Israel: UN collaborating with Hizballah

By Ryan Jones
September 11, 2005
Jerusalem Newswire
http://www.jnewswire.com/library/article.php?articleid=716

The UN is not only corrupt and unethical, but, according to Israeli sources, it is complicit in terrorism too.
While the United Nations boasts of its role in combating global terrorism, its representatives in southern Lebanon are openly collaborating with one of the leading international terrorist organizations, Israeli officials have charged.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stands accused of maintaining permanent dialog with Hizballah and allowing the terror group to establish positions adjacent to its own.
“The UN is in fact collaborating with a terrorist organization,” an Israeli political source told Ha'aretz. “This is an intolerable situation, when the UN speaks at the same time of fighting terror.”
In addition, UNIFIL's presence is used by Beirut as an excuse to not deploy its own forces and take responsibility for its border with Israel in accordance with international law.
Jerusalem is looking to press the UN, via the United States and France, to reduce UNIFIL's role in southern Lebanon when the world body votes on continuing its mandate in January.
But France has rejected Israel's position, insisting UNIFIL remains vital to stability in the region.
UNIFIL was established in 1978, and currently consists of some 2,000 foreign soldiers and 50 observers.
Despite being a fully armed peace-keeping force, it regularly fails to prevent Hizballah attacks on northern Israel, which are carried out in an effort to provoke wider conflict.
In a particularly heinous example, UNIFIL forces witnessed the October 2000 abduction of three IDF soldiers along the Israel-Lebanon border, but did nothing to stop it. The abduction, in fact, was carried out in UN-marked vehicles.
Following the incident, the UN denied Israel the right to analyze video footage of the kidnapping.