Almost a year has passed since the summer 2006 war with Israel.
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Cluster munitions are anti-personnel weapons that scatter tiny but deadly bomblets over a wide area. The munitions, 4 million of which were spread across South Lebanon by Israeli forces - including about 1 million that failed to detonate - have caused 30 deaths and 180 injuries among civilians since the end of the war, according to the United Nations Mine Action Center.
The unexploded cluster munitions have turned homes, livelihoods and public places into de facto minefields.
Almost 50 countries will meet in Lima, Peru, from May 23-25 to discuss the draft of a treaty to ban the weapons, which have been used widely in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Russian region of Chechnya. But major cluster-bomb-producing states, including the US, Russia and China, have made clear they oppose a blanket ban, arguing that they need to keep the option of using the weapon for defense.
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Although the lack of action by major foreign powers is a common lament, sanctions against Israel for misusing the weapons would not be unprecedented. The Reagan administration imposed a six-year ban on cluster-weapon sales to Israel in 1982 after a Congressional investigation found that Israel had used the weapons in civilian areas during its invasion of Lebanon that year.
While those in power alternately debate and ignore the issue of cluster munitions and their ramifications, Rasha continues to struggle each day against a permanent injury.
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Source : The Daily Star