Israel Cuts Contact with Williams Over Nakba Day Report
The Israeli foreign ministry is cutting contacts with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams over a report that is highly critical of Israel, the daily Haaretz reported Wednesday.
It said the report of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, which was written by Williams, concludes that Israeli soldiers used disproportionate force against Lebanese demonstrators on Nakba Day.
“The foreign ministry decided to cancel his periodic visit to Israel, which was due in a number of weeks … (and) told (him) that there was no time to meet with him, and that Israel would relay its views directly to the secretary general's office,” said the Israeli newspaper.
Foreign ministry sources said that it remains unclear whether Israel will resume contact with Williams.
Ban’s report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 mainly deals with the incidents of Nakba Day on May 15. Israeli soldiers "used direct live fire against unarmed demonstrators" who tried to breach the border fence, it said.
"I call on the Israel Defense Forces to refrain from responding with live fire in such situations, except where clearly required in immediate self-defense,” the report stated.
"Following a verbal warning and firing into the air, the Israel Defense Forces then directed live fire at the protesters at the fence," according to the report, "killing seven civilians and injuring 111."
It added that Israeli soldiers didn’t use conventional crowd control methods or any other method than lethal arms against the unarmed demonstrators.
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