By Ted Belman
August 14, 2006
The Government of Israel must tell the public whether Resolution 1701 requires Hezbollah to be disarmed and if so who is charged with the responsible to do it and when.
Particularly because:
*Nasrallah says Hezbollah won't disarm.
*Lebanon says it won't use force to disarm Hezbollah.
*France says its military contingent won't use force to disarm Hezbollah.
The issue is not whether Israel will remain until replaced by the combined force. The issue is whether the combined force intends to disarm Hezbollah. If not, does that violate the ceasefire?
No. The resolution does not contain any obligation to disarm Hezbollah. What are the (up to) 30,000 soldiers for? Window-dressing to sell the resolution.
On the other hand, the Israeli government doesn't expect the ceasefire to hold: "When Hezbollah violates the cease-fire, the world will see who the aggressor is and will understand us," a source close to Olmert said. "We will insist that the agreement be implemented. It's a good agreement for Israel and Hizbullah's opposition is proof."
First of all, Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire and so is under no obligation. Olmert is implying that the ceasefire requires Hezbollah to be disarmed. It doesn't. Hezbollah's refusal to disarm is proof that its a lousy agreement.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that the cease-fire included a clause allowing an international force to be given expanded powers if the agreement were violated. Livni spoke late Sunday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French Foreign Minister Phillipe Douste-Blazy and told them how important it was for Israel that both sides be held to the agreement.
The resolution states, "1. Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations;" Although Hezbollah is not bound by the resolution, if it didn't stop "hostilities", the only consequence is that the combined forces wouldn't deploy. The only obligation on Lebanon is to "to support a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution".
So at best, the agreement would be violated by a non-party (if Hezbollah continued hostilities). Contrary to what Livni claims, there is no provision allowing for "an international force to be given expanded powers". It simply "authorizes UNIFIL to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind, to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council...."
Thus if it is never deployed because Hezbollah hasn't stopped hostilities, there is nothing for it to do. Furthermore, the powers set out here are only to assist Lebanon. UNIFIL can't act on its own initiative. Thus Livni is pretending that the agreement has been violated. The peg she is hanging her hat on is the expressed intention of the SC "to consider in a later resolution further enhancements to the mandate and other steps to contribute to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution."
Kofi Annan is up to his old tricks. He sent a letter to the governments of Israel and Lebanon over the weekend warning that if one side was fired upon, the other side should not respond except in immediate self-defense.
He is, in effect, adding new terms to the agreement which are not agreed to, to Israel's detriment.
Livni said: "I am not naive, I live in the Middle East and I know that not every decision in the Middle East gets implemented." But I still say it's good for Israel. It can lead to the real change in the Middle East that we have all been waiting for if the international community implements the decision."
Really.
If Hezbollah decides to continue the hostilities, that's the end of the ceasefire resolution.
Let's hope.
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