Summit focuses on Mid-East crisis

Israel had hit Khiam a number of times earlier on Tuesday
Foreign ministers from more than a dozen states are in Rome at crisis talks on the Middle East called by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But the death of four UN observers in south Lebanon, killed by an Israeli jet, threatens to overshadow the talks.

The summit comes amid fresh rocket attacks on Israel and heavy fighting in south Lebanon, where Arab media say at least nine Israeli troops have died.

Meanwhile, a convoy of much-needed aid has left Beirut, headed for the south.

The summit in Rome brings together EU and Arab nations plus the US and Russia, but not Israel, Iran or Syria.




One of the key items on the agenda is the proposal for an international peacekeeping force to police southern Lebanon.

A number of countries which have been named as possible contributors to such a force are attending the summit.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Israel would establish what he called a security zone in southern Lebanon which would be maintained under the control of Israeli forces if there was no multinational force.

In other developments:

A Jordanian military plane arrives in Beirut to evacuate some of the most seriously wounded Lebanese civilians

Ten trucks loaded with food and medical supplies leave Beirut heading to the beleaguered south of the country

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah makes TV appearance warning his organisation will begin firing rockets further south into Israel than Haifa

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says the Italian prime minister and others believe a quick ceasefire is the main priority.


A Jordanian plane will evacuate some of the worst injured

But the US and Britain will not push for a truce unless the root causes of the conflict are addressed, our correspondent adds, and officials from both countries have been downplaying expectations of any far-reaching conclusions being met.

It is the third day of Ms Rice's diplomatic mission to ease the crisis, having travelled to Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank earlier in the week.

On Tuesday evening Ms Rice was meeting Mr Annan in Rome when news of Israel's bombing of a UN observer post in Khiam in southern Lebanon broke.

The observers were part of the Untso mission - the first peacekeeping operation ever established by the UN, which has been operating in the Middle East since 1948, and currently has about 150 observers.

Annan accusation

The BBC's Daniel Lak at the UN in New York says that the observers had taken shelter in a bunker under their base because there had already been 14 Israeli artillery attacks on their position, causing a French general in charge of the UN observers to call Israel's military asking them to desist.




However, as they sheltered the bunker was hit by a single heavy bomb from an Israeli war plane and four unarmed observers, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, were killed.

A UN rescue team also came under fire as it searched the rubble for survivors.

In a statement Mr Annan was quick to say the attack was the result of "apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces" and demand a full investigation.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed his regret over the deaths in a phone call to the Mr Annan, saying that the post was hit by mistake.

Rocket hits

More than 380 Lebanese and 42 Israelis have died in two weeks of conflict, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July, and about 2,000 injured.



The situation is particularly bad in the south where many people found themselves trapped amid the conflict after Israeli war planes bombed bridges and roads that could have offered escape.

Overnight there was more fierce fighting between Israeli ground troops and Hezbollah militants around the Lebanese town of

Do you know what kind of weapons causes this damage?



Beirut
July 21st, 2006

I left the office early last night ; at midnight.

There was only one devastating picture yesterday : that of two people who were killed in air strikes on Akkar,(the poorer area) in the north, late Wednesday night.

Both corps were black, both were dismembered , both were "weird". I don't think it matters anymore to try to prove that Israel is using unconventional , forbidden weapons .. that would only prove that it should have used "allowed" weapons. Who cares, people are dying anyway. And whatever weapons are being used , the pollution they're creating will kill the survivors from cancer later.

The rest of the pictures were less devastating, conventional : demolished houses, wiped out villages and towns, more refugees , some of them starving, lovely babes on board of US marines ships and colored people from poor countries lining up in front of embassies hoping they will get them out of this hell.

The really devastating pictures will came later , much later, some day when all this will stop maybe we'll be able to visit the ruins of whole villages. But even then it might be too late : how long does it take corps buried under rubbles to disintegrate and vanish ?

Anyway , so I left the office early and went home with my friend who's staying with us because his house is in the southern suburb of Beirut. I was a bit worried because my brother in law , Khalil's brother, was there too and I was wondering if I'd be able to manage space for everybody to sleep comfortably.

Raed, my brother in law, and his eight-month pregnant wife , had left Jebshit in the south yesterday morning. They reached Beirut by 5:00 pm.

They had crossed a bridge in Habbouche who'd been targeted only once . It was destroyed but cars were still able to find a way through. Half an hour after Raed had crossed the bridge, it was bombed again and completely demolished this time (sounds like an Indian movie, right?). Of course Raed knew nothing about that , he trying to make out to Saida, then up to Baakline in the Shouf then way down back to Beirut.

When I got home , I asked if they had dinner. I was a bit ashamed because my fridge is empty. I hadn't had time lately to buy grocery and I'm "heavily" relying on milk to feed Kinda, my daughter. "Dinner ?" Raed asked , "we had 9 shawarma sandwiches, Rana (his wife) and I. Today was the first time we eat in 3 days".

He tells stories about Jebshit. Sad ones. No electricity , no water, no roads, no food, no newspapers. Some villages even run out of batteries, so they can't even listen to the news on the radio. Funny, isn't it, that in Beirut we know more about what's going on than the people concerned. Raed only knew they blew the Habbouche bridge when he listened to the news after he reached Beirut.

I have to admit to all of you that I have very mixed, weird, sick feelings about all this.

The first three or four days were very strange. I was in Beirut , sitting in an air conditioned office, watching the devastation of the South and the southern suburb. It felt like when you watch news and pictures from Palestine and Iraq. You feel frustrated and concerned, but you know there's not much you can do for them, for mere geographical reasons, at least that's the excuse one uses to comfort one's self. But "this" was happening a few kilometers away and I'd still be sitting here watching.
The other weird feeling was related to the first one: I felt that I was paying my dues. The guilt feeling I've always had toward Palestine, and later towards Iraq, has diminished a little bit. I felt like hugging Palestine and Iraq and screaming to them "We're with you, like you: left alone, suffering and part of your cause, a great one."

Sometimes I just flip and cry. Cry because I'm so helpless and angry. And most of the time I turn on my "automatic engine on". I wake up at six , come to the office, report hideous stories ,

*WARNING* This link contains horrific images, the like ive never seen in all images of the troubles here etc

To see link here is the address http://www.uruknet.info/?p=24885

Once again this will make you stand up and think what is actually going on and why, rememember most of the casiualties are lebanon civilians. Bit like the Brittish deciding they had enough of us and bombing everyone no matter what their belief

The article will be placed above with no images. But I recommend if u have any decency and humanity in ur body 2 check article as it is a disgrace what the Israelis are doing while the Brittish/America sit behind them.