that there will be civilian casualties in war, but that, as I've said, is war, not murder. In Lebanon, murder is being committed in broad daylight and given sanction for its purpose and continuance under the banner of war, enobled by both sides of the conflict. What is so noble about this "war" when the mortality rate of civilians far exceeds that of the so-called soldiers and warriors? Maybe it's because there are no soldiers and warriors in this conflict - only cowards.

To Waleg's point, may I add that the Israelis suffer civilian casualties too, though not in as great a number as Lebanese casualties, but they are still civilian casualties nevertheless. So let's not point to to any party and see who has consideration for the innocent victims of this conflict, or who hasn't. At the end of the day, from both sides come civilian casualties, and that is the saddest thing.

In conclusion, my point is that we should not look at this conflict in Lebanon as war, because it is not. It is murder through and through. For in truth, the danger lies not just in the bullets and the bombs but in our collective consciousness when we unthinkingly see this conflict as war. We do injustice to humanity with this view because we are sanctioning the killings as effects of war and justifying the loss of innocent lives as inevitable, and even noble.

In the words of a warmonger in our time, this condition is known as collateral damage. When I first came across these two words, I cringed and asked myself why did our humanity leave us condemed to such barbarism in our words, thoughts and deeds?

[emanuel appel]

a letter from America

Sir,

Hezbollah is a guerilla group that wears no uniform and uses civilian as shields. As such, the civilians will die if anywhere near the terrorists.

Your coverage of Israeli dead or wounded is near non existent. Why? Because you support the stories of "innocent" Arabs victims when they, in fact, voted for and support this terrorist organization. You cannot have it both ways.

1. Return the kidnapped Israeli soldiers
2. Stop bombing Israel

and the killing stops but Hezbollah is not interested, are they?

[Gary]

24 hours in politics is a long time, 48 hours in a ceasefire is all too short.

How ironic that the IDF are just taking delivery of smart bombs and bunker busters. Obviously too late for Qana or maybe the IDF just wants to make deeper holes and get everyone on the next sortie.

Ten years and what have we learned? Nothing just a 50% return on investment as opposed to 1996. 100 in 96 and then 50 in 2006.

Does Ms. Rice do anything else but smile that sickly smile, seems not. The UN needs to get tough on Israel, the US and the UK or they will become a poodle like Blair is to Bush.

Bush condemns Iran/Syria for supplying the foe with weapons when the Crusaders do exactly what they like in gearing up the IDF. Get real. The US wants to retain a foot hold in the Arab states so that it can monitor what is going on and then gets bent out of shape when attacked.

80% of these attacks are due to the US involvement in the Middle East or for backing Israel. It is a self perpetuating sales cycle and dollars to Raytheon, GE etc. and in turn taxes to the US.

I am a Westerner and a Christian so have no axe to grind with the Jews or the Arabs but surely putting a thorn in the side of the Arab world by locating the state of Israel in Palestine was always a mistake. Why not relocate the state of Israel in to the US then they can become the 52nd state of America after the UK becomes the 51st.

[Gerardo Esguerra]

Why were civilians still there? in spite of the warnings? in spite of it being a known war zone? Were they being held captive? being used as human shields? As a civilian myself, I can only blame those civilians who died for being in a place which they should have abandoned days ago.

[Collins, MD, USA]

Can someone please enlighten me to why the American, Jewish, and British lives are more valued than the rest of humanity; because it will help me understand Why the Lebanese children deserved to die in their sleep; and afterwards, the rest of the World continues to watch and sip on Tea and Coffee....and simply say: "What happened in Lebanon is horrible...well, I have Cuban cigars, do you want one?"
Or is it just my imagination that humans are just as primitive as they were hundreds of years ago, and NOT better than the animals of the Serengeti (as we claim to be)? Or is it simply that we are still annoyingly evolving and we are not yet able to COMPLETELY understand/empathize how it feels to kiss your children goodnight, and promise to take them to School in the morning but only to wake up in the morning to bury them?....Now it is apparent that we are not yet able to grasp that REAL "feeling" OF HUMANITY if the occurence is thousands of miles away...especially, if the blood that flows in the children is NOT the same as ours, biologically, geographically, and otherwise. 500 Lebanese killed; 50 Israelites killed.
Value: 1 Jewish "blood" is Equivalent to 10 Lebanese "blood".
Scenario 1: 56 American civilians mostly children killed: BOMBING stops IMMEDIATELY.
Scenario 2: repeat Scenario 1 for Jewish, and British.
Current Scenario: Bombing continues...because the number of Lebanese deaths has NOT reached the optimum EQUIVALENT for cease fire CRY from the Western World.
At this moment I wish I belonged to the Serengeti, because nobody would expect much from me as an animal in the Wild...and I will not CLAIM "Civilization".

[From London]

War is war is war. Give an example of a war in which women and children did not die.

As long as leaders of countries are prepared to act irresponsibly and as long as war is condoned and even egged on there will continue to be wars.

The war in Lebanon is not the only war going on in the world today. Is it?

[fadi]

why you did not put any photo of qana and show your people what israel is doing?

[WALEG]

It seems Qana second massacre won't do any difference to the current events since all Israeli Prime Ministers have no consideration to women and children...