Israel May Have Violated Arms Pact, U.S. Officials Say
Israel May Have Violated Arms Pact, U.S. Officials Say
By DAVID S. CLOUD and GREG MYRE
January 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/world/middleeast/28cluster.html?
hp&ex=1169960400&en=c7ea6c796f1513fc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 — The Bush administration will inform Congress on
Monday that Israel may have violated agreements with the United
States when it fired American-supplied cluster munitions into
southern Lebanon during its fight with Hezbollah last summer, the
State Department said Saturday.
The finding, though preliminary, has prompted a contentious debate
within the administration over whether the United States should
penalize Israel for its use of cluster munitions against towns and
villages where Hezbollah had placed its rocket launchers.
Cluster munitions are anti-personnel weapons that scatter tiny but
deadly bomblets over a wide area. The grenadelike munitions, tens of
thousands of which have been found in southern Lebanon, have caused
30 deaths and 180 injuries among civilians since the end of the war,
according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.
Midlevel officials at the Pentagon and the State Department have
argued that Israel violated American prohibitions on using cluster
munitions against populated areas, according to officials who
described the deliberations. But other officials in both departments
contend that Israel's use of the weapons was for self-defense and
aimed at stopping the Hezbollah rocket attacks that killed 159
Israeli citizens and at worst was only a technical violation.
Any sanctions against Israel would be an extraordinary move by the
Bush administration, a strong backer of Israel, and several officials
said they expected little further action, if any, on the matter.
But sanctions against Israel for misusing the weapons would not be
unprecedented. The Reagan administration imposed a six-year ban on
cluster-weapon sales to Israel in 1982, after a Congressional
investigation found that Israel had used the weapons in civilian
areas during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. One option under
discussion is to bar additional sales of cluster munitions for some
period, an official said.
The State Department is required to notify Congress even of
preliminary findings of possible violations of the Arms Export
Control Act, the statute governing arms sales. It began an
investigation in August.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that the
notification to Congress would occur Monday but that a final
determination about whether Israel violated the agreements on use of
cluster bombs was still being debated.
"It is important to remember the kind of war Hezbollah waged," he
said. "They used innocent civilians as a way to shield their
fighters."
Even if Israel is found to be in violation, the statute gives
President Bush discretion about whether to impose sanctions, unless
Congress decides to take legislative action. Israel makes its own
cluster munitions, so a cutoff of American supplies would have mainly
symbolic significance.
Israel gave the State Department a dozen-page report late last year
in which it acknowledged firing thousands of American cluster
munitions into southern Lebanon but denied violating agreements that
prohibit their use in civilian areas, the officials said. The cluster
munitions included artillery shells, rockets and bombs dropped from
aircraft, many of which had been sold to Israel years ago, one
official said.
Before firing at rocket sites in towns and villages, the Israeli
report said, the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning civilians
of the attacks. The report, which has not previously been disclosed,
also noted that many of the villages were deserted because civilians
had fled the fighting, the officials said.
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said
Israel "provided a detailed response to the administration's request
for information" on its use of cluster munitions "to halt Hezbollah's
unprovoked rockets attacks against our civilian populations centers."
He added, "Israel suffered heavy casualties in these attacks and
acted as any government would in exercise of its right to self-
defense."
John Hillen, who was assistant secretary of state in charge of the
bureau until he resigned this month, told Bloomberg News in December
that Israel had provided "great cooperation" in the
investigation. "From their perspective, use of the munitions was
clearly done within the agreements," he said.
Another administration official said the investigation had
caused "head-butting" involving the Bureau of Political-Military
Affairs and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State
Department, as well as Pentagon arms sales officials. Some
officials "are trying to find a way to not have to call this a
substantial violation," the official said.
In particular, the State Department has asked Israel for additional
information on reports that commanders and troops violated orders
that restricted how cluster bombs could be used, an official said. In
November, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the chief of staff of the Israeli
military until his resignation on Jan. 17, ordered an investigation
into whether restrictions on use of the weapons were ignored by some
units.
