Israel Trying to Exploit Khirbet Selm Incident to Amend UNIFIL Powers
Renewal of UNIFIL mandate to be considered end of August by the Security Council could have been routine had it not been for the incident which took place in Khirbet Selm last week between U.N. peacekeepers and local residents, prompting Israel to hurry up and exploit the mishap in an effort to amend UNIFIL”s mandate in south Lebanon and change the Rules of Engagement with regards to Resolution 1701.
A well-informed diplomatic source told the daily al-Liwaa in remarks published Monday that urgent consultations were taking place at the United Nations that may lead to a call to discuss the clash between Khirbet Selm residents and French peacekeepers who tried to inspect a house where weapons were believed to be hidden near the area where an explosion went off in a Hizbullah arms depot on Tuesday.
Al-Akhbar newspaper, for its part, quoted an Arab diplomatic source in New York as saying that Israel does not wish to keep the Rules of Engagement untouched, which limit UNIFIL”s mandate to coordinated patrols with the Lebanese army.
Instead, the source said, Israel is seeking to turn UNIFIL into an "international deterrent force in southern Lebanon working for it."
He added that Israel also wants to "introduce undercover international intelligence elements to UNIFIL."
Haaretz said Israel hopes the Khirbet Selm blast will show the need to strengthen UNIFIL. It said Israel believes that UNIFIL could sharpen its Rules of Engagement and act more forcefully with the Lebanese army in southern Lebanese villages.
"All of these flagrant violations of resolution 1701 – inter alia, the arms smuggling and the obstruction of movement of UNIFIL forces – must be denounced and addressed in clear and unambiguous terms by the international community," Israel”s envoy to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev has charged in an official complaint.
In a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, Shalev described the abandoned building in which the explosion took place as "an arms cache that consisted of Hizbullah arms, including rockets, mortars, artillery shells, grenades, and additional ammunition which had been brought to the area following the Second Lebanon War."
According to Shalev, the incident proves that Hizbullah has been acting in violation of U.N .Resolution 1701, which called for a cease-fire in southern Lebanon after the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war.
According to Shalev, the incident proves that Hizbullah has been acting in violation of U.N .Resolution 1701, which called for a ceasefire in southern Lebanon after the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war.
According to Shalev, this incident was one of a number of similar instances in which Hizbullah has violated the ceasefire agreement.
"Unfortunately, such obstruction is not an isolated incident and reflects a pattern in which Hezbollah uses various means – including so-called “civilians” – in order to prevent UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces from fulfilling their mandate," she wrote.
Following the explosion, Shalev said, UNIFIL forces were delayed by Lebanese troops to enable Hizbullah to rid the area of evidence. This assistance, said Shalev, has made the violations "all the more severe because an official organ of the Lebanese state – the Lebanese Army – delayed UNIFIL from fulfilling its obligations. As such, this obstruction of movement must be denounced in very clear and robust terms."