More Problems For Israel -- Even in Peace

Anti-Israel Nations Offer To Patrol Lebanon

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Offers by anti-Israeli countries to patrol Lebanon, Hizbullah's welcoming of Lebanese troops and the abandonment of vows to disarm the terrorist group leave Hizbullah stronger and Israel weaker.

Any hopes that the United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution ending the hostilities between Hizbullah terrorists and Israel would make Israel safer continue to dissipate. "Villagers throwing rice and Hezbollah supporters holding banners welcomed the Lebanese army to south Lebanon," according to the Associated Press.

Hizbullah terrorists also made it a point to attack the United States and Israel during funeral processions in southern Lebanon. At the village of Kila, several hundred yards from the Israeli border, Hizbullah supporters waved their flags.

In another village, residents scorned American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "You will not see your new Middle East," said one sign addressed to Rice. One man told the Reuters News Agency, "Let them the Lebanese army come. We are all Lebanese."

Further complications for Israel are the almost across-the-board abandonment of the UN resolution's vow to disarm Hizbullah south of the Litani River.

Israel has verbally criticized the violation and complained about the failure to bring about the return of two IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists. But beyond statements, Israel seems powerless to stop what is shaping up as a charade.

"I would say the show is on the road," said Mark Malloch Brown, the UN deputy secretary-general.

France disappointed the U.N. with its surprise announcement that it is sending only 200 troops instead of thousands that were anticipated. The absence of the French and the refusal of Germany to place its soldiers in the situation of a direct confrontation leaves Muslim nations with a larger percentage of the proposed force.

Indonesia and Malaysia each have offered to send 1,000 troops. Neither country has diplomatic ties with Israel, and Malaysia as recently as last week encouraged the world to cut off diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. Israel has objected to the placement of troops from countries with which it does not have diplomatic relations.

Turkey has offered to send 5,000 men, more than any other country. However, Turkey also has been a major transit point for Hizbullah terrorist weapons, according to Israeli intelligence and comments made at an American State Department briefing Thursday.

Italy has proposed sending between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers but also has made statements indicating sympathy for Hizbullah. A government minister termed the terrorists' kidnapping of IDF soldiers a military action, and the government emphasized it would not try to disarm Hizbullah.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi told an Italian news service, "The fact that it won't be Italy who will disarm Hezbollah militia seems to me to be a moot point, also because I don't think the attempt would not be productive."

Morocco, which has ties with Israel and has a growing militant Muslim population, has offered to send 1,500 to 2,000 troops. Like many other nations, it wants a clearer definition from the UN what is expected of the soldiers and when they can open fire.

One of the major problems in the UN force that is shaping up is its lack of experience which, accompanied with the presence of a poorly-trained Lebanese army, leaves the area free for Hizbullah to mobilize. Israel already has committed itself to leave southern Lebanon once the UN force is in place.

Brown admitted, "We have it the force in quantitative terms but the issue is which battalions we can get there in the timeline required. Are they the right battalions with the right skills and equipment?"

He also explained that the international force, which will join the 2,000-member UNIFIL unit which has proven to be ineffective if not pro-Hizbullah since its introduction to the area in 1978, would not try to disarm the terrorists because of an agreement between Hizbullah and the Lebanese government.

American Secretary of State Rice also has backed down from her previous insistence that Hizbullah cease to be "a state within a state" and that a ceasefire would not leave Israel with the status quo situation that existed before the war.

She told USA Today, "I don't think there is an expectation that this force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah. I think it's a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily."

Hizbullah terrorist leaders have made it clear they will keep their weapons, and its terrorists have vowed to continue their war against Israel. One man, Mohamed Ballout, told Reuters, he is "ashamed that my son was not martyred."

Hizbullah official Sheikh Mohammed Yazbik said, "We will preserve the resistance. We won't give up our weapons, our dignity and our honor."

Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud clearly defined the Lebanese intentions. "The weapons of the resistance are the only ones, of all Arabs, that succeeded in standing up to Israel and defeating it. No one can take away the weapons of the resistance," he told his cabinet.

The Lebanese army Friday morning continued to take up positions south of the Litani River, the first time it has been deployed in the area for more than 30 years.
Hizbullah has gathered the support of more than 600,000 Shi'ite Muslims in the area and has built weapons and command centers in the last six years, after former Israeli Minister Ehud Olmert Barak ordered a sudden unilateral withdrawal of IDF troops.

Even a senior American official expressed pessimism about the future. "Our history in Lebanon has not been a happy one," lamented American Assistant Secretary of State David Welch."

Original article posted here.