Israel's blockade of Lebanon, Palestine against international law: UN official

People's Daily Online ^ | 7/15/2006 | Xinhua

[Woodstock]

Israel's military blockade of Lebanon, as well as the Palestinian territories, was obviously in violation of international law as civilians suffered most from such actions, a senior UN official said here on Friday.

"The law is simple. Civilians must be shielded. Civilians are protected persons. Civilian infrastructure is protected," UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland told a press conference.

"If sealing off borders, if sealing off harbors, if bombing airports first and foremost means that innocent third parties cannot receive goods, cannot travel, cannot get to health facilities, cannot get their daily needs met ... Israel's blockade is obviously wrong" he said.

The UN's top humanitarian aid official also urged the international community to respond to an emergency appeal for aid for the Palestinians and said civilians must be spared in the spiraling Middle East conflict.

"Never before have the Palestinians needed our compassion and solidarity more," he said.

"The crisis in Palestinian areas has been building since 2000, but it has never been worse in this decade than it has over the last few days," he said.

Egeland was speaking to reporters following a meeting of aid agencies and donor governments.

He said the UN was facing a substantial shortfall in its 385-million-U.S. dollar appeal for aid in Palestinian areas.

It has received less than one third of the funding it needs to help deal with a humanitarian crisis caused by escalating violence in the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Egeland condemned Israel's bombing of civilian facilities in Gaza, which he said had paralyzed electricity and water supplies.

The sanitation system in Gaza was falling apart, food and medical supplies were running short and disease rates were climbing, he warned.

He called for international donors to increase funding for the UN's humanitarian agencies.

He also criticized Palestinian militants and their Lebanese counterparts for kidnapping Israeli soldiers and launching rocket attacks into Israel.

"They should understand that there will be a response. It seems they want to provoke a response and they don't seem to care the slightest bit that it is the children, the women, the civilians that bear the brunt," he said.

He urged all parties in the conflict to exercise restraint.

[bray]

Too bad the UN isn't as aggressive against their own atrocities in Africa and Iraq!

Pray for W and Our Troops
Shalom Israel

[kcvl]

He has also been Chair of Amnesty International in Norway, and Vice-Chair of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International.

He served as Director for the International Department of the Norwegian Red Cross, Head of Development Studies at the Henry Dunant Institute in Geneva and a radio and television international news reporter for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem.

In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 "people who shape our world".[1]

[daybreakcoming]

I don't think there are civilians. Just terrorist who are not activly involved.

Most likely right.
Like your tagline

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I smell a resolution coming. Israel better be carefull. Ask N. Korea how stinging they can be.

[Godzilla]

This dufus needs to spend a night in northern Israeli in a bomb shelter.

[SMM48]

The UN is nothing but a worthless financial drain on the US. They should pack up and leave. I'm sure the French or Russkies would take them. Just today they passed a unanimous resolution against North Korea. Within 45 minutes North Korea responded with the middle finger. It will probably take another 11 days before the UN figures out that they have been dissed. Pathetic.

[giobruno]

I'm going to say this quietly, but inwardly I am shouting it at the top of my lungs in a purple rage: when your adversaries knowingly and intentionally plot their attacks from within civilian populations because they realize 1) That they wouldn't have a chance if they stood apart from the women and children, and 2) That the death of noncombatants is a key part of their strategy, then they forfeit all rights as soldiers and become, instead, terrorists. Terrorists willingly endanger civilians by hiding among civilians and risking their lives as a point of strategy; soldiers try to steer clear of helpless people running for cover. This distinction must be articulated as the first and central point of argument; Hezbollah got those people killed, not Israel.

[COBOL2Java]

This just in! The American invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was also a blatant violation of international law!

[MrLee]

As far as I'm concerned the UN can go pound ****!

[COBOL2Java]

...According to the UN, that is...

[topher]

The people reporting this news think it is great to kill convicts for their organs and harvest them. They also help North Korea with returning people who have escaped from North Korea by putting wires in the bodies of these people who have escaped so the North Koreans can torture the people on the way back to North Korea by pulling on the wires.

I will not elaborate more - but it is the People's Republic of China that is complaining that this is a violation of International Law - the same people who will execute their own citizens for owning a Bible.

How does one spell Hypocrite anyway?

[Enchante]

"...UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland told a press conference."

Hey, Jan, just STFU you worthless vomit-inducing snivelling weasel. Where were you when Israeli civilians endured thousands of terror bombings and rocket attacks (still ongoing)???? Why don't you volunteer to be a human shield for Hezbollah and leave the war-fighting decisions to the grown-ups?

[fix]

Take the number of reported civilian casualties and subtract 20% to account for real, regrettable civilian casualties. The number you are left with is probably close to the number of terrorists killed. It is quite clear to me that the media is reporting Hezbollah casualties as civilian casualties.

[Shermy]

Where's the criticism of Egypt?

[Moose4]

To paraphrase a World War II Luftwaffe song...

"Bomben auf Egeland."

}:-)4

[pabianice]

Hey, UN, STFU! You have had NO problem with years of Pali shelling of Israeli civilians. Go back under your damp rock.

[Let's Roll]

Yes, the killing of civilians by suicide bombers is probably against international law too. I say probably because the socialist run, muzzie ridden UN never seemed concerned when the civilians were Israelis.

[dirtboy]

"The law is simple. Civilians must be shielded. Civilians are protected persons. Civilian infrastructure is protected," UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland told a press conference.

Hey, Jan - did you denounce Hizbollah firing rockets into Israel?

Plus, I thought the UN charter allowed for countries to defend themselves from offensive actions.