Harper Says He Doesn’t Believe UN Post Deliberately Targeted By Israelis

By KEVIN BISSETT

HOPEWELL CAPE, N.B. (CP) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Israel’s attack on a UN observation post in Lebanon, which claimed the life of a Canadian soldier, was a “terrible tragedy” and he doubts the bombing was deliberate.

Harper, speaking to reporters Wednesday after a funding announcement in eastern New Brunswick, said the Canadian military would consult with the UN and the Israeli government to find out what happened. The Prime Minister’s Office identified the soldier as Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener of Kingston, Ont., believed to be in his mid-40s.

The prime minister also said he wanted to know why the post was still manned two weeks after Israel launched a massive offensive that has transformed southern Lebanon into a war zone.

Still, the prime minister held fast to his support of Israel’s show of force.

“I think this event is obviously a terrible tragedy,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the right of a country to defend itself against terrorists and violent attacks.”

Three other peacekeepers – from Austria, China and Finland – were killed Tuesday when a bomb hit their post during a prolonged bombardment in the town Khiyam, near the eastern end of Lebanon’s border with Israel.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has suggested Israel deliberately targeted the UN outpost despite repeated calls to stop the shelling.

But Harper said the facts suggest otherwise.

“I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been co-operating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our efforts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground, involved in the evacuation, out of harm’s way,” he said.

“We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals.”

Israeli officials have vehemently denied targeting the post, but a preliminary report from the UN says that before the post was hit, peacekeepers had called the Israeli military 10 times in a six-hour period to ask it to halt bombing.

During each phone call, an Israeli official promised to stop the attacks, a UN official told the Associated Press.

The UN peacekeepers said the area within a kilometre of the post was hit with precision munitions, including 17 bombs and 12 artillery shells, four of which directly hit the post Tuesday, the report said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Annan to tell him the post was hit inadvertently.

“The prime minister expressed Israel’s deep regret over the mistaken killing of four UN peacekeepers,” said a statement from Olmert’s office. “The prime minister said he has instructed the military to carry out a thorough investigation.”

Harper received a call from Olmert late Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Harper’s office said Olmert expressed his “deep regret” for the death of the Canadian soldier, and he apologized on behalf of his government.

“Olmert offered his government’s full co-operation to Canadians investigating the incident,” Carolyn Olsen said in a statement.

The Israeli military says 50 Israelis – 32 of them members of the military – have been killed since the campaign began two weeks ago. The Lebanese Health Ministry says at least 423 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 376 civilians.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN commission for human rights, Louise Arbour, said she shared some of Annan’s concerns about the attack.

“When it happens to the United Nations, it’s sure that we are upset,” the former Canadian Supreme Court justice told reporters in Montreal.

In Ottawa, the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations denounced Harper for giving Israel “carte blanche” despite its “obvious violations of international law” and the deaths of Canadians.

“Instead of calling on Israel to utilize restraint to prevent civilian deaths and halt any further attacks on clearly marked UN posts, Prime Minister Harper questioned why UN observers were located there in the first place – criticizing the victim rather than the aggressor,” executive director Mazen Chouaib said in a statement.

“The killing of the four UN observers . . . is further evidence of Israel’s grossly disproportionate use of force in Lebanon,” said Chouaib, noting that China, the European Union and Finland have said the attack was not justified.

Interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham suggested Harper’s pro-Israeli stand has compromised Canada’s ability to play a useful role in diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

“That will only be possible for parties that have credibility in the region, not parties that are perceived as being exclusively on one side of the conflict,” he said from Ottawa.

Harper said it was too early to say whether a UN peacekeeping force should be dispatched to Lebanon and he confirmed Canada’s current evacuation policy for non-resident Canadians will be reviewed when the rescue effort ends.

“Our priority in this case has been the evacuation of citizens who are also residents, but we have also been willing to evacuate residents who are not permanent residents of Canada,” he said following a news conference in Hopewell Cape, a picturesque community at the eastern edge of the Bay of Fundy.

“That has been somewhat controversial. There are large numbers involved, and in other parts of the world there are even larger numbers.”

Hundreds of Canadians were believed to be stranded in southern Lebanon, unable to get to Beirut because many roads have been heavily damaged by Israeli bombing.

Officials expect 10,000 Canadians will be evacuated by the time the rescue effort ends within the next few days.

On Tuesday, Harper said Canada would prefer to keep its troops out of Lebanon because any ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would be better enforced by Middle East countries.

The United States is proposing a NATO-led intervention force, sanctioned by the UN.

Neither Canada nor the United States has called for a ceasefire in the region, insisting that Hezbollah must first be dismantled.