JINSA Report #605 Rules of Engagement for Relief Agencies, Too

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September 28, 2006

JINSA Report #605

Rules of Engagement for Relief Agencies, Too

The keys to successful international peacekeeping are a) a peace to keep
and b) Rules of Engagement (ROE) for the peacekeepers when peace fails.
Neither exists for the emerging expanded UNIFIL force in Southern
Lebanon. On the other hand, the nature of the conversation between the
IDF, UNIFIL and representatives of the Lebanese Army is interesting.
Actually, the mere FACT of the conversation is interesting.

As is the fact that UNIFIL will have an officer stationed with Israel's
Northern Command to "coordinate" with the IDF, and the IDF will have
representatives with UNIFIL in Lebanon. The previous UNIFIL force
refused discussions with Israel.

The latest IDF-UN meeting follows a Jerusalem Post interview in which
UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini said UNIFIL would not engage
Hezbollah even if Hezbollah were attacking Israel. The IDF was outraged,
and, oddly, in what appeared to be support of the Israeli position, Kofi
Annan's spokesman said, "It is clear UNIFIL has the authority to
intervene if the Lebanese Army is not in a position to do so, when there
are violations of the resolution." Pellegrini called his post-interview
meeting with the IDF "constructive."

Constructive, too is an Associated Press report of Lebanese helicopters
for the first time patrolling the Lebanon-Syria border. A senior
Lebanese military official said, "This has to do with the Lebanese Army
taking up responsibility for controlling its own borders. We intend to
prevent any kind of smuggling operations using all the means we have."
It follows what appears to be the first death of a Lebanese soldier
trying to stop a convoy moving from Syria into Lebanon bound for Hezbollah.

Slowly, slowly, there may be a consensus building that the Government of
Lebanon must exercise sovereignty the length of the country. Maybe.

BUT - JINSA has reported for years on the armed Palestinian presence in
southern Lebanon as a destabilizing factor and an ally of Hezbollah and
Syria. New reports indicate that Hezbollah has been moving rockets and
launchers, plus other military equipment from the remains of its
southern Lebanese bunkers into Palestinian refugee camps. Most
important, according to those reports, Hezbollah operatives have begun
digging new command and control bunkers inside the camps. Destruction of
the bunkers was one of the chief accomplishments of the IDF in Lebanon;
their restoration elsewhere would be a blow to Israeli security and
evolving Lebanese sovereignty.

The Lebanese government cannot and does not enter camps belonging to
UNRWA – the UNITED NATIONS Relief Works Agency; they are extraterritorial.

So, on the one hand, Israel is attempting to create a working
relationship with a UN body charged with keeping the peace in southern
Lebanon for the benefit of both countries but, on the other, a UN body
is acting as safe harbor for Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists. As
UNIFIL determines its ROE, the international community - and in
particular the United States which is the primary source of funds for
UNRWA - must demand ROE for relief agencies as well.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3546

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