Israel scoffs at UN demand that it foot bill for oil spill from Lebanon war
Israel's representatives to the world body in New York said the resolution was a byproduct of "an anti-Israel agenda."
By HERB KEINONAn Israeli armored personnel carrier team shows a Hezbollah and Lebanese flag as they return from fighting near the Israeli village of Avivim, July 25, 2006(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel on Saturday chalked up to animus against it a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution calling on Jerusalem to compensate Lebanon for an oil spill caused by an IAF bombardment of a Lebanese power plant during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.By a vote of 170-6, the General Assembly requested that Israel assume responsibility for prompt and adequate compensation to Lebanon and other directly affected countries for the costs of repairing the environmental damage caused by the slick.Damages from the oil spill, adjusted to 2014 inflation rates, according to the resolution, was $856.4 million The resolution was opposed by Israel, the US, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.Another three states – Cameroon, Papua New Guinea and Tonga – abstained.The attack on a power station on the Lebanese coast that caused the oil spill took place during the month-long war triggered by Hezbollah’s capture of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in July 2006.One government official said this resolution is another example of the degree to which the Arab states can bring any resolution against Israel to the General Assembly and get it passed.“It is clear to anyone who looks at the legality of the war, that Israel was responding to clear aggression from Lebanon into Israel,” the official said.Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a month-long conflict triggered by the cross-border raid by the Shi’ite group and its subsequent capture of two Israeli soldiers who were patrolling along the northern frontier.
