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UN on Lebanese-Israeli border after 22 years |
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August 6, 2000
MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) - U.N. peacekeepers fanned out Saturday along the Lebanese-Israeli border, a battleground of the Arab-Israeli conflict for three decades, setting up posts in areas long controlled by Israel. Units of the 5,000-member force in white armored vehicles started the deployment at 6 a.m. (0300GMT), an operation anticipated since Israel's May 24 withdrawals. The deployment was expected to last all day. Finnish peacekeepers, backed by five armored vehicles, set up a position across from the Israeli border town of Metulla. Platoons of other peacekeepers from the Indian, Irish, Nepalese, Fijian and Ghanaian contingents moved into areas in and around the border villages of Taibeh, Rmeish, Alma Shaab, Aitaroun, Meiss el-Jabal, Addaisseh and Meri as well as the Sheik Abbad hill, according to witnesses and U.N. officers who spoke on condition of anonymity. The operation went smoothly and the only hitches came when a landowner refused to put his property at UNIFIL's disposal near the town of Bint Jbeil. At another location, a brush fire of unknown origin near an Indian army position triggered three land mines and required the help of a fire engine to extinguish. No one was hurt. In a reassuring move for residents at former strongholds of the Israeli-backed militia, Indian soldiers moved into position six kilometers (four miles) north of the Israeli border between the Christian towns of Marjayoun and Qlaiaa. Capt. Kumara Dhas said his men were readying another position in the area.
"This is good. Now, we can move freely," said Munif Lahham, a Marjayoun resident in his early 60s who lives on main street. Marjayoun served as headquarters of the South Lebanon Army, a 2,500-member proxy militia that helped Israeli troops patrol the Israeli-controlled zone until its collapsed with the May 24 Israeli withdrawal. Most of its fighters surrendered to authorities and are being tried in military court for collaboration with the occupying power. Other officers were among 7,000 Lebanese, many of them Christian residents of Qlaiaa and Marjayoun, who fled to Israel for fear of retribution by the Muslim guerrillas. The former Israeli-occupied zone has been under the effective control of anti-Israeli guerrillas - the militant Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, the pro-Syrian Shiite Amal and an assortment of leftist and communist groups. But the guerrillas have acted with restraint and there have been very few incidents of revenge. In announcing the deployment on Friday, the United Nations Interim Force said the main aim "will be to instill confidence among the local inhabitants." Since Israel's withdrawal, there have been cases of intimidation of Lebanese accused of collaborating with the Israelis. There also have been tensions at the border fence, with Israel warning Lebanon it must stop civilians from throwing stones at Israeli soldiers posted on the other side. After President Emile Lahoud's go-ahead, UNIFIL said the force deployed further north in southern Lebanon would take up 20 new positions in the border area and would expand some existing positions. UNIFIL troops have taken up positions at six points along the border in the past two weeks, but Lebanon had refused its consent for a full deployment before it ensured Israel was no longer violating the international border with military patrols, positions and fence encroachments. Despite the assurances peacekeepers provide, some residents say it is Lebanese army forces they will be most pleased to see. Beirut has promised to send 1,000 soldiers to the former Israeli-occupied zone after the U.N. deployment. "We want the Lebanese army. We are suffocating. We need the army to lift our spirits," said Mohammed Meri, a 35-year-old Marjayoun resident. Saturday's deployment fulfills the mandate of UNIFIL for the first time since it was created by the U.N. Security Council after a 1978 Israeli invasion. It also brings a strong international presence to the border area for the first time since the late 1960s, when Palestinian guerrillas turned south Lebanon into a launching pad for attacks on Israel. Israel invaded twice - in 1978 and 1982 - to push back the guerrillas and since 1985 controlled a buffer zone in the south to keep the guerrillas away from its border. But a guerrilla war in southern Lebanon led by Hezbollah weakened Israel's resolve and Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the troops home in May. |
