Israel's withholding of maps still hampers demining

According to Dalya Farran, who works with the UN Mine Action Coordination Center, “Not receiving…cluster-bomb strike data from the Israelis remains our biggest obstacle to clearance.” 4 million “bomblets” remain littered across southern Lebanon, and Israel refuses to assist in their removal, as it refused to assist in the demining of southern Lebanon after Israel’s withdrawal in 2000.

At least 30 Lebanese civilians have been killed by unexploded bomblets since the end of the war in 2006, and over 200 have been injured, while only some 137,000 bomblets have as yet been removed. Moreover, the loss of farmland contaminated by bomblets and chemicals from the war has cost Lebanese farmers some $100 million.

ZAWTAR WEST: Deminers clearing Israeli-dropped cluster bombs in South Lebanon are turning up an average of 10 new sites per month, while Israel continues to ignore requests for data that would assist clearing the estimated 1 million unexploded bomblets, which continue to kill and maim civilians and decimate rural livelihoods. A single cluster bomb can disperse hundreds of bomblets.

“All these weapons systems are computerized and grid references are entered before the bombs drop. Not receiving the cluster-bomb strike data from the Israelis remains our biggest obstacle to clearance,” Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the UN Mine Action Coordination Center for South Lebanon (MACC), told IRIN.

Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.

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