Gross Violation of Ceasefire!
Yes we know there have been gross violations of the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah fighting within Lebanon. One supposes there were hopeful expectations that the truce, which was heavily balanced in Lebanon's favour, and which certainly did nothing to assure Israel that fairness was the order of the day, would succeed, despite informed Middle-East watchers' opinion to the contrary.Oops, right off the bat, Lebanon, which had agreed to one of the primary conditions, to disarm Hezbollah, decided it could not, it would not even make an attempt to meet that obligation. Hezbollah itself was charged under the ceasefire to lay down its arms. Hezbollah was to move away from the southern end of Lebanon, as the influx of regular Lebanese troops would displace its presence on the border with Israel. Furthermore, ghost countries such as Syria and Iran were put on notice that they were expected to refrain from re-arming Hezbollah.
Israel was to withdraw her troops, her presence from Lebanon, handing over areas where it had newly-established its presence to Lebanese troops and to the much-anticipated assembling of international troops gathered to ensure the cease-fire would be respected, that no untoward incidents of provocation would be once again directed toward Israel. As part of the truce Israel's right to protect itself against further assaults was recognized, until such time as the full contingent of both Lebanese troops and international truce-keepers would be in place.
Arms askew in Wonderland: With Lebanon's announcement that it would not disarm Hezbollah, merely ask it politely not to flaunt its weaponry in public, and Hezbollah's assertion that no power on earth could compel it to lay down its arms, France shrinks back from her former position of boldly "taking charge" of the international group, with the strength of its promised 3,000-strong French troops, augmented by those of other countries, under the UN banner.
What, then, has happened to the UN-brokered truce, the cease-fire? A lot of hand-wringing, lots of diplomatic headaches, questions within the United Nations about whose word they could trust to live up to their international obligations, let alone solemn promises, having come to the realization that France is more bark than bite. The world seems to sense that all is not as it should be. Kofi Annan's second-in-command, Malloch Brown is worried, and does his utmost to insist that a Muslim-European, or a European-Muslim force will be brought to bear in defence of the truce.
But oh dear, the largest offers of troop deployment under the UN mandate have come from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal. Problem? Only that some of these countries' obvious interests as Islamic entities hostile to Israel by the very fact of their failure to recognize the country's legitimacy or to have diplomatic relations with her, mark them as somewhat inappropriate to the task at hand - they are not neutral, they are not objective, they are not trustworthy as far as ensuring fairness on the ground.
But not to worry. Lebanon's Prime Minister, Faoud Siniora has raised the alarm, pointed the finger, revealed the source of all the problems, the above-mentioned of which are mere addendums: Israel is guilty of a gross violation of the ceasefire. The fact that, in the absence of any force capable of, or interested in preventing Hezbollah's munitions being re-stocked, just exactly that is taking place, from Iran through Syria is simply an inconvenience.
The fact that Hezbollah maintains its provocative and dangerous presence in southern Lebanon, arms in place and ready to go again is merely incidental. The fact that Lebanese troops declare that they are one with Hezbollah and in any event, haven't the means or the inclination to disarm the terrorist group is, well, just plain truth.
But all of these inconvenient circumstances indicate that the truce was breached by the very individuals and groups who insisted on its immediate implementation.
Another silly, to-be-overlooked reality.
Meanwhile, Israel is placed on the defensive yet again. She has not breached the truce agreement at all. She is attempting to protect herself by interrupting the constant flow of arms through the Syrian/Lebanese border of Iranian weaponry headed for Hezbollah. Another nasty little truth.
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, August 19, 2006
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