Another day, another occupation

The Israelis say they will hold onto a strip of southern Lebanon until their army is replaced by an international force. As an inducement to join such a force, the Israelis killed four unarmed UN observers in an observation post.

The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, in Rome for talks on the Middle East scheduled to start Wednesday, issued a statement saying that he was "shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting" of the United Nations post by the Israeli military. He said the post, at Khiam, was clearly marked, and called on the Israeli government to conduct a full investigation.

I'm sure they'll get right on that, Kofi.