Editorial 18th August 2006

Why I did not look at the UN Resolution with Lebanese Eyes.

by Janine Roberts

When I wrote my articles on the Ceasefire Resolution, I was very aware of how Lebanese diplomacy had managed at the last moment to rescue much of the ceasefire resolution from disastrous foolishness. Originally, as drafted by the US and France, it would have given Israel what it could not achieve on the battle field, namely the disarming and removal of the one armed force Lebanon possessed that could realistically protect it.

I was aware that after pressure from Lebanon and other Arab states, this draft was rewritten so that it longer focused on disarming Hezbullah but rather on persuading Israel to leave quickly. I thought this a diplomatic triumph by Lebanon - and still do.

But just now I read a blog by a young Lebanese person that showed me what I was missing, causing me to rethink. I had got too close to the action. I was not seeing the wood for the trees.

Mayssoun Sukarieh wrote from Beirut on the 13 August 2006 when the current war was in its closing days, just after the Resolution was passed by the UN, in utter despair. There was no delight at the words of the Resolution. This is what the Lebanese had witnessed

Mayssoun wrote; "It was the quietest yet most painful morning in Beirut since the beginning of the war. It started with news about the UN resolution against Lebanon - the resolution that will end the resistance and leave us easy prey to the fully armed state of Israel.

"The anger from the Israeli atrocities and death squads suddenly turns into deep pain, the pain of the ultimate oppression we feel.

"I read the UN resolution and reread it again. It is hard to believe that after a whole month of an Israeli war on Lebanon - which caused the destruction of infrastructure, the flattening of whole villages and parts of the country, cost more than one thousand lives lost and wounded many thousands, displaced a million, and defeated the Israeli army - we get an "Israeli resolution by excellence" as the men in the street below are shouting now in front of the TV camera polling about the resolution. Israeli resolution by excellence, thanks to the international community - the separation is blurred in a war that is more American than it is Israeli. A war that will witness the birth of a new Middle East - after we lived its birth pangs - as called for by the American Empire; a new Middle East whose birth requires the annihilation of all resistance groups in the region.

"I read and I feel deeper pain, the pain of an oppressive language that makes the war sound as if it is led by Hizbullah. To end this Hizbullah attack and work for the sustainable peace, 15,000 UNIFIL members and 15,000 other Lebanese army troops are to be deployed in an area extending from the borders with Israel inside Lebanon until the Litani river - not inside of Israel, since Israelis are apparently the victims and the ones who need to be protected from their neighbor's attack!

"And since they were the attacked, there will be an unconditional release of the two captured Israeli soldiers and no time constraint on their withdrawal from the land they grabbed during this invasion and previous ones - the Shebaa farms.

"I read and feel the pain, the pain of the trap the resolution is setting for Lebanon: a siege on the resistance, to disarm it, so Israel can attack as it wishes in the future. I read and feel pain, the pain of Iraq all over again. An Iraq besieged for more than ten years turned into a weakened Iraq and then invaded and destroyed with the consent of the UN.

"I read and I feel the pain, the pain of discrimination: two captive Israeli soldiers are worth a war that causes endless pain, and are worth a UN resolution that gives Israel all what it could not take by force. Meanwhile, the imprisonment of a whole nation in Gaza and the West Bank, and the imprisonment of its elected parliament members, does not even elicit a condemnation from the international community. A state of sanctions, borders will be closed do as to watch any smuggling of arms, while Israel - as is being reported on the front pages of international newspapers - is asking for more missiles from the US and is granted the nuclear head bunker buster. This is in addition to its arms industry that will keep on producing all sorts of weapons from the weak to the nuclear.

"I read and I feel the pain to realize that no small group is allowed to resist in our world, that all the great nations will object. The oppressed in this world are not to be inspired by a success of a small resistance group. Resistance needs to be smashed so the interest of the G8 is preserved. The only resistance allowed is the one they set for us, the postmodern sort of resistance when we can sing, dance, and act against oppression but not end it.

"I read and I feel the pain ... the pain of ultimate oppression.

"As I am reading, I listen to a song by Majidah el Romi about the first Qana massacre and I sing it to the rulers of our world:

"Where are you going to escape from the anger, growing inside a nation skilled in anger?
From our imprisoned rights, where are you going to escape?
From the curse of consciousness, where are you going to escape?"

And after reading this I went back to re-read the Resolution. It is still practically wholly written from the US-Israeli viewpoint of the conflict. Why had I not seen this before? The Lebanese are blamed for starting it with a military skirmish - and Israel not once blamed for the vastly greater war crimes it then committed. The purpose of the International Force is described as if put into Lebanon to prevent it from again hurting Israel, not to protect Lebanon from Israeli strikes. The Hezbullah forces that stopped the Israeli invasion literally in its tracks, damaging over thirty invading tanks in that last fatal weekend of conflict, are clearly being treated as if they had committed a crime in so impeding Israel. The Resolution forbids anyone to supply them with arms in future, thus making it hard for them to resist an Israeli attack in future - and makes no mention of providing the Lebanese army instead with the arms it will need to prevent any future attack.

And what of Israel, armed to the teeth by the USA, whose weapons have killed over a thousand Lebanese, targeting ambulances, shelling refugees. No mention of trying to cut off arms supplies to them. They are left free to restock - as if totally innocent of harm.

And yet, I do have some hope. As I suspected, in practice no Lebanese force wants disarmed the one strong army they have - and nor does the Resolution mandate this. Instead it says there should only be armed forces that are supported by the Government. Some of the international armed forces that were being offered to Lebanon are now being withdrawn - in order to pressure Lebanon to disarm Hezbullah - in other words, western diplomats are finding it very difficult to work outside the mental framework set by the US and Israel. The Western media, including the BBC, talks far more about the need to disarm Hezbullah than about Israel's war crimes. But so far Lebanon is successfully resisting this pressure.

There is now talk of finding a way to incorporate the Hezbullah forces into the national army - to produce a far stronger national army. This for me must be the way forward. In fact, it was being discussed among the Lebanese leadership, including by Hezbullah, before this war started. I also note that the Hezbullah leadership says it supports a multi-faith Lebanon. I would be really worried if they were not. If Israel were truly multi-faith - then it would attract far less anger.

The integration of Hezbullah into the armed forces of Lebanon would be an extremely disliked by many in the current Israeli leadership. I just hope they are now in such disarray that they can do nothing to prevent it. As for my own work, I believe that legal action against these Israeli war crimes is now more important than ever. I was delighted to learn today that lawyers are now gathering the evidence. The Lebanese may yet gain some justice.

With thanks to the unknown photographers whose work was made available.