While Israel had hoped to pull its last troops out of Lebanon by the end of the week, talks between IDF officers, representatives of the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL broke down Tuesday, threatening to delay a complete withdrawal indefinitely.
A source in Northern Command said the talks at UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, north of Rosh Hanikra, had failed, adding that the IDF had told the other parties it would stay in Lebanon until UNIFIL "took its job seriously.
Brig.-Gen. Udi Dekel, head of the IDF Strategic Planning Division, led the delegation that met with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini and representatives of the Lebanese army (LAF). "We told UNIFIL that we plan to pull our troops out of Lebanon by Yom Kippur, although we haven't committed to a specific year," a high-ranking IDF officer said after the meeting.
Not while some might accuse Brig.-Gen. Dekel of a little ill-will and larceny if the context is not fully understood. The next paragraph explains the IDF context succinctly:
The talks broke down when the Israelis demanded that UNIFIL adopt more aggressive rules of engagement. What particularly angered the IDF officers was an interview Pellegrini gave The Jerusalem Post last week in which he said the peacekeeping force would not actively engage Hizbullah guerrillas, even if they were in the midst of an attack against Israel.
The officers even presented Pellegrini with a copy of the interview at the meeting and confronted him with his comments, which they said were in direct contradiction to previous understandings and interpretations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. "We demand more effective rules of engagement," the high-ranking IDF officer said. "If they don't adopt them, we are prepared to stay in Lebanon for as long as necessary."
Talk about getting slapped upside the head with your own lips. All of which should make us question why this re-vamped UNIFIL force is any different than the last one.
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