Chasing Weapons in Gaza and on Lebanon”s Borders
The international parties that seek to take part in the land and maritime monitoring to combat arms smuggling to the Gaza Strip are increasing; the groups that are being tasked with this mission are snowballing in number. Every day there is a new announcement that a state or its naval vessels are part of the international monitoring of arms smuggling.
Washington”s announcement that the new Obama administration is preparing, with the participation of Israel and leading European states, an international conference over the agreement the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded with her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, on fighting weapons smuggling by sea by using a high-tech monitoring system and conducting maritime patrols off Gaza, reveals that the Obama team has helped the administration of former President George Bush work out the arrangements to end the war on Gaza and is now following up these arrangements after Obama”s inauguration. This is nothing new in the traditions of transitional periods of government in the US. As a matter of fact, the exiting administration generally takes steps in the interest of the incoming administration (in agreement with it). It takes responsibility for these steps on behalf of the new administration and is burdened with the negative points, especially if military, while the new administration deals with the consequences and builds for the coming phase…of steps. Thus, the administration of then-President Bill Clinton bombed Iraq in 2000, two weeks before handing over power to Bush, as a prelude to the offensive policy that the latter followed subsequently against Iraq, and up to the invasion of 2003.
It is natural for many people to think that the Bush administration supported the widely-expected Israeli war on Gaza on behalf of the incoming Obama administration, because the goal was to weaken an important card in the hands of Iran (and with it Syria) before engaging in dialogue with it (or them) over the Iranian nuclear issue and the general situation in the region. Thus, Obama takes office "with hands clean" of Palestinian blood, but pursues pressures aimed at "paralyzing" a portion of Hamas” military capabilities, in parallel with accelerating steps to exploit some of the consequences of the "dirty deed" that Israel carried out, with full cover and support from the Bush administration.
If the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as Obama”s special envoy to the Middle East indicates a revival of the peace process, because the man symbolizes an "impartial mediator" due to his report on the reasons for the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation after the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000, then this is a positive step. However, this does not eliminate the fact that the Obama administration is exploiting the war on Gaza in the ensuing period of diplomatic activity.
The monitoring of weapons smuggling is apparently one of the first steps that indicates the previous agreement in this regard, as evidenced by the growing number of states that are taking part. France has withdrawn two ships from the Lebanese coast after sending a frigate to Gaza, while Germany is reducing its contingent off Lebanon in favor of sending it to the Palestinian coast, as a prelude to distributing tasks among several European and Arab countries, according to what has been leaked about Washington”s intention to convene a conference in Copenhagen for this purpose.
However, international cooperation in monitoring arms is not something new that arose at the end of the Bush presidency and the beginning of the Obama term. This cooperation began years ago and was deepened in the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended Israel”s 2006 war against Lebanon. Obviously, there is an international decision to strip the Palestinians of the ability to obtain weapons and more rockets, in parallel with striping Iran of the ability to use some or all of its regional cards in military terms, in exchange for negotiating with it over others (Iraq).
If the monitoring of the Palestinian coast will occupy the West in the coming months, in this context, the international monitoring of the Lebanese-Syrian border will be, according to European circles, an important element that sees more follow-up and pursuit. These circles believe that the issue of ending the armed Palestinian presence in the refugee camps will be an area of focus and pressure in the coming months, since it is one of the links in the chain of stopping the process of armament. It is no coincidence that it was discussed during the visit by Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr to Damascus this week.