Correspondents Report - Sunday, 27 August , 2006 Reporter: Stephanie Kennedy HAMISH ROBERTSON: As France was preparing to send an extra 1,600 troops to southern Lebanon, to beef up the UN peacekeeping force there, the post mortems into the conduct of the war between Israel and Hezbollah were already well under way.
As Israel engaged in an acrimonious public debate about what went wrong, Amnesty International accused Israel of committing war crimes by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.
The London-based human rights organisation called for a United Nations investigation into Israel's actions, and demanded reparations for the Lebanese people.
But Israel was adamant that it did not target civilians and was only responding to Hezbollah attacks.
Amnesty's Claudio Cordone has rejected that argument, and he spoke to our reporter in London, Stephanie Kennedy.
CLAUDIO CORDONE: The attacks on the Lebanese infrastructures were indeed part of a deliberate strategy, they were not just collateral damage incurred by Israel targeting Hezbollah targets and so on. And in the pursuit of this military strategy, Israel has committed indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: What have you based your report on?
CLAUDIO CORDONE: Well, we've seen first the scale of the destruction, particularly in terms of houses. It's not a secret that Israel has targeted also roads, bridges, power stations and so on, but also we looked at the statements by Israeli officials and how Israel interprets the concept of a military target.
So, for example, in this respect, Israel considers for example that fuel and electricity, because they could be used also potentially by Hezbollah, then it becomes a legitimate target.
And we think that this is an extremely wide interpretation of the concept of military objective, and if applied to Israel, then it would render any site in Israel as well a legitimate target, which we would find unacceptable.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The findings also reveal that Israel targeted supermarkets, water pumping stations and water treatment plants. What are Amnesty's concerns about that strategy?
CLAUDIO CORDONE: Yes, it's all part of attacking these things. Also - and this is where statements by particular military officials come into play - to punish the Lebanese Government, try to get the Lebanese Government or the Lebanese to turn on Hezbollah. So there were other aims being pursued in this widespread destruction that had really nothing to do with seeking to target Hezbollah launchers or weapons caches and so on. And this is what we're objecting to.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Is this strategy a breach of any international law?
CLAUDIO CORDONE: An indiscriminate or disproportionate attack is in fact a war crime, and we're calling for a comprehensive investigation in this conflict.
And if the cycle and the long history of total lack of accountability and impunity for these violations is to be stopped or contained to some extent in the Middle East, it is important that the issue of respect for the rules of war is enforced. And one way to do that is to have an international comprehensive investigation, and we have asked again to do so.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: In response to Amnesty's report, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has said that they have footage showing that missiles were fired from hospitals, civilian places like schools and houses, and they were only responding to the sources of fire. Isn't that a legitimate argument?
CLAUDIO CORDONE: It is certainly a legitimate concern, and we'll be looking into that. But the kind of attacks that we have highlighted today are not those. When Israel was targeting bridges and fuel depots and power stations, as they explained to us as well, they were doing it because potentially they could be of use by Hezbollah.
STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Israel would say that Hezbollah should also be held accountable for human rights abuses. Is Amnesty International going to look into Hezbollah's tactics and strategies?
CLAUDIO CORDONE: Absolutely.
We have already, from the beginning of the conflict, appealed on both sides for them to respect our rules of war. We have already denounced attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel, which we also think amount to war crimes.
We will be looking in greater detail at some of the most complex things, including the issue of possible shielding of Hezbollah fighters among the civilian population and all the rest.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Claudio Cordone, of Amnesty International, speaking to Stephanie Kennedy in London.
Un informe de Amnistía Internacional (AI) acusa a Israel de atacar civiles de manera deliberada durante su campaña contra Hezbolá en el Líbano y dijo que el estado de Israel es culpable de crímenes de guerra.

Según AI, Israel no sólo atacó tiendas de alimentos de manera intencionada durante los ataques de artillería y los bombardeos aéreos, sino que bloqueó hospitales y servicios públicos como acueductos y plantas de energía para obligar a la gente a abandonar los pueblos.

"La evidencia recogida sugiere contundentemente que la extensa destrucción de obras públicas, sistemas de generación de energía, casas de civiles y la industria era parte integral de la estrategia militar y no dañó colateral", afirma el reporte.

Según Israel, ellos no atacaron civiles y advirtieron a los no combatientes que abandonaran el sur del Líbano. Israel afirma que el único responsable por la destrucción es Hezbolá.

=== Crímenes de Guerra ===

Según el reporte de Amnistía Internacional, entre el 12 de julio y el 14 de agosto de 2006 la Fuerza Aérea de Israel llevó a cabo más de 7.000 bombardeos aéreos contra 7.000 sitios.

Por su parte, la armada israelí hizo más de 2.500 bombardeos y lanzó un número aún indeterminado de ataques de artillería contra el sur del Líbano.

Los ataques israelíes mataron a más de 1.100 personas, de las cuales la tercera parte eran niños. Como resultado hubo 4.000 heridos y 970.000 personas obligadas a abandonar sus hogares y huir al norte.

Según AI muchas de las violaciones llevadas a cabo por Israel son crímenes de guerra que dan lugar a la responsabilización a nivel individual por los crímenes.

El gobierno libanés estimó que 31 sitios claves de infraestructura como el aeropuerto, los acueductos, los sistemas de alcantarillado, las plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales, 80 puentes y 94 autopistas fueron parcial o totalmente destruidos. Además, más de 25 estaciones de gasolina y 900 negocios fueron atacados, y más de 30.000 casas y oficinas fueron demolidas.

Según el gobierno israelí, ellos sólo estaban destruyendo la infraestructura de los terroristas y el daño a infraestructura civil fue incidental y el resultado de que Hezbolá usara "escudos humanos".