PressTV - UN slams Israel over Nakba violence

PressTV - UN slams Israel over Nakba violence

The United Nations has criticized Israel for killing several Palestinian demonstrators on Nakba Day, saying the Israeli army has used excessive force against unarmed protesters.


In a report released by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week, Tel Aviv was severely criticized for the bloodshed that Israeli soldiers caused along the Israeli-Lebanon border on May 15, when thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon marched on the Israeli border to mourn the 63th anniversary of the creation of Israel.

According to the report, at least seven people were killed and over a hundred others wounded after Israeli soldiers opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators, who were holding a symbolic march toward their homeland on the Lebanese side of the border.

Palestinian and Lebanese sources, however, say at least 10 Palestinian demonstrators were killed in the violence.

The report, which was based on the findings of an investigation by the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, also criticized the Israeli army for failing to follow appropriate and conventional crowd control methods and "using direct live fire against unarmed demonstrators" in a situation where there was no immediate threat to life.

"Other than firing initial warning shots, the Israel Defense Forces did not use conventional crowd control methods or any other method than lethal weapons against the demonstrators," the report adds.

It also says that "the firing of live ammunition by the Israel troops” across the Blue Line [the border fence] against the Palestinian demonstrators violated the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.