[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] Thursday condemned Israel and Hezbollah for failing to investigate alleged war crimes and humanitarian law violations [press release] during the summer 2006 Lebanon conflict [JURIST news archive], calling upon the United Nations to establish a "comprehensive, impartial, and independent inquiry" to investigate the alleged violations and setup provisions to compensate the victims. Amnesty criticized Hezbollah for indiscriminately firing rockets into northern Israel, while also criticizing the Israeli use of cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder] in southern Lebanon. It chided the UN Security Council for its inaction and "partisan politics and selectivity," and faulted the UN Human Rights Council [official website] for conducting a one-sided inquiry focusing only on alleged violations by Israel.

Last November, the UN rights body characterized the Israeli use of force in Lebanon as "excessive, indiscriminate, and disproportionate" [JURIST report] in "flagrant violation" of international law. The panel later recommended that Israel be made to compensate Lebanon for the damages [JURIST report] inflicted during the 33-day conflict. In January, the White House reported that Israel's use of US-made cluster munitions may have violated agreements [JURIST report] with the United States requiring that the weapons be used against clearly defined military targets or only for self-defense. AP has more