BEIRUT: The UN General Assembly is poised to pass a resolution forcing Israel to compensate Lebanon for the environmental damage it incurred during the bombing of a power plant in 2006, according to reports on Thursday. Lebanese media quoted diplomatic sources, who suggested that the draft resolution – prepared by China and Sudan – is set to receive the backing of 168 out of 192 member states, enough to force Israel to provide financial assistance under international law.
The General Assembly will adopt the draft law to press for “immediate and sufficient compensation for the government of Lebanon for the environmental damage caused by the oil spill by [Israel],” the sources were quoted as saying.
The draft law expresses the General Assembly’s “extreme worry” about the side-effects of the Israeli bombing of fuel containers on sustainable development in Lebanon.
An Israeli air strike in 2006 targeted the Jiyyeh power plant, just south of Beirut, in an attempt to cut the electrical capacity of the capital during the July-August war. It resulted in an estimated 15,000 tons of fuel oil spilling into the Mediterranean Sea and contaminated more than 150 kilometers of Lebanese and Syrian coastline.
In a report directed at the General Assembly in September, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged Israel to accept “its responsibility for prompt and adequate compensation.”
Israel has previously resisted compensating Lebanon for the damage wreaked on its beaches, given the continuing animosity between the two states.
The United States, Canada, and Australia are expected to vote against the resolution, having opposed the draft law since its inception in 2006.
“[Jiyyeh] overwhelmed national response capacity because of the ongoing conflict … and a land, sea and air blockade by Israel. Those factors impeded initial efforts for international assistance,” Ban’s report added.
Environmental activists told The Daily Star that they would welcome the General Assembly’s ruling.
“The polluter should always be obligated to bear the responsibility of its actions,” said Garabed Kazanjian, Greenpeace Mediterranean Oceans campaigner in Lebanon. “‘The polluter pays’ notion has long been advocated by the organization. We also believe this concept must be applied invariably both internationally and nationally.”
Wael Hmaydan, executive director of environmental NGO IndyAct, said the spill could eventually end up costing Lebanon $1 billion.
“We witnessed firsthand the horrors of this catastrophe. The impact [of the spill] will stay with us for decades,” he said. “It was clear that this attack by the Israelis could have been avoided and such environmental attacks are not acceptable by any side. Such an attack harms everyone and the people responsible for this need to pay compensation as a way of preventing such attempts in the future and to pay for the remaining damage.”
The General Assembly sees the oil spill as having caused extreme pollution on the Lebanese coast as well as having adverse repercussions on the Lebanese economy. Parts of Syria’s coastline were also contaminated from the resulting slick.
The resolution is set to encourage the swift formation of a contingency fund to treat the damages caused by the oil spill in the east of the Mediterranean basin, to be provided by international donors, including NGOs, governmental agencies and private institutions.
It will also call on various environmental organizations to assist the Lebanese government in finishing the clean up operation “with a goal of preserving the ecological system in Lebanon and the Mediterranean basin,” reports said.
Kazanjian said that the money would prove vital to rescuing the Lebanese coastline.
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