SHABBAT SHALOM!
==========================
Weekly Commentary: The Profound Significance of Gross Failure of UNIFIL
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 8 July 2010
The facts are simple:
#1. In gross violation of UN Resolution 1701 Hezbollah has effectively
turned over 100 villages in South Lebanon into military bases.
#2. UNIFIL declines to act on intelligence information provided by Israel
regarding the locations of illegal weapons caches in South Lebanon.
#3 Instead of doing its job and finding the weapons caches, UNIFIL announces
that they haven’t discovered any solid evidence of Hezbollah violations.
#4. To add insult to injury, the only violations UNIFIL are certain of are
the Israeli over flights that are part of Israel’s activities to monitor the
illegal Hezbollah operations that UNIFIL so studiously ignores.
Let’s make this clear: while the wording of UNIFIL’s mandate was far from
ideal, UNIFIL had enough leeway in the wording of its mandate to go after
the weapons caches if it indeed wanted to. But UNIFIL didn’t.
Again. The problem isn’t wording. If UNIFIL doesn’t want to find the
weapons caches then no matter how their mandate is delineated on paper, they
won’t find the weapons.
This development has profound ramifications.
It illustrates that third party monitors can’t be relied upon to provide
accurate reports regarding Arab violations.
Here is the puzzler: One would think that all the people and groups
promoting Arab-Israeli peace agreements that rely on various third party
monitoring schemes would be among the first to be pushing UNIFIL to do its
job. But they aren’t. Instead these advocates of third party monitors
typically ignore UNIFIL’s failure altogether.
Now if the purpose of the exercise is to have a photo op signing ceremony
then it really doesn’t matter that, based on the UNIFIL experience, third
party monitors cannot be relied upon.
But if the idea is a durable peace, the ramifications of UNIFIL’s failure
must not and cannot be ignored.
After all, the development, promotion and ultimate implementation of a
Palestinian-Israeli agreement is not an intellectual exercise. . It’s a
project with potentially life and death consequences.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 8 July 2010
The facts are simple:
#1. In gross violation of UN Resolution 1701 Hezbollah has effectively
turned over 100 villages in South Lebanon into military bases.
#2. UNIFIL declines to act on intelligence information provided by Israel
regarding the locations of illegal weapons caches in South Lebanon.
#3 Instead of doing its job and finding the weapons caches, UNIFIL announces
that they haven’t discovered any solid evidence of Hezbollah violations.
#4. To add insult to injury, the only violations UNIFIL are certain of are
the Israeli over flights that are part of Israel’s activities to monitor the
illegal Hezbollah operations that UNIFIL so studiously ignores.
Let’s make this clear: while the wording of UNIFIL’s mandate was far from
ideal, UNIFIL had enough leeway in the wording of its mandate to go after
the weapons caches if it indeed wanted to. But UNIFIL didn’t.
Again. The problem isn’t wording. If UNIFIL doesn’t want to find the
weapons caches then no matter how their mandate is delineated on paper, they
won’t find the weapons.
This development has profound ramifications.
It illustrates that third party monitors can’t be relied upon to provide
accurate reports regarding Arab violations.
Here is the puzzler: One would think that all the people and groups
promoting Arab-Israeli peace agreements that rely on various third party
monitoring schemes would be among the first to be pushing UNIFIL to do its
job. But they aren’t. Instead these advocates of third party monitors
typically ignore UNIFIL’s failure altogether.
Now if the purpose of the exercise is to have a photo op signing ceremony
then it really doesn’t matter that, based on the UNIFIL experience, third
party monitors cannot be relied upon.
But if the idea is a durable peace, the ramifications of UNIFIL’s failure
must not and cannot be ignored.
After all, the development, promotion and ultimate implementation of a
Palestinian-Israeli agreement is not an intellectual exercise. . It’s a
project with potentially life and death consequences.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il
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