who would YOU believe?

[firsty]

kofi annan or daniel ayalon (israeli ambassador to the US)?

kofi says the israeli attack on a UN post was deliberate, ayalon disagrees. you be the judge.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/ ... index.html

U.N. observers' deaths fuel diplomatic firestorm
Israeli leader expresses regret at tragedy, talks in Rome fail

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- A diplomatic furor erupted Wednesday after four U.N. observers died in southern Lebanon in what the U.N. secretary-general said was an "apparently deliberate" Israeli airstrike.

Israel angrily denied the accusation.

The U.N. observers were killed when an Israeli bomb made a direct hit on their bunker in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. They had called an Israeli military liaison about 10 times in the six hours before they died to warn that the aerial attacks were getting close to their position, according to a U.N. officer.(Full story)

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and "expressed his regret at this tragedy in Lebanon."

Annan was attending tense diplomatic talks with key Middle East figures in Rome. Those negotiations -- being held to agree to a plan to halt the hostilities in Lebanon -- have failed, according to sources involved in the talks and sources in Jerusalem and Washington. (Full story)

Diplomats are trying to come up with some kind of face-saving statement, the sources said.

The talks had been made even more urgent by the observers' deaths, in what Annan called an "apparently deliberate" strike that "deeply distressed" him.

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire," he said in a statement.

"Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the U.N. force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack."

The airstrike came as Israeli forces continued to battle Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, seeking to end the Islamic militia's rocket attacks on northern Israel.

Olmert on Wednesday said his country wants to establish a strip of land in south Lebanon a little more than a mile wide that will be free of Hezbollah guerrillas -- giving the dimensions of Israel's new "security zone" for the first time, The Associated Press reported.
'Caught in the middle'

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, said that "UNIFIL obviously got caught in the middle" of a gunfight between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops.

"We do not have yet confirmation what caused these deaths. It could be [Israel Defense Forces]. It could be Hezbollah," he said.

UNIFIL sent a rescue-and-medical team to the city of Khiyam, where the post was located. Attacks in the vicinity continued as rescuers tried to reach those killed or injured, UNIFIL said.

UNIFIL said at least 14 incidents of fire have happened near the post since Tuesday afternoon.

Ayalon called Annan's statement "outrageous," while Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, said he, too, was "deeply distressed" that Annan alleged that the strike was deliberate.

"I am surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions made by the secretary-general, who while demanding an investigation, has already issued its conclusions," Gillerman said in a statement.
International force proposed

During the talks in Rome, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with European foreign ministers. Sources say she will propose an ambitious plan in which international military forces would help the Lebanese government stabilize southern Lebanon.

Sources say, however, that EU officials want an immediate cease-fire -- a move that Israel and the United States have resisted, calling it a "false promise." (Full story)

A U.S. official described Rice as "under siege" but holding firm that just a cessation of hostilities is not good enough and that at the same time, Hezbollah and disarming must be dealt with.

There is agreement on humanitarian and reconstruction packages, but those can't be implemented with the fighting continuing.

Diplomats were said to be working on some form of statement because no agreement could be reached on a full communique due to the failure to reach a consensus.
Hezbollah leader's threat

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday threatened again to take the fight "beyond Haifa."

Haifa is an Israeli port city that has been frequently targeted by Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Nasrallah also alleged that Israel and the United States had planned to invade Lebanon later this year but put the plan into effect early after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Since July 12, at least 398 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and as many as 1,486 wounded in Lebanon, Lebanese security officials said Wednesday.

At least 41 Israelis have died, including 19 civilians, and at least 388 have been wounded, Israeli officials said.
No letup in the fighting

Israeli soldiers battled Hezbollah fighters in and around Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, a day after the Israeli military announced it had taken control of the village, Israeli military sources said.

There were 10 casualties among the Israeli troops, Israeli sources said. Arab TV networks reported at least nine Israeli soldiers had been killed.

Israeli troops have pushed into southern Lebanon trying to reduce Hezbollah's capability to fire Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. (Watch cockpit view of bombing in Lebanon -- :45)

The IDF hopes to create a "security zone" in southern Lebanon until an international force arrives, said Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz. (Watch as Israel fights for a buffer zone -- 2:04)

Hezbollah militants launched 37 Katyusha rockets into northern Israel Wednesday morning, wounding 14 people -- one seriously -- Israeli police said.

About 100 Hezbollah rockets were fired into Israel on Tuesday, striking the cities of Haifa, Carmiel, Kyrat Shmona and Nahiriya, according to the IDF.

One attack killed a 15-year-old girl in the village of Meghar, Israeli police and medical service officials said.

In Haifa, at least 18 people were injured and one man died of a heart attack after a rocket struck near his home, officials said.

In northern Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli tank artillery fire killed seven people Wednesday morning, Palestinian sources said.

An IDF spokesman said the military carried out an airstrike on militants in Gaza but did not confirm any tank shelling.

CNN's John King, Karl Penhaul, John Roberts, Brent Sadler and Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed except by Firsty. Associated Press contributed to this report.