...by Lebanon suing Israel for war crimes.
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Israel using chemical weapons: doctors
Email Print Normal font Large font July 27, 2006 - 6:39AM
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AdvertisementLebanon is investigating reports from doctors that Israel has used weapons in its 15-day-old bombardment of southern Lebanon that have caused wounds they have never seen before.
"We are sending off samples tomorrow, but we have no confirmation yet that illegal weapons have been used," Health Minister Mohammed Khalife said.
The Israeli army said it had used only conventional weapons and ammunition in attacks aimed at Hizbollah guerrillas and nothing contravening international law.
Blackened bodies have been showing up at hospitals in southern Lebanon two weeks into the war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas that has seen at least 418 people, mostly civilians, killed in Lebanon and at least 42 Israelis.
Killed by Israeli air raids, the Lebanese dead are charred in a way local doctors, who have lived through years of civil war and Israeli occupation, say they have not seen before.
Bachir Cham, a Belgian-Lebanese doctor at the Southern Medical Centre in Sidon, received eight bodies after an Israeli air raid on nearby Rmeili which he said exhibited such wounds.
He has taken 24 samples from the bodies to test what killed them. He believes it is a chemical.
Cham said the bodies of some victims were "black as shoes, so they are definitely using chemical weapons. They are all black but their hair and skin is intact so they are not really burnt. It is something else."
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Israel-using-chemical-weapons-doctors/2006/07/27/1153816285823.html#<snip>
Lebanon: We will sue Israel in Hague
Lebanese minister of justice states that Israel's attacks constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and wonders how pictures of Qana did not bring about ceasefire. Red Cross publishes that 28 corpses evacuated from Qana, contrary to Lebanese reports that 57 people were killed
Roee Nahmias
Lebanon is planning to file a lawsuit against Israel in the International Criminal Court. Tuesday, Lebanese Minister of Justice Charles Rizk made a written petition to the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, asking him to bring up the issue in the next meeting of the Lebanese cabinet, so that the prime minister will be able to collect witnesses in preparation before filing of the complaint.
The minister wrote to the prime minister: "The repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon, on its infrastructure, its citizens, women and children, since July 12 are a grave breech of international law and international agreements. As such, they clearly constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity."
War in Lebanon
Lebanese PM: This is deliberate Israeli operation / Ali Waked
Fouad Siniora explains in press conference following IAF air strike on village of Qana: 'This was no mistake, this is event that repeats itself.' He calls for immediate ceasefire and international inquiry into events
"In preparation for the pursuit of the Israeli enemy in the relevant international courts, and in a bid to punish these crimes and to bring them to justice, the Lebanese government must prepare a comprehensive case that will include and detail all the attacks and crimes committed. This is with the intent that Israel pay restitution on all the physical and moral damages that she caused Lebanon and her citizens," he wrote.
"Accordingly, I request of you to present the issue in the cabinet meeting so that the decision can be made to assign the mission of performing a comprehensive survey of damage caused and of gathering proof of crimes committed to the Defense Ministry or the Ministry of the Interior. This will be done with legal oversight so that it may be passed on at the right moment in order to go after the perpetrators of these crimes," he added.
In addition, Minister Rizk expressed his regret that the "Qana massacre did not horrify the conscience and did not bring about a UN decision for a ceasefire.
The Red Cross published that 28 corpses were evacuated from Qana, 19 of which were children. The report clashes with the Lebanese report that 57 people were killed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3284627,00.html<other links>
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060720/2006072004.htmlhttp://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/israel_censor.htmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDwqFMIPhbshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld6cOJqyPqY&mode=related&search=