That investigation is still under way, and military officials have
refused to divulge any details in public.
Israel's Channel 2 television reported in December that the
military's judge advocate general was gathering evidence for possible
criminal charges against military officers who might have ordered
cluster bombs fired into populated areas.
Israel has told the State Department that it originally tried
targeted strikes against Hezbollah rocket sites, but those proved
ineffective.
Heavy use of cluster bombs was tried instead, to kill or maim
Hezbollah fighters manning the launchers. Israeli commanders employed
cluster weapons because they suspected that they would flee after
firing their rockets. Even those attacks failed to stop the rockets
barrages.
The agreements that govern Israel's use of American cluster munitions
go back to the 1970s. But the details, which have been revised
several times, are classified.
However, officials said that the agreements specified that cluster
weapons could not be used in populated areas, in part because of the
risk to civilians after a conflict is over if the bomblets fail to
self-destruct, as they are designed to do.
The agreements said the munitions be used only against organized
armies and clearly defined military targets under conditions similar
to the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, when Israel arguably faced
threats to its survival, officials said.
Since the end of last summer's war, de-mining team have located 800
cluster-bomb strike areas, and they destroyed 95,000 bomblets, said
Christopher Clark, program manager for the United Nations Mine Action
Service in Lebanon.
"We found them pretty much everywhere — in villages, at road
junctions, in olive groves and on banana plantations," Mr. Clark
said.
The casualty rate has come down sharply, he said. Right after the
war, there were more than 40 casualties a week; now it is about 3 or
4 a week.
Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty International in London,
said older American cluster weapons used by Israel during the war did
not reliably self-destruct, compared with Israel's own cluster
munitions, which are newer and are said to have a much lower dud rate.
"We've asked them to release detailed maps on where the cluster bombs
were used," Ms. Rovera said of the Israeli military. "That the one
thing that could help speed up the cleanup process."
David S. Cloud reported from Washington, and Greg Myre from Jerusalem.
By DAVID S. CLOUD and GREG MYRE
January 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.
hp&ex=1169960400&
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 — The Bush administration will inform Congress on
Monday that Israel may have violated agreements with the United
States when it fired American-supplied cluster munitions into
southern Lebanon during its fight with Hezbollah last summer, the
State Department said Saturday.
The finding, though preliminary, has prompted a contentious debate
within the administration over whether the United States should
penalize Israel for its use of cluster munitions against towns and
villages where Hezbollah had placed its rocket launchers.
Cluster munitions are anti-personnel weapons that scatter tiny but
deadly bomblets over a wide area. The grenadelike munitions, tens of
thousands of which have been found in southern Lebanon, have caused
30 deaths and 180 injuries among civilians since the end of the war,
according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.
Midlevel officials at the Pentagon and the State Department have
argued that Israel violated American prohibitions on using cluster
munitions against populated areas, according to officials who
described the deliberations. But other officials in both departments
contend that Israel's use of the weapons was for self-defense and
aimed at stopping the Hezbollah rocket attacks that killed 159
Israeli citizens and at worst was only a technical violation.
Any sanctions against Israel would be an extraordinary move by the
Bush administration, a strong backer of Israel, and several officials
said they expected little further action, if any, on the matter.
But sanctions against Israel for misusing the weapons would not be
unprecedented. The Reagan administration imposed a six-year ban on
cluster-weapon sales to Israel in 1982, after a Congressional
investigation found that Israel had used the weapons in civilian
areas during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. One option under
discussion is to bar additional sales of cluster munitions for some
period, an official said.
The State Department is required to notify Congress even of
preliminary findings of possible violations of the Arms Export
Control Act, the statute governing arms sales. It began an
investigation in August.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that the
notification to Congress would occur Monday but that a final
determination about whether Israel violated the agreements on use of
cluster bombs was still being debated.
