For once I agree with George Bush. Prior to the US-led
invasion of Iraq the president branded the United Nations an irrelevant
debating society. But he was only half right.
When the UN Security Council rallies around to support
US/Israel interests its resolutions are held up as sacrosanct pearls of wisdom.
When it does not, its pronouncements are written off with the sweep of an
American veto.
In short, the UNSC has become ineffectual except as a tool
to rubber-stamp US policy. This is hardly an insider secret.
Consequently it�s no surprise that the draft resolution to
end hostilities being mooted by the US and France has been rejected by Lebanon
as being heavily biased in Israel�s favor.
The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri has
referred to the proposed truce as �a scheme of discord� that solely �takes into
account Israeli interests� and �encourages Tel Aviv to press on with its
aggression against Lebanon."
On quick glance the draft may appear reasonable. But in
reality it�s far removed from the sensible seven-point peace plan fielded by
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora last month.
This is the broad outline of Siniora�s plan, agreed to by
Hezbollah�s leadership:
- The
release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners;
- Israel�s
withdrawal from Lebanese soil;
- Shebaa
Farms to be placed under temporary UN jurisdiction;
- Lebanese
authority to be extended throughout the country;
- Israel
to hand over maps showing its earlier placement of land mines;
- A
beefed up UNIFIL to maintain security at the border region;
- The
international community to help Lebanon with reconstruction.
When America�s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with
Siniora and his Cabinet in Beirut she rightly lauded the plan.
After all, both sides get their prisoners back as well as
their territorial integrity and security. Its greatest strength is one of the
protagonists Hezbollah has endorsed it.
Just days later Rice does a U-turn and backs the US-French
effort that begins with citing past UNSC resolutions affirming the territorial
integrity of Lebanon, but refrains from calling for the withdrawal of Israeli
troops currently involved in decimating south Lebanese villages.
The draft then goes on to blame Hezbollah for deaths,
injuries, damage to infrastructure and displaced persons due to its �attack on
Israel� on July 12, 2006. It says nothing at all about Israel�s massively
disproportionate response.
With regards to a prisoner exchange, the draft demands the
unconditional release of Israeli prisoners but merely encourages efforts to
settle the issue of Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel.
Then rather than call for an unconditional immediate
cease-fire, the draft incorporates �a full cessation of hostilities� whereby
Hezbollah must cease all attacks. Israel, on the other hand, must stop all
�offensive military operations."
�Offensive� is the operative word here. During the past
weeks the Israeli military has displayed its skewed interpretation of the word
�offensive� by raining bombs and missiles onto Red Cross ambulances, aid
convoys, bunkers sheltering women and children as well as well as Syrian fruit
pickers.
Under the plan, Israel would get to decide what was
defensive and offensive, whereas Hezbollah would not.
In effect, Israel could continue bombing targets it
perceived rightly or wrongly as threats to Israel such as a moving truck, while
if Hezbollah retaliated it would be viewed as having violated the resolution.
Moreover, Israel would be perfectly placed to launch false
flag operations and heap the blame on Hezbollah.
When it comes to the issue of Shebaa Farms, still occupied
by Israel, the draft resolution does not ask Israel to return this land to
Lebanon.
Instead, it calls for the international borders of Lebanon
to be delineated, �especially in those areas where the border is disputed or
uncertain, including in the Shebaa Farms area."
Unlike the Siniora plan that calls for a Lebanese force to
police the border with Israel in partnership with UNIFIL, the draft resolution
envisions an international force doing the job. And while it does specify that
said force be UN mandated, it does not elaborate further.
This ambiguity leaves the door wide open for the UN to
mandate NATO, for instance, or, troops from countries sympathetic to US/Israeli
interests, or, indeed, forces that include Israelis holding dual nationality.
All of these would be viewed by the Lebanese as occupiers
and would soon become Hezbollah targets.
Most worrisome from Lebanon�s perspective are the draft�s
demands concerning the disarming of Hezbollah, which the �international force�
would be mandated to ensure under Chapter Seven.
This is nothing short of a recipe for civil war.
You don�t have to be psychic to know that if the Lebanese
Army aligned with an international force attempted to disarm an unwilling
Hezbollah there would be not only bloodshed but also major sectarian divisions
throughout the entire country.
Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, has
denounced the draft resolution and complained that double standard are �killing
the people of this region and agitating them."
In the meantime, the Israeli leadership is laughing up its
collective sleeve while saying nothing officially.
As Aluf Benn of the Israeli daily Ha�aretz so succinctly
puts it, �demonstrated Israeli enthusiasm for the draft could influence support
among Security Council members, who could demand a change in wording that may
adversely affect Israel.�
Benn indicates that Israeli officials from the Israeli prime
minister�s chief of staff to his foreign minister, who �flew to New York to
take part in talks conducted at the UN," were heavily involved with
conceptualizing the draft. The Lebanese were left completely out of the loop.
In the meantime the killing goes on with the conflict in
danger of spreading. On Sunday, while visiting the Lebanese town of Tripoli the
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told reporters �Regional war is
welcomed."
If the US and Israel drag their heels further in an attempt
to be seen as having triumphed in their trumped up �war on terror," the
welcome mat for a full scale regional war or even World War III will be
irrevocably and tragically laid out.
Linda
S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes
feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.