Human rights group Amnesty International yesterday slammed the Winograd Report, saying the investigation failed to condemn what it called “Israeli war crimes” during the July War on Lebanon two summers ago.

Amnesty said in a press release that the report published Wednesday failed to investigate “a crucial aspect of the war — the government policies and military strategies that failed to discriminate between the Lebanese civilian population and Hezbollah combatants and between civilian property and infrastructure and military targets.”

The Israeli Ynet news quoted Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program, as saying that “this (report) was yet another missed opportunity to address the policies and decisions behind the grave violations of international humanitarian law — including war crimes — committed by Israeli forces.”

He added that “the indiscriminate killings of many Lebanese civilians not involved in the hostilities and the deliberate and wanton destruction of civilian properties and infrastructure on a massive scale were given no more than token consideration by the commission.”

According to Ynet, Amnesty considered that the Winograd Commission had the power to subpoena witnesses and recommend the prosecution of officials it found to have been responsible for “willful or negligent criminal conduct,” but instead chose to “limit its work to reviewing military strategy and political decisions, and made no serious attempt to investigate violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, committed by Israeli forces or to recommend measures for holding those responsible for such violations to account.”

The rights organization concluded that it was the Lebanese civilian population — not Hezbollah combatants — who paid the heaviest price of the Israeli army’s attacks. “Of some 1,190 people killed, the vast majority were civilians not involved in the hostilities, among them hundreds of children,” the organization said.

The report was “deeply flawed” and did not probe government policies and military strategies that did not discriminate between Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese civilians, Amnesty said.

Smart said the study was “another missed opportunity to address the policies and decisions behind the grave violations of international humanitarian law — including war crimes — committed by Israeli forces.”

“The indiscriminate killings of many Lebanese civilians not involved in the hostilities and the deliberate and wanton destruction of civilian properties and infrastructure on a massive scale were given no more than token consideration by the commission,” he added.

The long-awaited report said the 34-day war was a “serious missed opportunity” for the Jewish state while there were “serious failings and flaws” in military and political strategy.

But it spared Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from particular criticism, saying he acted in what he sincerely believed to be the country’s best interest.

Lebanon’s prime minister said yesterday that the report has set the scene for a possible future conflict and failed to address “Israel’s crimes against Lebanon.” “The report calls for preparation for the next war, which shows that Israel has not learned the appropriate lesson from its defeat,” a statement from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s media office said in Beirut.

“The enemy’s aims toward Lebanon have stayed the same — that is attacking Lebanon in the future.” “The report does not contain any mention of the crimes Israel committed against Lebanon ... or of the massacres against civilians ... the report also doesn’t mention huge destruction to infrastructure most of which were hospitals, schools, places of worship, bridges and residential buildings.”

Lebanon’s army chief said in comments published yesterday the report is a victory for both the Lebanese Army and for Hezbollah.

“We did not expect an official Israeli body to condemn publicly its government and army,” Gen. Michel Suleiman, who is tipped to become president, told As-Safir newspaper.

Hamas said the report has exposed the weakness of the Jewish state and should spur Palestinians to redouble their struggle. The Winograd report “reveals the weakness and the fragility of the Zionist entity and its political-military establishment,” said Fawzi Barhum, spokesman for Islamist movement in Gaza.

Source: Aljazeera.com