Saturday’s scuffle highlights the need for a new approach to national defense
Saturday’s stone throwing incident was a regrettable reminder of the tensions in south Lebanon. The scuffle occurred as UN peacekeepers, working with the Lebanese Army, continued their probe into the Khirbat Silim explosions about a kilometer from the blast site. A group of around 100 local citizens met the UNIFIL personnel, attempted to obstruct their investigation and threw rocks, lightly wounding 14 peacekeepers.
The explosions in the suspected arms depot in Khirbat Silim last Tuesday have been painted as a public relations black eye for Hizbullah, with the UN calling it a serious violation if UN Security Council Resolution 1701. And Saturday’s skirmish hasn’t helped matters.
Situations like these have the potential to get out of hand – we’ve seen it happen before – and for that reason the events need to be put in context. For four decades the citizens of South Lebanon have been subject to Israeli bombardments, invasions and 20 years of occupation. Neither the Lebanese government nor the international community came to their aid during these years, which along with engendering Hizbullah, came to define the solitary experience of the South.
A past of violence and oppression in no way mitigates the way UNIFIL personnel were treated, but it at least illustrates the motivation behind the local community’s behavior. A people abandoned to face crises on their own tend to protect their own.
While the explosions in Khirbat Silim certainly mark a violation of 1701, this one violation must also be weighed against Israel’s serial infractions, including its occupation of Ghajar and the Shebaa Farms, near daily over flights and spy networks in Lebanon.
The tallying of violations and trading of rhetoric, however, do nothing to address the situation. The only way to move forward is through state building – creating a robust and equitable Lebanese state that meets the needs of its many communities. As part of this process, President Michel Sleiman, along with Cabinet and Parliament, should launch a diplomatic defense initiative that builds a firewall between Israel and Lebanon.
A parliamentary committee should be set up to this end and coupled with a campaign of awareness and vigorous international diplomacy. Ultimately, the nation’s most viable defense strategy is one that makes continued Israel aggression diplomatically impossible. Working in this direction, the Lebanese government might earn back the trust of a long-neglected community, and among other things, prevent incidents like the one on Saturday from happening in the future.