A-NAQOURA: Bassam Salim isn’t really on bad terms with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil). He just has one wish: “They should send them to the other side of the border fence, the young man from Southern Lebanon’s Palestinian A-Rashidiyya refugee camp says. “There they could protect the Palestinian people from the Israeli army.
Right now the opposite is the case, the 22-year-old, whose father fled the Palestinian town of Akkar in 1948, claims.
“I wouldn’t say that Israel is completely controlling Unifil, but for sure it’s a strong power that influences their politics.
Day-in, day-out, the white armored carriers, jeeps, and trucks of the approximately 12,500 international protection forces drive along the worn-down road coming from Tyre and passing by the A-Rashidiyya camp. From here to Israel’s northern frontier with Lebanon it’s only about 20 km, and just a few minutes before the Israeli border towers come into sight in the small Mediterranean village of A-Naqoura, where Unifil has erected its headquarters – already there since 1978 and reinforced after the Second Lebanon War last summer.
Back in those days, Unifil’s first mission was to overview the retreat of the Israeli army after its first invasion of Lebanon, something the Lebanese had to wait 22 years for: only in spring 2000, after the bloody offensives of 1993 and 1996, did then Prime Minister Ehud Barak order his troops to abandon the Security Zone and pull back to south of the Blue Line.
Seven years and one war later, Israel’s failure to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty has not stopped, United Nations Security General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest report.
“Throughout the period under review, Unifil continued to report Israeli air violations of the Blue Line, through jet and unmanned aerial vehicle overflights. The incursions into Lebanese airspace continue on an almost daily basis, the report on the implementation of the United Nation’s Security Council’s Resolution 1701 claimed in the middle of March.
Israeli officials would not provide a formal response to allegations that Israel was violating Lebanese air space. While maintaining that Unifil is doing an important job in southern Lebanon, Israeli government officials say the country will do whatever is necessary to maintain its security.
Resolution 1701 brought an end to last summer’s war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and allowed Unifil to rise to a maximum number of 15,000 soldiers.
Hezbollah, which even during the years of the Israeli occupation, mostly cooperated well with foreign troops, has welcomed the arrival of the new forces. In February, however, Spanish troops near the south eastern town of Debeen, were attacked by local youths who threw stones at them.
Shortly afterward Hezbollah General-Secretary Hasan Nasrallah declared that it was not in the “interest of Lebanon, the south and the resistance to have trouble with Unifil.
This is a view that Rana Hamze agrees with. Right across from the Unifil headquarters in A-Naqoura, her family runs a souvenir shop, where cups, flags, badges, pins, and medals are sold. The presence of thousands of foreigners on their several month tours of duty has apparently helped business.
“During the war we didn’t know if the food would last until the end of the day, she says. “But now we definitely can’t complain.
French, Italian and Ghanian soldiers frequent the alleys of restaurants and souvenir shops that line the main street of A-Naqoura. Cups with the Hezbollah emblems, CDs with speeches by Nasrallah and the jerseys of the world’s major football teams are on sale here – a scene resembling far-off-places such as Kosovo or Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the presence of the international organization’s Blue Helmets has also helped stabilize the local economy.
Whether Unifil is able to secure peace is another question.
“On a number of occasions, however, Unifil came across abandoned unauthorized arms, ammunition or related material in its area of operations south of the Litani River, it also says in the secretary general’s report.
Nasrallah has repeatedly made it clear that Hezbollah not only has plenty of weapons, but also the right to transport its arms within the country in order to combat Israel.
Israel claims there have been hundreds of arms shipments to Hezbollah, including short- and longer-range rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft defense systems, which have crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border since the end of the 2006 conflict.
“Unfortunately, an Israeli official said, “Resolution 1701 has not been fully implemented until this day. Hezbollah was not disarmed.
On the ground, however, these reports do not necessarily worry the citizens of the south. The history of Israeli excursions and Hezbollah reprisals has been too long for Unifil’s larger presence to mark something significantly new. There are other concerns.
Nabil Al-Baradei for example, a member of Tyre’s City Council and owner of a construction firm involved in about two dozen projects between Tyre and A-Naqoura, wishes Unifil would take a more economic approach.
“They should encourage the local industry much more, he says, while inspecting a construction site in the town of Mansouriyya, which lies between the A-Rashidiyya refugee camp and A-Naqoura. “Why don’t they support the foundation of a juice factory, for example?
Such a step would not only bring employment to dozens of poor workers now seeking jobs, but could also increase the acceptance of the foreign troops, he believes.
Mona Khalil, who runs a guesthouse in Mansouriyya, agrees with Al-Baradei. “What the people in the south need are jobs, not more soldiers she says.
After the experience of last year’s war she doesn’t’ have much confidence in Unifil’s abilities to prevent a new conflict anyway.
“Unifil was here in the summer, but the war took place nevertheless.
Her major complaint about the new troops is much more down to earth: “Since the Chinese opened up their headquarters in Al-Hiniyya, all the grocery shops in the area have run out of glass noodles, she says, smiling.
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