27 November 2006
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has said in a newspaper interview that Israel could be considered deserving of more blame for its actions in the Lebanon war than Hezbollah. In an interview with the "Jerusalem Post", Arbour said: "In one case you could have, for instance, a very objectionable intent - the intent to harm civilians, which is very bad - but effectively not a lot of harm is actually achieved. But how can you compare that with a case where you may not have an intent but you have recklessness [in which] civilian casualties are foreseeable? The culpability or the intent may not sound as severe, but the actual harm is catastrophic."
Asked by the "Jerusalem Post" if there was a distinction under human rights law between missile attacks aimed at killing civilians and military strikes in which civilians are unintentionally killed, the UN human rights chief said the two could not be equated. Arbour spoke to the newspaper in Tel Aviv after completing a five-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The visit came on the heels of international condemnation and charges of human rights violations following an IDF strike in Beit Hanun in which 19 civilians were accidentally killed. According to criminal law, "there is very little distinction between recklessness and intent," she said. "It is a small distinction as to whether you desire the result, or you foresee it as virtually certain and you do not care. In terms of culpability there is not a lot of difference between recklessness and intent." Arbour indicated that this could mean that Israel was guilty of human rights violations for its actions in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the first day of a ceasefire between the Palestinian Authority and Israel ended with an air of careful optimism, on both sides, according to media reports. "No one is euphoric, because we know and have experienced that someone will try to challenge this ceasefire," political sources in Jerusalem told "Ynet News". On Sunday morning, despite the ceasefire, radical Palestinians launched a number of rockets at the western Negev. The temporary violation of the ceasefire did not provoke a response by the Israeli military. Sources close to prime minister Ehud Olmert said that there were positive developments on a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas: "I think such a meeting is closer than ever," a senior official from the prime minister's office was quoted by "Ynet News" as saying.
