[lit-ideas] Re: U.N. Special Committee on Palestine
- From: Teemu Pyyluoma <teme17@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:52:39 -0700 (PDT)
--- JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> What possible motivation would the Israeli army/govt
> have for deliberately
> bombing a UN Peacekeeping Office?
>
Don't know about those higher up, but Jerusalem Post
run a story where IDF troops basically accused UN
forces of aiding Hezbollah. And not for the first time
either. Their proof? They saw UN officers having tea
with Hezbollah fighters. The UN forces don't have a
mandate or the resources to do anything else then
monitor the situation and aid civilians, so it is more
than natural for them to be in contact with both sides
of the conflict. Couple days after the story, the UN
bunker was hit despite repeated warnings on several
levels. The conclusion to draw is that at least some
segments of IDF have a with us or against us
mentality. Olmert promised a full inquiry, which would
be a first, but I am open to being proven wrong.
USA and UK have now joined the chorus asking for an
international force in Southern Lebanon. For political
reasons, I doubt they would be USA or UK forces. That
leaves the EU rapid response force as a short term
fix, rotating duty now held by Germans, Dutch and
Finns. Germans are uneasy about getting their military
involved with anything involving Israel for historical
reasons, Dutch will not be going anywhere with a murky
mandate (think Srebreniza), and given that Israel just
blow up a Finnish officer, Finns "don't have troops
available at the moment", which is a nice way of
saying that the army isn't going anywhere without
whole lot of firepower and a clear mandate to shoot
back at IDF... So I guess French or Russians are the
best guess on who is going, there just aren't that
many combat troops on standby anywhere and mere peace
keepers won't do, and I don't think neither nation is
particularly enthusiastic.
Yours,
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland
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