The Israeli Bombing On the U.N. Post Was Intentional

The latest coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire. Furthermore, Gen. Alain Pellegrino, the U.N. force commander in southern Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack.

But nothing could stop this "mistake" from happening.

I've been told ... that the Israelis chose to bomb that site with three guided missiles. I man: The building was clearly marked, their vehicles were clearly marked, they were clearly marked as UN observers. So why were (the Israelis) firing on that base? ... In my opinion, those were precision-guided missiles, so the attack was intentional.

They're UN soldiers. That should have been the safest place to be. They should not have bombed that site, period. That is intentional with three bombs.

Accepting it was yet another accident presupposes a level of incompetence or insubordination in the Israeli army that should result in some serious courts-martial. Tuesday's attack was not the first time Israel stroke the area. Paeta, my husband had told me they were bombing the area for weeks upon weeks.

In a July 18 e-mail to CTV.ca Paeta described the growing chaos surrounding his UN post in Khiam, a dusty village about 10 kilometers from where the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian borders intersect.

The patrol base has been repeatedly caught in deadly crossfire since it was built as an observer post in 1972.

"What I can tell you is this: we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing," he wrote.