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.

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.