_a.jpg "צילום: שי וקנין")
The Katyusha that landed in Israel on Saturday
Photo: Shai Vaknin
Israel issues complaint in UN on northern rocket fire
Israel files official complaint with UN secretary general on weekend Katyusha firing in north of country, demanding that Security Council hold discussion on subject. Complaint points to Lebanese government as party responsible for rocket firing, emphasizes that Israel maintains right to defend itself
WASHINGTON - Israel issued
a complaint to the UN on Tuesday regarding the Katyusha rockets fired
from Lebanon
into Israeli territory on Saturday. In the complaint, Israel demanded that the Lebanese government and UNIFIL take more stringent action to stop the flow of weapons into southern Lebanon, as per their commitments stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was accepted as part of the ceasefire that brought an end to the Second Lebanon War.
Intervention
Associated Press
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Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, Danny Carmon submitted a letter of complaint to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Security Council President Yukio Takasu, asking that the letter also be distributed to Security Council members prior to Friday's slated meeting during which a periodical report on the application of Resolution 1701 will be presented.
The letter emphasized that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the rocket firing into Israeli territory. The letter also demanded that Lebanon take immediate and decisive action to prevent further aggression by ensuring that Resolution 1701 is fully applied.
The letter also noted that in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, Israel reserves the right to self-defense.
The letter was issued after a Katyusha rocket landed next to a house in a western Galilee town. As a result, three people sustained light injuries, while two others went into shock. Damage was caused to the building. Lebanese officials reported that a second rocket was fired and detonated in Lebanese territory.
There is a continued disagreement between Israel and UN institutions regarding the goings on in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army, with the aid of UNIFIL, is supposed to prevent the flow of weapons into the area. However, Israel claims that since the end of the fighting in 2006 Hizbullah has successfully rearmed and has recovered to its rocket-firing capacities to their pre-war levels.
'Take immediate action against weapons flow'
Despite Israel's claims, there is no reference to a breach of the weapons embargo on southern Lebanon in any of the periodic reports to the Security Council on the upholding of the resolution. Such a reference would be tantamount to the UN confirming that its UNIFIL troops failed in their mission.
On this backdrop, Israel is investing efforts in bringing this subject to the table of Friday's discussion of the resolution's current status.
Carmon wrote in the complaint that the very fact that rockets are being fired from southern Lebanon proves that weapons and ammunitions are present in southern Lebanon. The letter also demands that immediate action be taken to prevent weapons flow into the area and their use.
Carmon also noted that the said rocket attacks endangered the stability of the region, as well as the security of residents in the area.
Saturday's rocket firing was the third incident in which rockets were fired into Israel's northern towns in recent months.
During Operation Cast Lead, Katyusha rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel in two separate incidents. On January 14, a rocket barrage was fired into the Galilee panhandle, causing two people to go into shock. A few days prior to this, rockets were fired at Nahariya and western Galilee towns, one of which slammed into a Nahariya nursing home. In this incident, two elderly people sustained light injuries and five people went into shock.
