Israel gives oral account of attack on United Nations base in Lebanon

Jarno Mäkinen

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Israel gave an oral account on Thursday on the air strike against a United Nations observation post in Khiam in South Lebanon in late July, in which a Finnish UN observer was killed.
      At an event organised at the Israeli Ministry of Defence, the Finnish Ambassador to Israel, Kari Veijalainen, was told that a written report would come on Friday. The oral account was given to representatives of the countries who lost men in the attack: Austria, Canada, China, and Finland.
      The government said on Thursday that the report would be studied carefully, to get as clear a picture as possible about the factors that led to the air strike which caused the death of Navy Lieutenant 1st Class Jarno Mäkinen and three other UN personnel.
     
A team of experts is to be set up to assess the information.
      The group will include representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Staff, and the office of the Finnish government.
      On Thursday the group only had access to Ambassador Veijalainen’s account of the oral report.
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) and Minister of Defence Seppo Kääriäinen (Centre) said on Thursday that Finland would make public the Israeli report on the incident.
      If Israel asks that the report be kept a secret, Finland will decide if the request is justified.
     
Vanhanen and Kääriäinen noted that only Israel’s own version of the events is now available. Both emphasised that the Finnish government will draw its conclusions only when the final report of a UN investigation becomes available. The UN began its investigation a week ago.
      According to the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Israel expresses regret over the incident. An Israeli government representative says that the incident was a case of human error; the pilot of the plane thought he was attacking a Hezbollah guerrilla target. Israel denies deliberately targetting the UN building.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Israel to submit report on death of Finnish UN observer this week (5.9.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat