Kuwait Times

Published Date: January 20, 2009

VIENNA: Arab nations accused Israel yesterday of blasting Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate reports that traces of it had been found in victims of the shelling. In a letter on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria, Prince Mansour Al-Saud, the Saudi Ambassador, expressed "our deep concern regarding the information ... that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims.

A final draft of the letter was made available to AP yesterday. It urgently requested IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "carry out a radiological and physical assessment in order to verify the presence of depleted uranium in the weaponry used by Israel ... in the Gaza Strip." Officials at the Israeli mission to the IAEA said they were in no position to comment without having seen the letter. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming confirmed receipt of the letter and said a response might be issued later
in the day.

The letter - which spoke of "medical and media sources" as the origin of its allegations _ appeared to be alluding to health concerns related to depleted uranium but the effects of exposure to the substance are unclear. An IAEA article on the issue says that while the substance "is assumed to be potentially carcinogenic ... the lack of evidence for a definite cancer risk in studies over many decades is significant and should put the results of assessments in perspective.

Still, says the article, "there is a risk of developing cancer from exposure to radiation emitted by ... depleted uranium. This risk is assumed to be proportional to the dose received." It is not the first time Israel has been accused of using ordnance containing depleted uranium, which makes shells and bombs harder and increases their penetrating power. The Israeli army declined comment. But the US and NATO have used uranium-depleted rounds in Bosnia and Iraq. According to the World Health Organization,
the weapons are lightly radioactive, though "under most circumstances, use of DU will make a negligible contribution to the overall natural background levels of uranium in the environment".

But researchers have suspected depleted uranium may be behind a range of chronic symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War. Some of the symptoms include memory and thinking problems, debilitating fatigue, severe muscle and joint pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and rashes. Syria, which is being investigated by the Vienna-based agency for alleged secret nuclear activities, says traces of uranium found by IAEA experts at a site bombed by Israel jets Sept 6, 2007 likely came from bom
bs or missiles used by the Israelis.

The Israelis have denied using such weaponry in that raid, and yesterday two diplomats accredited to the IAEA and familiar with its Syria investigations told the AP that the agency has virtually ruled out Israeli munitions as the source of the uranium. They asked for anonymity for discussing confidential information. The IAEA investigation is based in part on intelligence from the US, Israel and a third, unidentified country, alleging that the bombed site was a nearly completed nuclear reactor built with N
orth Korean help and meant to produce plutonium - which can be used as the payload of nuclear weapons.
The uranium traces were revealed by an analysis of environmental samples collected by IAEA experts during a visit to the site, in a remote part of the Syrian desert. Since that initial trip in June 2008, Syria has refused or deflected requests for follow up inspections both to the site and others allegedly linked to it.

Meanwhile, Israel's use of white phosphorus - banned under international law for use near civilians - during the Gaza offensive was "clear and undeniable," Amnesty International said yesterday. "Amnesty International delegates visiting the Gaza Strip found indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely-populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north," the rights group said in a statement.

We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," said Christopher Cobb-Smith, a weapons expert touring Gaza as part of a four-person fact-finding team. Human rights groups and medics in Gaza reported having treated dozens of people suffering burns caused by white phosphorus during Israel's 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled territory that killed more than 1,300 p
eople.

Under international law, white phosphorus is banned for use near civilians, but is permitted for creating a smokescreen. Israel has insisted that all weapons being used in its Gaza war were within the bounds of international law. The substance is a toxic chemical agent which can cause severe burns. Dispersed in artillery shells, bombs, and rockets, it burns on contact with oxygen and creates a smokescreen in order to hide the movement of troops.

Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's researcher on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, said the use of white phosphorus could amount to a war crime. "Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely-populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate. Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," she was quoted as saying in the statement. "Artillery is an area weapon; not good for pinpoint targeting. The fac
t that these munitions, which are usually used as ground burst, were fired as air bursts increases the likely size of the danger area," Cobb-Smith said.

The group said that one of the places worst affected by the use of white phosphorus was the United Nations Works and Relief Agency compound in Gaza City, where Israeli forces fired three white phosphorus shells on 15 January. The same ammunition was used in a strike on Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City the same day, Amnesty said. Israel launched the air and ground offensive on December 27 with the goal of halting continuous Palestinian rocket fire against the south of the country that killed four people during
the offensive which ended on Sunday. - Agencies