Thirty-three organizations are calling on the U.S. to obtain site information on Israel’s cluster bomb strikes against Lebanon last summer.
In a letter sent this week to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by the American Task Force for Lebanon, the 33 organizations, including the Jewish Voice for Peace, ask the U.S. government to make clearing “bomblets” a priority, press Israel for exact locations of cluster bomb drops and call for an international treaty governing cluster weapons.
A reported 32 fatalities and 207 injuries have occurred since the end of the Hezbollah-Lebanon war in August 2006. Of the estimated one million unexploded cluster munitions on Lebanese ground only 112,872 have been cleared as of May 24.
“Our primary concern is to expedite remeditation of cluster bomb sites and to ensure the safety of the brave de-mining teams in the field,” said ATFL Executive Director Dr. George Cody.
Other signatories include offices of the Episcopalian, Friends, Mennonite and Lutheran churches.
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