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Call to Israel to clean up the oil-stained mess it created

The Israel-Lebanon war might be a thing of the past - but don't forget all those cluster bombs still in southern Lebanon left there by the Israelis - but the effect of Israel's bombing of oil facilities in Lebanon continues - with devastating ongoing effects, as this report from Inter Press Service [reproduced on CommonDreams] clearly highlights:

"When the Israeli Air Force destroyed a slew of oil storage tanks and a key power station in Lebanon in July 2006, the environmental damage was described as devastating.

And now, more than 15 months later, the United Nations has released a report detailing the extent of the destruction caused by that oil spill to human health, biodiversity, fisheries and tourism.

The destruction has had “serious implications” for livelihoods and economy in that continuously trouble-plagued country.

The Israeli bombing, which destroyed storage tanks and the El-Jiyeh power plant, triggered the release of about 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea, leading to the contamination of some 150 kms of coastline in Lebanon and neighbouring Syria.

The four weeks of bombings, characterised by an intense military conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, resulted in more than 1,183 fatalities, about one-third of them children, while 4,054 people were injured and 970,000 Lebanese displaced.

After an assessment of the economic damage, the World Bank said the overall cost was between 527 million dollars and 931 million dollars, averaging about 729 million dollars, or about 3.6 percent of Lebanon’s gross domestic product in 2006.

The damages affected forests, water, air, hotels, beach resorts, public beaches, restaurants and commercial fishing."

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