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To: Gersh Avery who wrote (300174)	1/9/2005 4:18:01 PM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 436258

UN news.. French UN peacekeeper killed by Israeli fire in Hezbollah clashes turkishpress.com Israel and the Hezbollah militia, UN officials said. The Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia also claimed to have killed an Israeli soldier in the fighting, but there was no confimation of this from the Israeli side. The French UN peacekeeper's patrol was hit by shrapnel from an Israeli round near the disputed Shebaa Farms area, Lebanese police said, amid a series of retaliatory air raids triggered by Hezbollah fire. A spokesman for the UN force in Lebanon said that the French officer, working with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) had been killed while a Swedish observer and their Lebanese driver were wounded. The spokesman, Milos Srwjer, said the men had been killed by fire from the "Israeli side of the Blue Line" that the United Nations drew up to serve as the border between Lebanon and Israel. He added however that the Israeli fire had been provoked by "shots from the Lebanese side" of the Blue Line. Al-Manar television, the mouthpiece of Hezbollah, reported that "Our fighters blew up a very powerful charge in the path of an armoured vehicle near an Israeli position known as Zebdin in the occupied Shebaa Farms." "Four Apache helicopters flew in to evacuate four victims, a dead officer and three wounded soldiers," it added, referring to purported Israeli casualties. The Israeli army did not confirm the death one of their soldiers and military sources would only say that exchanges of fire had erupted in the area, which remains tense despite Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation. Lebanese police said Israel retaliated with four air strikes near Shebaa Farms, injuring a civilian. Hezbollah, which was instrumental in ending Israel's occupation of Lebanon, has vowed to continue "resistance" attacks until Israel evacuates Shebaa Farms, an area captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war but claimed by Lebanon with the consent of Damascus. Hezbollah has fighters deployed along the Lebanese side of the border, from where they launch sporadic attacks on Israel. On Friday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a Lebanese civilian van driving on the other side of the border between the two countries, damaging the vehicle but causing no casualties. In December, the Israeli army deployed a radar system in the area capable of detecting infiltrations by unmanned spy planes from Lebanon after Hezbollah flew a drone for about 15 minutes along Israel's northern Mediterranean coast. Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has said that the Shiite movement possessed drones that can carry explosives to strike targets deep inside Israel if the Jewish state attacks Lebanon. Israeli air force jets regularly fly over Lebanon, across the Blue Line drawn between the two countries after Israeli forces withdrew, while the two countries remain technically at war. UNTSO became the first peacekeeping mission set up by the United Nations when it was set up in 1948. Fourteen of its observers and 17 soldiers have been killed since its inception. ============================================================= Hundreds protest outside Lankan UN office over Annan visit newindpress.com Hundreds protest outside Lankan UN office over Annan visit Monday January 10 2005 00:00 IST AFP COLOMBO: At least 300 people protested on Sunday outside an office of the United Nations against its Chief Kofi Annan's inability to visit rebel held areas of Sri Lanka, a UN official said. The UN Secretary General, who wound up a two-day visit to tsunami affected Sri Lanka an hour earlier, did not visit victims in any of the rebel-controlled areas. "Around 300 people held a peaceful protest outside the UN office in Jaffna and gave us a memorandum which we will forward to the Secretary General through our country coordinating office," said Richard Barkle, Assistant Field Officer at UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "The people gathered were local civilians, members of non-governmental organisations, religious heads and community leaders. We know them well and have good links with them," Barkle said. He said the protest lasted for about 45 minutes from 10:00 a.m. local time. Annan said on Sunday he wanted to return to Sri Lanka to "see all parts of the country" as he ended a two-day tour of tsunami-battered parts of the island, amid reports the government blocked him from visiting rebel-held northern areas. "I'm Hoping to come back... And see all parts of the country and be of help to accelerate the peace process," Annan told a media conference before heading for the Maldives, which was also hit by the giant waves on December 26.