LEBANON/ISRAEL: HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE COMMEMORATE 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE QANA MASSACRE

Record ID: 400116

  • Title: LEBANON/ISRAEL: HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE COMMEMORATE 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE QANA MASSACRE
  • Date: 16th April 2002
  • Summary: (W5) QANA, LEBANON (APRIL 17, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV'S: VILLAGERS MARCHING IN A NIGHT VIGIL TO THE GRAVEYARD OF THE QANA MASSACRE VICTIMS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SCU: WOMAN CARRYING A CHILD 0.15 3. SV: SADALLAH BALHAS, WHO LOST 32 RELATIVES IN THE MASSACRE, WALKING AS HE HOLDS A CANDLE 0.20 4. VARIOUS RELATIVES AND CANDLES AT
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QANA AND BEIRUT, LEBANON/ LEBANESE-ISRAELI BORDER
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA8I69MPBBS8ZWKGG5XNRACBUUU
  • Story Text: Hundreds have commemorated the sixth anniversary of the
    Qana massacre which killed more than 100 people, including
    many children, seeking refuge in a Lebanese camp near the
    Israeli border.


    Chanting "Israel is the ultimate evil" and "Sharon is a
    pig", some 100 bereaved
    families holding candles marched in a night vigil on Wednesday
    (April 17), to the mass graves of the victims of Qana
    massacre, marking the 6th anniversary of the worst atrocity of
    Israel's offensive in south Lebanon.

    Some sat numbly remembering the atrocity and staring at
    the graves of their beloved ones. Others held candles while a
    young and angry crowd cursed Israel and its Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon.

    Seventy-year-old Saadallah Balhas lost 32 family members
    in the massacre. He lost his right eye in the attack, which
    left two of his three surviving children handicapped.

    Showing photographs of the 16 children and grandchildren
    he lost in the massacre, Balhas said: "The misery is
    unforgettable. The enemy left no house unharmed, they left no
    house without pain and disasters."
    On April 18, 1996, approximately 800 civilians were
    sheltering at a Fijian U.N. base in Qana during the massive
    Israeli military offensive code-named Operation Grapes of
    Wrath.

    A barrage of proximity-fuse shells crashed directly into
    the pre-fabricated building. Minutes later, more than 100
    people lay dead, many burned and dismembered beyond
    recognition.

    Israel, whose 17-day offensive was aimed at crushing
    Hizbollah guerrillas, said the shelling of the U.N. base was a
    mistake but a U.N. inquiry said the attack was
    probably deliberate. Investigations by international human
    rights organisations concluded that the shelling of the
    compound was deliberate.

    Six years after the tragedy Lebanese are unable to
    understand how Israel's vaunted hi-tech army could shell a
    clearly-marked U.N. peacekeepers camp crowded with more than
    800 refugees.

    On the day of the anniversary a spokesman for the
    Hizbollah group, which is still clashing with Israeli troops
    in a disputed border area, said the Qana massacre was an
    example of Israel's racism and hostility to peace.

    "This act (Qana and Jenin massacres) shows the racism and
    hostile nature of this enemy. It also shows that this enemy
    doesn't want neither negotiations nor peace," said the head of
    the Hizbollah media office , Sheikh Hassan Ezedeen.

    This week, Israel increased security measures along the
    borders with Lebanon after a wave of Hizbollah attacks on
    Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area, near the
    borders.

    pw/jrc


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