U.S.: Deny
Israeli Request
for Cluster
Munitions
12 Aug 2006
00:24:17 GMT
Source: Human
Rights Watch
(Washington,
D.C., August 11,
2006) - The
United States
should reject
any request by
Israel to
transfer cluster
munitions for
use against
targets in
Lebanon, Human
Rights Watch
wrote in a
letter
to National
Security Advisor
Stephen Hadley
today. Civilians
in Lebanon have
already died
from Israel's
use of similar
weapons, which
blanket a wide
area with deadly
submunitions.
According to the
August 11
edition of the
New York Times,
Israel has
requested
delivery of
surface-launched
M26 artillery
rockets for use
against
locations in
Lebanon where it
believes
Hezbollah
fighters are
launching
Katyusha rockets
into Israel. The
wide dispersal
pattern of
submunitions
from M26 rockets
makes it very
difficult to
avoid civilian
casualties if
civilians are in
the area.
Moreover,
because so many
of the
submunitions
initially fail
to detonate, M26
rockets leave
behind large
numbers of
hazardous
explosive "duds"
that are akin to
landmines,
injuring and
killing
civilians long
after the
attack.
"Harm to
civilians is
inevitable if
Israel uses M26
rockets in
Lebanon," said
Kenneth Roth,
executive
director of
Human Rights
Watch. "These
weapons killed
or wounded
hundreds of
civilians in
Iraq in 2003.
Washington has a
duty not to
assist in
replicating that
death toll in
southern
Lebanon."
The United
States approved
a license with a
value of
$615,496 for the
commercial sale
of 1,300 M26
rockets to
Israel in Fiscal
Year 2005,
according to
State Department
records. The
State Department
is reported to
be weighing
Israel's request
for expedited
delivery.
The M26 rocket
is launched from
the Multiple
Launch Rocket
System (MLRS) to
ranges of 32 to
38 kilometers
and it creates a
wide-area effect
by dispensing
644 M77
submunitions. A
typical volley
of six rockets
would release
3,864
submunitions
over an area
with a 0.6 mile
(1 kilometer)
radius.
U.S. testing
data puts the
initial failure
rate of M77
submunitions at
anywhere between
5 percent and 23
percent. British
military testing
indicates an
initial failure
rate of between
5 percent and 10
percent. Both
governments note
that initial
failure rates
largely depend
on ground
conditions,
range and other
operational
factors.
"The M26 rocket
epitomizes a
retreat from
precision
targeting," said
Roth. "It kills
civilians across
wide areas and
leaves volatile
submunitions
scattered across
the countryside
that can kill
civilians for
years to come.
This deadly
weapon should
never be used
anywhere near
civilians."
In the current
conflict, Israel
has already used
artillery-fired
cluster
munitions
against
populated areas,
causing civilian
casualties.
According to
eyewitnesses and
survivors of an
attack
interviewed by
Human Rights
Watch, Israel
fired several
artillery-based
cluster
munitions at the
village of Blida
around 3:00 p.m.
on July 19.
Three witnesses
described how
the artillery
shells dropped
hundreds of
cluster
submunitions on
the village.
The attack
killed
60-year-old
Maryam Ibrahim
inside her home.
At least two
submunitions
entered the
basement that
the Ali family
was using as a
shelter,
wounding 12
people,
including seven
children.
The New York
Times quoted an
Israeli embassy
spokesman in
Washington,
David Siegel, as
denying this use
in Blida, but
his summary
denial is simply
false.
To encourage
delivery of the
cluster
munitions,
Israel has vowed
not to use them
in populated
areas, but its
actions to date
make that vow
unreliable. As
Human Rights
Watch
demonstrated in
its recent
report, "Fatal
Strikes:
Israel's
Indiscriminate
Attacks Against
Civilians in
Lebanon,"
the Israeli
military has
repeatedly
launched
indiscriminate
attacks in
populated areas,
targeting
civilian
vehicles and
houses as if
there were no
civilians left
in southern
Lebanon. In
fact, despite
Israeli warnings
to evacuate, an
estimated
100,000
civilians remain
in southern
Lebanon because
of infirmity,
inability to
afford
exorbitant taxi
fares to leave,
or fear of
becoming yet
another roadside
casualty of
Israeli
attacks.
"Israel's
persistent
failure to
recognize the
reality that
many civilians
remain in
southern Lebanon
makes its
promise not to
use cluster
munitions in
civilian areas
unreliable,"
said Roth.
Background
In July 1982,
the Reagan
administration
announced that
it would
prohibit new
exports of
cluster
munitions to
Israel. The
United States
found that by
using
U.S.-supplied
cluster
munitions
against civilian
targets during
its military
operations in
Lebanon and the
siege of Beirut,
Israel may have
violated its
1952 Mutual
Defense
Assistance
Agreement with
the United
States. In
November 1988,
the United
States quietly
lifted the ban.
The United
States
stockpiles
369,576 M26
rockets in its
active
inventory. The
Netherlands
announced in
2005 plans to
destroy its
stockpile of
16,000 M26
rockets, citing
concerns about
the potential to
create
disproportionate
collateral
damage. M26
rockets are also
stockpiled by
Bahrain, Egypt,
France, Germany,
Greece, Israel,
Italy, Japan,
South Korea,
Turkey and the
United Kingdom.
France is
considering
replacing its
M26 rockets,
which have
unreliable
submunitions,
with a unitary
warhead rocket.
Germany does not
envisage using
M26 rockets
until it has
been provided
with a mechanism
to limit its
operational
life.
The United
States caused
hundreds of
civilian
casualties in
2003 when it
used M26 rockets
in widely
populated areas
in Iraq,
including Hilla,
Najaf and
Karbala. The
strikes were
deadly because
they covered a
broad area and
because they
scattered a
large number of
initially
unexploded
submunitions.
HRW news
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