A new report on the effects of the cluster bombs used against Lebanon by Israel during its July-August invasion last year was launched at the Northcote Town Hall on May 29. Around 100 people attended, including members of the Lebanese community, politicians, local councilors and activists.
Cluster Bombs: The Case of Lebanon was prepared by a delegation of members of Australians for Lebanon, the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW), and the Australian Lebanese Youth Association that visited Lebanon in late December. The report accompanied the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006, which would ban the use and manufacture of cluster munitions by Australia. The bill was introduced to federal parliament by Democrats Senator Lyn Alison.
The Melbourne Age reported on June 1 that Labor senators had rejected the bill "because they considered its definition of cluster bombs too 'nebulous' and it would make it hard for the [Australian Defence Force] to purchase weapons it needed".
Cluster bombs scatter smaller submunitions — dubbed "bomblets" — which often fail to explode, over a wide area. Unexploded bomblets then act in a similar way to land mines. While most cluster bombs have a 10% non-explosion rate on impact, those dropped on Lebanon (sold to Israel by the US) date back to the Vietnam War and have a 30%-40% rate.
In southern Lebanon, there are still over 1 million unexploded bomblets (three for every person), which were dropped over densely populated villages and agricultural land by Israel during the war — around 90% of them in the three days before the August 14 ceasefire. Newly laid land mines have also been discovered in southern Lebanon. Since the ceasefire, there have been at least 28 deaths and around 200 injuries due to unexploded munitions.
During the launch, delegation member Dr Hadia Haikal Mukhtar, a member of MAPW and the Association for Lebanon, explained that according to military experts Israel's cluster bombs had no military purpose except "perhaps to make southern Lebanon uninhabitable".
Many Lebanese and international teams are working on clearing the bombs. However, even assuming a significant increase in resources, the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre only aims to have most of them cleared by the end of 2007. The major obstacle to this effort, according to the report, is a lack of accurate strike-data provided by the Israel Defense Forces. Despite repeated requests from the UN, Israel has refused to provide anything more accurate than maps showing the general areas that were bombed. UNMACC's Chris Clarke has described the maps provided by Israel since the ceasefire as "useless".
The report calls on the Australian government to continue to provide financial assistance to clear the bombs and rehabilitate their victims; support the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill; call on the Israel to provide accurate strike-data; and support a global ban on cluster bombs.
The Australian Defence Force has already rejected these calls, including the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill, on the grounds that because Australia's allies use cluster bombs, it would limit our ability to work with them. The ADF is in the process of acquiring its own cluster bombs.
A campaign to end the use of cluster munitions — modelled on the international campaign that led to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which has reduced the number of land mines and their victims — is planned. Organisations and individuals involved will begin to meet next month.
Dr Phillip Salem, an Australians for Lebanon member who participated in the delegation, said in response to Israeli claims that the government was not aware of the use of cluster bombs that "it is not good enough just to say 'oops, it was a mistake' … if you didn't know about it, why didn't you know about it and what are you going to do about it?"
The report is available at http://www.mapw.org.au.