4.9.06
To:
Mr. Mani Mazuz
The Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice
Re: The firing of cluster bombs on South Lebanon
1. As the fighting in southern Lebanon stopped, the bomb-disposal unit of the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center began its operation to identify and clear the remaining bombs in the area, and any other undetonated explosive material that was fired by the Israeli army during the course of the war in Lebanon. The work of the unit is designed to prevent, or at least minimize, the danger that is posed by the explosive material to the lives of innocent civilians, who are returning to their homes.
2. According to reports from the bomb-disposal unit, some 400 sites in south Lebanon have been located, within which there at least 100 submunitions (from cluster bombs) that have been identified and did not detonate. Additional reports by the U.N. stated that more than 90% of the cluster bombs were fired in the last 72 hours of the conflict. Cluster bombs were also used in the heart of built-up residential territory, or in close proximity to it.
3. International human rights organizations, including teams from Amnesty International (herein AI), and Human Rights Watch (herein HRW), also confirmed reports that cluster bombs had been used in residential territory in South Lebanon.
4. Thus, for example, on August 17, 2006, HRW published a report which stated that:
“In Kfar Roumanne, Human Rights Watch researchers examined two areas that had been struck by Israeli cluster munitions. One site was among civilian homes on the edge of the village. Around two homes, Human Rights Watch researchers saw at least six impact marks from submunitions that had exploded, as well as four unexploded hazardous dud submunitions lying in the front yard of one house, and another on a tin roof nearby. Apparently no one was injured in that attack, since the residents had left the village by July 28.”
The report also noted that:
“Human Rights Watch inspected the components of one projectile, which appeared to be a U.S.-manufactured M483 155mm artillery shell, which carries 64 M42 and 24 M46 submunitions. About two dozens hazardous submunition duds were visible in the area. Unexploded M42 cluster submunitions found outside the town of Kfar Roummane on August 15, 2006. These dud submunitions are extremely dangerous and may detonate if touched or moved. The presence or sighting of one is an absolute confirmation that there are many others in the immediate vicinity.”
5. On August 31, 2006, AI published a press release, which explicitly states that:
“Amnesty International delegates in Lebanon have found numerous unexploded cluster bombs in villages and even, in some cases, inside homes.”
6. The use of cluster bombs within residential areas constitutes a severe violation of the fundamental principles upon which International Humanitarian Law is based, or even the raison d’‘etre of this branch of law, i.e. the principle of distinction, which distinguishes between a civilian population and combatants, and between military and civilian targets.
7. The principle of distinction is set forth, among other sections, in Section 57 of the first Protocol of the Geneva Convention, which relates to the protection of the civilian population in international armed conflicts:
4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:
a. Those which are not directed at a specific military objective;
b. Those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
c. Those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.
5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:
a. An attack or bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects.
8. The use of cluster bombs in populated areas violates the provisions stipulated in Section 57 (see above) in two ways: Firstly, cluster munitions have a very wide dispersal pattern (as a result of the multiple submunitions (small bombs) that make a single cluster bomb), and therefore cannot be accurately directed at concrete military targets. Secondly, the unexploded ordinance that is left behind after a cluster bomb strike turns the targeted territory into a minefield. According to the information that was published in the HRW press release, the detonation failure rate for cluster bombs, which were supplied to Israel by the U.S.A., is 14%. In other words, 14% of the cluster bomb’‘s submunitions do not explode upon impact.
9. The deliberate killing of civilians, or the causing of deliberate injury represents a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and its first Protocol, or more specifically, an extremely grave war crime, which gives rise to universal jurisdiction. The International Criminal Tribunals that were founded by the United Nations, ruled unequivocally that the term “willful” must not be interpreted in a such a narrow way that it would require evidence of a clear intention to injure or kill civilians, but rather that recklessness is enough to establish criminal intent (mens rea).
10. The firing of cluster bombs in urban areas with complete disregard for the dangers they pose to the lives of innocent civilians, establishes, prima facie, sufficient criminal intent to carry out the deliberate killing or injury of innocent civilians.
In light of that set forth above, we respectfully request that you:
a. Issue instructions to open an investigation into the circumstances behind the decision to use cluster bombs in South Lebanon, and to examine the level of personal responsibility for all those involved in the firing of these weapons, including the political echelons, in the event that they authorized their use.
b. Instruct the relevant bodies of their obligation to provide the United Nations with a map outlining the areas in which the bombs were fired so as to prevent future injury to innocent civilians.
Yours sincerely
Adv. Sonia Boulos
last updated : 07/09/06
