from http://hrw.org/campaigns/israel_lebanon/ Israel - Lebanon Conflict
This page pulls together all the work done by Human Rights Watch on the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, including reports, news releases, a Q and A on the hostilities, and opinion articles. Human Rights Watch has an important role to play in meticulously documenting the actions of all parties to the conflict and evaluating them with objectivity under the requirements of international humanitarian law (the laws of war). Human Rights Watch began its investigations shortly after the fighting broke out on July 12. Human Rights Watch has researchers in Lebanon and Israel so as to be able to research and document the conduct of all parties to the conflict.
U.N.: Open Independent Inquiry into Civilian Deaths
(New York, August 8, 2006) – The United Nations should immediately launch an international investigation into civilian deaths in Lebanon and northern Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan concluded that the effects of the conflict on civilians in Lebanon and Israel require a comprehensive investigation. Read More
Israel/Lebanon: Hezbollah Must End Attacks on Civilians
(New York, August 5, 2006) - Hezbollah must immediately stop firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. Entering the fourth week of attacks, such rockets have claimed 30 civilian lives, including six children, and wounded hundreds more. Read More
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"Fog of War Is No Cover for Causing Civilian Deaths" By Kenneth Roth
(New York, August 4, 2006) - The awful bloodshed and intense emotions of war are not conducive to careful moral reasoning. With Hezbollah rockets raining down on northern Israel, an honest reckoning of the conduct of Israeli forces in Lebanon is difficult. Facile arguments and serious misconceptions, like those listed below, are too easily accepted. But given the stakes, it is especially important to cut through these misunderstandings. Read More
REPORT - Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon
(Beirut, August 3, 2006) - This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July 12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana. During this period, the IDF killed an estimated 400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, and that number climbed to over 500 by the time this report went to print. The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and civilians. Full Report
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Israel/Lebanon: End Indiscriminate Strikes on Civilians
(Beirut, August 3, 2006) – Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said in report released today. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes. Read More
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"For Israel, Innocent Civilians Are Fair Game" Peter Bouckaert
(Tyre, Lebanon, August 3, 2006) - The voice of Mohammed Shalhoub, 61, a farmer from Qana, still quivers with shock and exhaustion. He was in a basement shelter with more than 60 relatives when two Israeli bombs hit, killing at least 28, including 16 children. As I interview him in hospital, relatives arrive with more news of the victims. A woman starts screaming as she looks at the pictures of the dead and Mohammed's eyes well up with tears. Read More
Published in the International Herald Tribune
Lebanon/Israel: IDF Fails to Explain Qana Bombing
(Beirut, August 3, 2006) – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) inquiry into the July 30 killing of at least 28 civilians in Qana is incomplete and legally misguided, and contradicts eyewitness testimony, Human Rights Watch said today. The findings underline the need for an independent international inquiry into what took place. Read More
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Israel/Lebanon: Qana Death Toll at 28
(Beirut, August 2, 2006) – A preliminary Human Rights Watch investigation into the July 30 Israeli air strike in Qana found that 28 people are confirmed dead thus far, among them 16 children, Human Rights Watch said today. Read More
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"White Flags, Not a Legitimate Target" by Peter Bouckaert
(Beirut, July 31, 2006) –Day after day, Israeli government spokesmen insist that everything they are doing accords with international humanitarian law. Endless communiqués insist that Israel's behaviour is "proportionate". Let us be blunt: those claims are fantasy, as the carnage in Qana has shown once again. Read More
Published in Guardian Unlimited
Israel/Lebanon: Israel Responsible for Qana Attack
(Beirut, July 30, 2006) – Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians. Read More
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Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah
(Beirut, July 28, 2006) - Since July 12, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in consistent and intense hostilities in which civilians in Lebanon and Israel have overwhelmingly been the victims. Read More
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Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon
(Beirut, July 24, 2006) – Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border. Read More
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Advocacy Letters:
Human Rights Watch has expressed grave concern about attacks on civilians and respect for international humanitarian law by both Israel and Hezbollah. The organization has written to the governments of the United States, Syria and Iran, asking them to use their influence on both sides to promote respect for the laws of war during the current conflict.
Letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the Crisis in Lebanon
July 22, 2006
Letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Asad on the Conflict in LebanonJuly 26, 2006
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Letter to President Ahmadinejad on Israel - Lebanon ConflictJuly 26, 2006
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Lebanon/Israel: Israel Must Allow Civilians Safe Passage
(Beirut, July 21, 2006) – Israel must allow civilians safe passage out of Lebanon's embattled south, Human Rights Watch said today. Warnings by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to civilians that they must evacuate southern Lebanon within 24 hours do not absolve Israel of the duty to avoid attacks likely to cause indiscriminate or disproportionate loss of civilian life. Read More
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Lebanon/Israel: Israel Must Provide Safe Passage to Relief Convoys
(Beirut, July 20, 2006) – Israel must allow relief convoys safe entry into and passage inside Lebanon, and take all feasible precautions to avoid attacking them, Human Rights Watch said today. Border towns in Lebanon are already facing serious shortages of food and medicine, and are in urgent need of supplies. Read More
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians
(New York, July 18, 2006) – Hezbollah's attacks in Israel on Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Read More
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Audio Commentary
Israel: Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon
(Beirut, July 17, 2006) – The Israel Defense Forces should provide details about a bombing on Saturday that killed 16 people in a convoy of civilians fleeing a Lebanese village near Israel’s border, Human Rights Watch said today. Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians fleeing areas at risk. Read More
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Lebanon/Israel: Do Not Attack Civilians
(New York, July 13, 2006) — Hezbollah and Israel must not under any circumstances attack civilians in Israel and Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on all sides to scrupulously respect the absolute prohibition against targeting civilians or carrying out attacks that indiscriminately harm civilians. Read More
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