http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/26763D65-7F65-4848-9819-CCC4678CCC3A.htm
Peres: Cluster bombs a mistake
Shimon Peres was speaking exclusively with Al Jazeera's David Foster in Doha
Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, has told Al Jazeera that his country's use of cluster bombs in Lebanon during last year's war with Hezbollah was a "mistake".
Unexploded ordnance in the country has killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 140 since the end of the war, including two Belgian soldiers injured on Monday.
Peres said in an exclusive interview broadcast on Tuesday that the bombs were dropped "apparently ... without the knowledge even of the chief-of-staff".
He told Al Jazeera's David Foster: "To be short and clear, we committed a mistake, regrettably."
'Million bomblets dropped'
Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Beirut, reported Hezbollah officials she spoke to said Peres' admission was an attempt by Israel to clear its name and that it would not be of any comfort to the relatives of those who had lost their lives to cluster bombs.
During the 34-day war in Lebanon last summer, the UN estimates that around one million cluster bomblets were dropped by Israel in the south of the country, 90 per cent of them in the last 72 hours before a ceasefire took effect.
A UN official told Al Jazeera in Beirut that despite an intensive de-mining effort, only 19,000 cluster bombs have been cleared so far.
The onset of winter in Lebanon and damper conditions have led to the bombs becoming further embedded in the ground, rendering them similar to landmines.
Congress investigation
Peres' admission may put pressure on the US congress to further investigate the matter after the state department said it is "likely" that Israel violated an agreement with Washington in its use of US-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.
"There were likely violations," Sean McCormack, a state department spokesman, said on Monday, adding a preliminary report had been sent to congress. Peres said that the biggest mistake was the war itself and blamed Hezbollah for provoking it.
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Colin Brace
Amsterdam