UN envoy: Israel must hand over maps of cluster bomb locations

United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams on Friday urged Israel to provide detailed maps indicating the location of cluster bombs in south Lebanon. He said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has asked Israel to provide such detailed maps more than once. He added that UN Security Council Resolution 1701 has not been fully implemented. Following a tour of the southern city of Tyre Friday in which he met with the city's municipal head and members, Williams said the UN has continuously worked on ridding the south of land mines and cluster bombs. "Work must continue, and Israel must provide maps showing the location of such bombs. The UN and the UNIFIL have called on Israel more than once to make these maps available," Williams said. Between July 12 and August 14, 2006, the final days of the war with Israel that summer, the Jewish state's armed forces dropped about one million cluster bomblets on southern Lebanon, according to UN estimtes. So far local and international deminers in southern Lebanon have cleared about 155,000 cluster bomblets, while more than 320 people have been killed or maimed by cluster bomb explosions since the end of the 2006 conflict. The work of the deminers would be made easier if Israel provided maps of the strike locations where it dropped the deadly weapons. Williams expressed relief that Lebanon is enjoying a period of calm, adding: "There is a lot of work ahead that we have to do, particularly in returning the Ghajjar village and the Shebaa Farms [back to Lebanon] ... ending the violation of Lebanese airspace that occurs daily." "This issue is always on our minds and under discussion, we are working with our colleagues at the UN to satisfy [Palestinian] needs without ignoring the greater goal of establishing the Palestinian state," Williams said after being briefed by Lebanese officials on the Palestinians' suffering.