Israel denounces UN rights probe on Lebanon

GENEVA, Dec 1 (Reuters) Israel denounced a United Nations investigation that accused the Jewish state of human rights violations in Lebanon and said it ignored Hezbollah guerrillas who fired 4,000 rockets at Israel during their war.

Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council that its three-member commission of inquiry had produced a ''report rife with imbalances and misrepresentation''.

The three legal experts sent to Lebanon said in a November. 21 report that Israel was guilty of ''excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force'' in the July/August war.

They said their limited Council mandate prevented them from probing Hezbollah's actions.

Levanon said the UN report was wrong to omit a reference to ''Lebanon's obligations to prevent the use of its territory for hostile acts and to disarm and disband Hezbollah''.

''The disturbing reality is that the conflict in Lebanon was the direct result of an unprovoked Hezbollah attack, emanating from Lebanon into Israel,'' he said.

Israel invaded southern Lebanon after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

The Israeli envoy said Israel had been forced to act in self-defence, confronted by ''Hezbollah terrorists on one hand, who deliberately made every effort to create civilian casualties on both sides, and its own forces on the other hand, who were committed to making every effort to minimise them''.

Around 1,200 Lebanese and more than 150 Israelis were killed in the 34-day confrontation. Israel used aircraft, warships and artillery to pound Lebanon. Hezbollah fired around 4,000 rockets at northern Israel.

The UN commission charged that Israel did not limit assaults to military targets and had made excessive use of cluster bombs which have continued to maim and kill after the war's end. This amounted to collective punishment, it said.

Levanon stressed Israel had no wish to injure Lebanese civilians and had tried to spare their lives by dropping leaflets and giving advance warnings of its military actions.

''Israel did this, knowing full well that it would give Hezbollah time to escape, regroup and set up ambushes, and that Israel would endure casualties at the expense of military surprise,'' Levanon said.

''Israel's conduct, which far exceeds the requirements of international humanitarian law, proved itself in practice, reducing injury to civilians,'' he said.

REUTERS PDM RK1903