Democracy Arsenal has a piece up about a UN report on what's been happening on the Lebanon-Israel boder.
- Since the withdrawal 6 years ago, there has been a steady stream of violent flare-ups, including deadly missile and mortar attacks by Hezbollah that have provoked Israeli retaliation.
- For its part, Israel engaged in no violent provocations but ignored repeated entreaties by the UN to cease flyovers into Lebanese territory that were prohibited under the terms of their withdrawal.So, the UN protests Israeli flyovers but does absolutely nothing about Hezbollah rocket attacks. Makes it crystal clear why Israel doesn't want to have anything to do with a return to the status quo, where they are castigated for committing non-violent acts and Hezbollah get free reign to fire rockets at civilian targets.
The UN needs to sort out its priorities fast. As every day passes they provide more and more evidence of their own inconsequentiality in the modern world.
Also from the UNFIL report are these comments-
However, near the Blue Line the authorities have, in effect, left control to Hizbollah. Its members worked in civilian attire and were normally unarmed. They monitored the Blue Line, maintained public order and, in some villages, provided social, medical and education services.
The Government of Lebanon continued to maintain the position that, as long as there is no comprehensive peace with Israel, the Lebanese armed forces would not be deployed along the Blue Line. Areas along the Blue Line were monitored by Hizbollah through a network of mobile and fixed positions. Sometimes, Hizbollah acted as surrogate for the civil administration by extending social, medical and educational services to the local population. On several occasions, Hizbollah personnel restricted the freedom of movement of UNIFIL and interfered with its redeployment.