UN Resolutions: Paper Tigers

UN Resolution 1701 is not even a week old and already its being subverted. The Jerusalem Post is reporting this:

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly reached a deal allowing Hizbullah to keep its weapons but refrain from exhibiting them in public. Israeli officials called the arrangement a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed over the weekend and was approved on Sunday by the cabinet.

"The resolution is clear that Hizbullah needs to be removed from the border area, embargoed and dismantled," the official said. "If the resolution is not implemented, we will have to take action to prevent the rearming of Hizbullah. I don't think backtracking will serve any useful purpose. There has to be pressure on Hizbullah to disarm or there will have to be another round." Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to raise the issue when she meets in New York on Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

So the Lebanese Prime Minister has made a deal to Hezbollah to subvert the requirements of UN Resolution 1559 and 1701. But Saniora gets some UN backing for not disarming Hezbollah:

Annan angered Israeli officials when he told Channel 2 on Tuesday that "dismantling Hizbullah is not the direct mandate of the UN," which could only help Lebanon disarm the organization. Annan upset officials further when he said that deploying international forces in Lebanon would take "weeks or months," and not days as expected.

Tell me again how this is a sustainable ceasefire and not a lull until the next time. Make no mistake, nothing material on the ground has changed since UN Resolution 1701. I would suggest that any nation who is moved to donate foreign aid to help in rebuilding Lebanon’s infrastructure should tie the purse strings directly to the disarmament issue.

There is simply no point pouring taxpayer money into Lebanese infrastructure only to have it all go down the proverbial drain in 18 months time – better to buy lottery tickets for their respective citizens – or just put the money back into the pockets of those who earned it.

Update: For those who need a plainer statement of Hezbollah’s intention not to disarm or refusal to move north of the Litani River; the link can be found here.