Dead UN observers from China, Canada, Finland, Austria

[Bluebear]

...One of the dead was identified as Chinese U.N. observer Du Zhaoyu, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Israel's ambassador to Beijing was summoned Wednesday morning and asked to convey China's request that Israel fully investigate the incident and issue an apology to the victim's relatives...

The other three observers were from Austria, Canada and Finland.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman expressed his "deep regret" for the deaths and denied the post was intentionally targeted.

Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble, but Israeli firing "continued even during the rescue operation," Struger said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060726/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_un_observers
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1153864209424&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

[jsamuel]

1. They died for a failed policy.

:cry:

Suicide Anti-Terrorism

[Poll_Blind]

2. "continued even during the rescue operation,"? Good lord. n/t

PB

[Erika]

3. A product of the Israelis aggression

The U.N. says the deaths were deliberate.

[Tom Joad]

4. They died for a criminal policy. Israel has habit of killing UN workers

http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/ec448fb0412356b085256c87006385d1!OpenDocument
6 December 2002
2 UN workers among 10 killed in Israeli raid on Gaza camp

6 December – Ten people were killed, including two staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), during an Israeli military assault today which drew immediate condemnation from UN officials.

Reacting to Israel's deadly raid on Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen noted that the Agency's tragic death toll has now risen to five staff members in the course of this year.

"This loss of civilian lives, of people working for a humanitarian UN agency, is completely unacceptable," he said. "I must condemn what appears to be the indiscriminate use of heavy firepower in a densely populated civilian area." He pledged that UNRWA would carry out a detailed inquiry into the deaths.

Osama Hassan Tahrawi was a school attendant at UNRWA's Bureij Boys' Preparatory School. Initial reports indicate that the 31-year old was killed by a rocket fired from a helicopter while he was standing in his yard watching the military operation.

Mr. Tahrawi, who was killed with another six friends and relatives, was not armed and had no connection either with any militant organization or with the families whose homes were being targeted during the incursion, according to the Agency.

Ahlam Riziq Kandil, 32, was a school teacher in UNRWA's Bureij Elementary Co-educational school. Reports received by UNRWA indicate that she was hit while in her home. She died from her injuries after being taken to hospital.

"The killing of two staff members on the night of the Eid festival has brought great sadness to all of the Agency," UNRWA said in a statement, recalling that their deaths come just two weeks after another UNRWA worker, Iain Hook, was killed by an Israeli soldier in Jenin camp.

[Erika]

5. So much for Israel's supposed concern for civilians n/t

[earth mom]

6. Dead men tell no tales...and thus leave no witnesses.

And this isn't genocide?

:cry:

[cali]

8. It's atrocious

as is the entire Israeli attack on Lebanon and the Occupation, but no it's not genocide, which is a specific term. Actions can be terrible and morally indefensible, and still not meet the criteria for genocide.

[daleo]

7. The Chinese don't seem to be fooling around

"The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Israel's ambassador to Beijing was summoned Wednesday morning and asked to convey China's request that Israel fully investigate the incident and issue an apology to the victim's relatives..."

Canada's new Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper will apologize to the Israeli ambassador, like the Texas lawyer did to Cheney.

[magellan]

9. I'm curious as to what can really be done about this

It's not the first time, and even with all the evidence showing it was very likely intentional there's no sign that anything of consequence can be done to punish Israel. I mean, nothing of consequence was done to Israel in 2002 (mentioned upthread), or to BushCo for its ongoing crimes, all of which the world community is well aware.

If it were Hezbollah, Hamas or al Qaeda who'd done this, someone would already be bombing their hiding places and the hapless nearby civilians with renewed vengeance. But who in the world can stop Israel and the US from continuing to behave like terrorists?! That's what I'd like to know.

[Toots]

14. If the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers is an attack on Israel what is

the killing of four UN Observers? Does the UN now have a right to defend itself by blowing Israel off the face of the planet?

[Zodiak]

10. Those poor Canadians

They are always dying in someone else's war.

[Bluebear]

16. Isn't that the truth?

Great observation.

[malaise]

11. Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israel 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four UN personnel, sources familiar with a UN report say.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling nearby, diplomats familiar with the initial probe into the deaths say.

The news comes during crisis talks in Rome seeking to end the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

The UN secretary general has called for a ceasefire, as fighting continues.

[Philosoraptor]

12. Drawing the whole world in, one corpse at a time.

No mistakes are being made here, it's all according to plan.

[Jacobin]

13. The irony is the UN gave Israel Palestinian lands

And now the purposefully blow them up?

To keep them from reporting the carnage?

[flpoljunkie]

15. BBC: "Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea"

Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 12:56 GMT 13:56 UK


Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday

Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea

Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling nearby, diplomats familiar with the initial probe into the deaths say.

The news came as crisis talks in Rome failed to call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

Reports say up to 13 Israeli soldiers died in the latest fighting.

The four unarmed UN observers from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, died after their UN post was hit by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

The UN report says each time the UN contacted Israeli forces, they were assured the firing would stop.

Israel is conducting an investigation into the deaths, and has rejected accusations made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the targeting of the UN position was "apparently deliberate".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm