Political Quotes

“Mr. president, I am deeply upset by this morning's news from Lebanon. As many of my colleagues have heard, Israeli shells hit a United Nations base in the village of Cana near the city of Tyre, within which approximately 500 Lebanese civilians had taken refuge from the recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. According to early press reports, the shelling caused the death of at least 75 Lebanese refugees--and perhaps many more than that--including men, women, children, and the elderly. At least 120 have been wounded, and two Fijian peacekeepers were killed. Both the United Nations and Israel agree that minutes before the Israeli attack, Hezbollah guerrillas had fired Katyusha rockets at Israel from a position roughly 300 meters from the refugee camp. Clearly the Israelis were responding to the Katyusha attack, and unintentionally hit the refugee camp. Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Barak, have issued assurances that Israel is not targeting civilians and would not have fired intentionally on a U.N. base. If today's early news reports are correct, then we have witnessed a tragedy in the classic sense of the word--the deaths of these innocent civilians need not have occurred. Hezbollah has no right to launch rockets in such proximity to a refugee camp, apparently hoping to use the refugees as a shield against Israeli retribution. Israel, by the same token, has no right to respond as it did if it had any inkling that civilians would be harmed.”