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Before and After images of Beirut coastline documenting extent of oil spill (NASA Observatory)
The chickens are finally coming home to roost. After a failed war that ended up killing 1,000 Lebanese and 150 Israelis and caused billions in damage to both Israel and especially Lebanon, a partial bill has been presented to Israel by the UN:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will demand that Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion in compensation over damages caused during the Jewish state’s 2006 war against Hizbullah, Lebanese media reported Saturday.
According to the report the sum, based on World Bank appraisals, is aimed at covering the environmental and material damages caused by the Second Lebanon War to neighboring countries as well.
The fundamental part of the compensation demanded is for the damage caused to the Lebanese coast due to an oil spill following an Israeli bombing of a southern Beirut power plant, which the Lebanese said had caused “an ecological disaster.”
According to the report, Ban plans to submit a report to the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month, stating that damage Israel caused to the oil reservoir polluted Lebanon’s coast, and that the pollution spread to neighboring countries, especially Syria.
…The oil spill, which was defined the greatest natural disaster in Lebanon’s history, took place after Israel Air Force planes hit a power plant and caused some 110,000 oil barrels to leak into the Mediterranean Sea.
The report said that the UN wants Israel to compensate the countries harmed by the oil spill and restore the environmental situation along the Lebanon coast.
By way of comparison, the Exxon Valdez disaster spilled 250,000 barrels of oil. The UN has basically called Israel the Joseph Hazelwood of the Mediterranean, with the only difference being the skipper of that boat didn’t set out to cause an environmental disaster while Israel arguably did. Or at the very least didn’t give a fig if it happened.
I’m pleased that an international body like the General Assembly will take up this matter. One can argue from the left or right whether Israel deserves to be brought up on war crimes charges for its behavior in Lebanon. But it’s much harder to make this particular claim into a political one. The damage was done and it is quantifiable. The author of the damage is not in doubt. The only item at issue is whether Israel can be made to own responsibility for this environmental crime.
Interestingly–and speaking of the Exxon Valdez–Richard Steiner, University of Alaska professor and environmental conservation specialist, makes a strong case that the Jiyeh bombing WAS a violation of the laws of war. But one needn’t even go this far in order to assign culpability to Israel for the disaster. Prof. Steiner also published an extensive report on the oil spill for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
I say this monetary claim is a good thing because the Israeli people need to know that war waged in their name which ravages an entire region will have a price not just in human life, but in cold, hard cash. And if Israel does not pay, then it will face the opprobrium of the international community not just for its military actions, but for the ecological disaster it caused.
If one thinks back, the last Middle Eastern leader to cause such an environmental disaster was Saddam, who blew up Kuwait’s oil wells. Does Israel want to be thought of in the same breath with him?
NOTE: I subsequently found a far more comprehensive and well-reported article on this at The National.
Tags: ban ki moon, exxon valdez, joseph hazelwood, un demands $1 billion from israel for environemental damage from lebanon war
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@rundmc: You didn’t read either what I quoted or the website. It says that it is a violation of international law to attack a “civilian object” even if there is a contention that the object MIGHT have a military use. The fact that some small percentage of the power generated might have been used by Hezbollah has NO bearing on its status as a civilian object. If Hezbollah had it own personal power plant that only supplied power for its military operations, then such an attack might be justified. But that’s not the case here.
Additionally, an eminent professor of environmental conservation who specializes in the Exxon Valdex disaster, also argues in this letter to Condi Rice that the bombing WAS a war crime.
Hamas? What are you talking about? I’m talking about the Lebanon war. Hamas?
OK. Let it be known to one & all that Rundmc accepts the jurisdiction of the international court to judge whether or not Israel’s attack on Beirut’s power plant was a violation of the laws of war. Now, since you know so much about the laws of war (!) maybe you’ll persuade Israel allow you to represent it! That would be fun to watch. Do me a favor though & make sure you don’t charge Hamas with war crimes in this case since the judges will wonder whether you’ve lost your mind.
Who will pay for Lebanese crimes against humanity?
For the indiscriminate bombing of Israeli civilians by Lebanese terrorists for the past 30 years?
For the destructions of more than 1000 houses in northern Israel in the 2006 war?
For the large forest fires in the 2006 war, which burned more than 100.000 trees in northern Israel?
Not to mention for the economic loss for millions of civilians in Israel?
It was Lebanon that attacked Israel.
Lebanon shall be condemned to pay billions to Israel.
You seem determined to put Israel in the wrong Richard. Why is that?
Why are you pleased to see that a demand is made for Israel to pay for a war started by a militia in another country which peppered its civilians with 40 huge missiles, kidnapped two soldiers in Israel’s sovereign territory and then ambushed those who followed in hot pursuit?
@Jane: Uh, maybe because the evidence convincingly puts Israel in the wrong.
I’ve never denied the wrongs committed by Hezbollah & said they should be held accountable for them. But unlike you, I’ve never denied Israel’s wrongs either.
@Leroidavid: OK, here’s my proposition. Israel agrees to adjudication for criminal and financial claims by both sides by the international court. Do you accept? I didn’t think so. Because you know that the damages inflicted on Israel are far lighter than those inflicted on Lebanon. The price Israel will have to pay will be far heavier.
I’m all in favor of allowing Israel to make a claim against Hezbollah as long as Israel agrees to pay any verified claim against itself. How ’bout you?
