Today in Palestine! http://www.theheadlines.org

31 augustus 2006: minister Bot in Kamercie van 17 tot 19 uur
http://www.tweede-kamer.nl/vergaderingen/commissievergaderingen/volgende_weken/index.jsp?p=a39805.xml

Zie hierbij o.a. http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement (*)
En, ook denkend aan de wapendoorvoer via Schiphol

 UN denounces Israel cluster bombs, 30 August 2006 (**)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5299938.stm

 Fact file: Cluster bombs - introduction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2788569.stm

 Fears over cluster bomb clean-up
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5263616.stm

 Beantwoording vragen Van Velzen over gebruik clusterbommen door Israëlisch leger, 28-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2006/08/Beantwoording-vragen-lid-Van-Velzen-over-het-gebru.html
En daarbij

 Gaza siege causing major health crisis, Report, IRIN, 29 August 2006
„Gaza hospitals are facing a crisis because of a western and Israeli economic
boycott, and an Israeli military offensive.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5627.shtml

After Lebanon, Israel is looking for more wars, Jonathan Cook, 21 August 2006
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5604.shtml

NPK/WL, 31-8-2006

(*) waarin
 Toespraak: Nederland in de internationale betrekkingen: kritisch en constructief, 28-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl:80/nl/actueel/speeches,2006/08/Nederland-in-de-internationale-betrekkingen.html

 Beantwoording vragen Wilders over het uitspreken van solidariteit met en steun van Israël en het Israëlische recht op zelfverdediging in de
strijd tegen terrorisme, 28-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl:80/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2006/08/Beantwoording-vragen-lid-Wilders-over-het-uitsprek.html

 Kamerbrief speciale zitting VN-Mensrenrechtenraad inzake conflict in Libanon, 25-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2006/08/Kamerbrief-inzake-speciale-zitting-VN-Mensenrechte.html

 Kamerbrief inzake verslag bezoek Midden-Oosten, 24-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2006/08/Kamerbrief-inzake-verslag-bezoek-Midden-Oosten.html

 Conflict Israël/Libanon/Gaza - Kamerbrief, 03-08-2006
http://www.minbuza.nl/nl/actueel/brievenparlement,2006/08/Conflict-Isra-l-Libanon-Gaza---Kamerbrief.html

(**)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5299938.stm

UN denounces Israel cluster bombs

Cluster bombs are causing injuries and deaths daily, the UN says
The UN’s humanitarian chief has accused Israel of „completely immoral” use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.
UN clearance experts had so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.

„Ninety per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution,” he said.

Israel has previously said that munitions it uses in conflict comply with international law.

Earlier estimates from UN experts had suggested a total of about 100 cluster bomb sites.

Mr Egeland described the fresh statistics as „shocking new information”.

Factfile: Cluster bombs
Cluster bomb clean-up fears

„Cluster bombs have affected large areas - lots of homes, lots of farmland,” Mr Egeland said.

He added: „They will be with us for many months, possibly years. Every day, people are maimed, wounded and killed by these weapons. It shouldn’t have happened.”

Mr Egeland said his information had come from the UN Mine Action Co-ordination Centre, which had undertaken assessments of nearly 85% of the bombed areas in Lebanon.

The UN ceasefire resolution which ended more than a month of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah was agreed by the Security Council on Friday 11 August and came into effect on Monday 14 August.

Blockade defended

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rebuffed UN calls for a swift end to Israel’s continuing air and sea blockade of Lebanon.

Speaking after talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, he said the siege would only be lifted once the ceasefire was fully implemented.

Olmert rebuffed Kofi Annan’s call

Olmert and Annan

Mr Olmert said that one of the key conditions was the release of the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah sparked the crisis.

A Lebanese Hezbollah cabinet minister said there would be no unconditional release of the Israeli soldiers.

Mr Annan and Mr Olmert also discussed the deployment of UN troops in Lebanon.

The UN chief said he hoped Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon once 5,000 UN peacekeepers were on the ground „in the coming days and weeks”.

The BBC’s Jill McGivering, in Jerusalem, said Mr Annan and Mr Olmert emerged from their meeting with little sign of the gap between them having narrowed.

Regional tour

Mr Annan’s Jerusalem talks followed a visit to Lebanon as part of a regional tour aimed at bolstering the truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

After his talks in Israel, Mr Annan flew to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

At a joint press conference in Ramallah, Mr Annan said that more than 200 Palestinians had been killed since the end of June, and the violence had to stop.

Mr Annan has now arrived in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.

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