"It is important to remember the kind of war Hezbollah waged," he
said. "They used innocent civilians as a way to shield their
fighters."
Even if Israel is found to be in violation, the statute gives
President Bush discretion about whether to impose sanctions, unless
Congress decides to take legislative action. Israel makes its own
cluster munitions, so a cutoff of American supplies would have mainly
symbolic significance.
Israel gave the State Department a dozen-page report late last year
in which it acknowledged firing thousands of American cluster
munitions into southern Lebanon but denied violating agreements that
prohibit their use in civilian areas, the officials said. The cluster
munitions included artillery shells, rockets and bombs dropped from
aircraft, many of which had been sold to Israel years ago, one
official said.
Before firing at rocket sites in towns and villages, the Israeli
report said, the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning civilians
of the attacks. The report, which has not previously been disclosed,
also noted that many of the villages were deserted because civilians
had fled the fighting, the officials said.
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said
Israel "provided a detailed response to the administration'
for information" on its use of cluster munitions "to halt Hezbollah's
unprovoked rockets attacks against our civilian populations centers."
He added, "Israel suffered heavy casualties in these attacks and
acted as any government would in exercise of its right to self-
defense."
John Hillen, who was assistant secretary of state in charge of the
bureau until he resigned this month, told Bloomberg News in December
that Israel had provided "great cooperation" in the
investigation. "From their perspective, use of the munitions was
clearly done within the agreements," he said.
Another administration official said the investigation had
caused "head-butting" involving the Bureau of Political-Military
Affairs and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State
Department, as well as Pentagon arms sales officials. Some
officials "are trying to find a way to not have to call this a
substantial violation," the official said.
In particular, the State Department has asked Israel for additional
information on reports that commanders and troops violated orders
that restricted how cluster bombs could be used, an official said. In
November, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the chief of staff of the Israeli
military until his resignation on Jan. 17, ordered an investigation
into whether restrictions on use of the weapons were ignored by some
units.
That investigation is still under way, and military officials have
refused to divulge any details in public.
Israel's Channel 2 television reported in December that the
military's judge advocate general was gathering evidence for possible
criminal charges against military officers who might have ordered
cluster bombs fired into populated areas.
Israel has told the State Department that it originally tried
targeted strikes against Hezbollah rocket sites, but those proved
ineffective.
Heavy use of cluster bombs was tried instead, to kill or maim
Hezbollah fighters manning the launchers. Israeli commanders employed
cluster weapons because they suspected that they would flee after
firing their rockets. Even those attacks failed to stop the rockets
barrages.
The agreements that govern Israel's use of American cluster munitions
go back to the 1970s. But the details, which have been revised
several times, are classified.
However, officials said that the agreements specified that cluster
weapons could not be used in populated areas, in part because of the
risk to civilians after a conflict is over if the bomblets fail to
self-destruct, as they are designed to do.
The agreements said the munitions be used only against organized
armies and clearly defined military targets under conditions similar
to the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, when Israel arguably faced
threats to its survival, officials said.
Since the end of last summer's war, de-mining team have located 800
cluster-bomb strike areas, and they destroyed 95,000 bomblets, said
Christopher Clark, program manager for the United Nations Mine Action
Service in Lebanon.
"We found them pretty much everywhere — in villages, at road
junctions, in olive groves and on banana plantations,
said.
The casualty rate has come down sharply, he said. Right after the
war, there were more than 40 casualties a week; now it is about 3 or
4 a week.
Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty International in London,
said older American cluster weapons used by Israel during the war did
not reliably self-destruct, compared with Israel's own cluster
munitions, which are newer and are said to have a much lower dud rate.
"We've asked them to release detailed maps on where the cluster bombs
were used," Ms. Rovera said of the Israeli military. "That the one
thing that could help speed up the cleanup process."
David S. Cloud reported from Washington, and Greg Myre from Jerusalem.
posted by peaceandjustice2005 at 2:15 AM
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