The continued killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory could constitute war crimes, the UN's human rights chief said on Wednesday July 19th. "International humanitarian law is clear on the supreme obligation to protect civilians during hostilities," Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights said in a strong-worded statement. "This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity," she said. Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to meet urgently in order to adopt measures to protect civilians caught up in the deepening Israel-Lebanon conflict. The organization deplored the failure of G8 member states to put the protection of civilians above politics in their discussions of the conflict and condemned continuing attacks on civilian by both Israel and Hizbullah.

The two men behind Israel's current actions are Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Some say that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's tactic is to "apply pressure" to the civilian population of Gaza and Lebanon. Collective punishment violates the Hague Convention as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime. Peretz, the man most directly responsible for the IDF's current actions, ran as a Socialist during the last elections in Israel. Ironically, Peretz "was one of the first members of Peace Now, helped found B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, is a signatory to the Geneva Accord, and openly favors entering final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority." The contrast between his recent talk of peace and negotiations and his recent mass slaughter of Lebanese civilians isn't lost on him, but "I'm at peace with myself" Peretz said in a recent interview.

Palestinians under military occupation have been watching with helpless anguish the gruesome images of Israel's campaign of murder and horror in Lebanon. For a people who have just buried an additional 100, victim to Israeli state attacks which also targets schools, bridges and power stations, the merciless killing of Lebanese civilians and wanton destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, are all too familiar scenes. "What is happening in Lebanon doesn't surprise us at all. We ourselves have been -- and continue to be -- slaughtered by Israel on a daily basis while the Arabs are watching passively as if this was happening on another planet. The West is merely pleading with Israel to exercise a modicum of discretion while killing us," said a Hebron physician while watching dead Lebanese children and women being retrieved from under the rubble of a Tyre building bombed by Israeli warplanes.

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