I wrote three lines about why it’s obvious that Hizbullah started the war and you know so much about me that you say I denied Israel’s wrongs. What are you, a clairvoyant?
@Jane: Might that be because in your comment you only referenced Hezbollah’s misdeeds & never mentioned any misdeeds on the part of Israel? I can only read what you put on the pg. & judge you based on that. I don’t claim to know what’s in yr mind if you don’t reveal it. So next time if you want to reveal yr full views on the subject do so & I’ll respond accordingly.
I expected to read, in your introduction to this subject, a balanced discussion of whether Israel or Hezballah were either of them to blame for natural disasters caused by the war and whether the UN would be justly claiming compensation from Israel only and not from both parties. Instead I found rejoicing that Israel, in effect, was being punished.
The spillage of oil is an ecological nuisance though the proportions hardly equal that of the Exxon Valdez. I wonder that the destruction of huge reaches of forest in Israel, planted to change the climate and the local ecology and that had succeeded in dropping the average local temperature several degrees, was not also seen in the same light. These forests had housed indigenous animals, lured back slowly and with great love and patience by the forest rangers, animals hunted almost to extinction and dying out because their environment had been made barren by the black goats’ habits of eating at the roots of the plant. Despite the dangers of the Hezballah missiles rangers had risked their lives attempting to put out fires and to help the animals terrified by the noise and destruction to reach sanctuary.
I was pleased to see that there was much objection to your one-sided attitude. Justice is not dead in our world.
@Jane:
The problem is that some readers like you “expect” things of me & you’re bound to be disappointed since I’m not prepared to embrace yr expectations. There are 2,000 posts in this blog. Some of them deal with Hezbollah. Some of them describe my views of their behavior during the Lebanon war. Before being disappointed by my not fulfilling yr “expectations” you should do a keyword search and try to discover what I’ve written on the subject.
FAR more damage was done to Lebanon & Lebanese by Israel than the other way around. Should Hezbollah be liable for the damage it caused? By all means. Should Israel? By all means. But let’s keep things in perspective. Hezbollah killed 150 Israelis & Israel killed 1,000 Lebanese. Israel caused multiple billions of dollars to Lebanese infrastructure from Beirut throughout the territory south of it. The damage caused to Israel, while not insignificant, pales in comparison.
A massive environmental catastrophe is not a “nuisance.” It is a disaster. Have you read the report I linked by environmental expert Richard Steiner? If not, do so before you attempt to make judgments on this matter. Steiner is one of the world’s foremost experts on the Exxon Valez disaster. Steiner is the one who says that the Lebanon spill is not just an environmental disaster but a war crime. Try arguing with that.
All of us value forests. But I find it slightly odd you would be so deeply concerned about keeping Israelis in northern Israel cool after entire neighborhoods of Beirut and scores of other villages in the south of Lebanon were literally razed to the ground. Not a word of sympathy for the singeing heat those bombs caused as they incinerated buildings containing real human beings??
All of us value the wildlife of northern Israel and decry damage to its habitat. But not a word of sympathy for the thousands of Lebanese civilian human beings killed or maimed by the Israeli attack?? Do you have yr priorities straight??
I marvel at the “balance” you show by claiming Israeli wildlife habitats were reduced to cinders in an environmental cataclysm while only conceding that Lebanon suffered a “nuisance.”
Silverstein has such expectations of his correspondents that I wonder that anybody bothers.
Mention one facet and he marvels that you do not mention another.
Congratulations to those who put up with this petty tyrant. I will no longer do so.
@Jane:
You’re outnumbered 11,000 to 1 since that is how many comments have been published in this blog. So a few commenters here disagree w. you.
You attacked me because I only criticized Israel & not Hezbollah. And yet when I noted you only criticized Hezbollah & not Israel this was a hanging offense. Interesting sense of proportion you have.
As for not “putting up” with me, we’ll be truly sorry to see you go (if you do go).
Probably al’ silverstein would blame the Jews in Israel for the barbaric atrocities that are carried out between the peace loving Fatah Palestinians & the peace loving Hamas Palestinians, perhaps according to al’ Silverstein Israelis should also pay for the damage they have caused to each others infrastructure { if there is such a thing in the Palestinian terror-tories]..on that subject perhaps Americans should pay for the damage Shea and Sunni peace loving Iraqis have caused in their backyard… and the Israelis should pay compensation for the Lebanese Muslims murder of Lebanese Christian leaders.. perhaps the Americans should have paid compensation for the damage Iraq caused when they invaded their fellow Muslim neigbours, perhaps the Americans should also pay for damage they bombed Japan and the Britts should pay for damage they caused when they bombed the germans ..what do you think Al’ silverstein ..Do you know what a wanker is?
@Michael: Who’s gonna pay for the damage you do to reason, coherence and tolerance?
You had me there for a minute. I was wondering what Iraqis have to do with Shea Stadium. It’s “Shi’a” wingnut.
And the “al-Silverstein” thing is cute, really cute. Jon Stewart should be calling you any moment. Your scintillating wit will surely be properly appreciated some day. It develops slowly (VERY SLOWLY), but really grows on you after an Ice Age or two.
Well in typical fashion you left wing extremists always attack the author or shoot the messenger but can never respond to the question..
@Michael:
Well, golly gee–that must mean that calling me “al-Silverstein” wasn’t meant as an “attack on the author,” but rather an honorific. I didn’t know you had such respect for me. I”m touched. I’ll never say another harsh word about you now that I know what your real intent was.