UN to Israel: Shaba Farms Is Lebanese Territory

From UN to Israel: Shaba Farms Is Lebanese Territory:

The UN has told Israel that its mapping experts have determined that the Shaba Farms on Mount Dov, now controlled by Israel, is Lebanese territory. The UN has proposed that Israel withdraw from the area and that it be considered international territory to be controlled by UNIFIL. Prime Minister Olmert opposes the idea. When the UN marked the border between Israel and Lebanon after Israel's withdrawal in May 2000, the Shaba Farms were said to be part of Syrian territory, and that Israel did not need to withdraw from it in the absence of an agreement with the Syrians. Government officials in Jerusalem said the UN cartographer handling the matter in recent months has determined that the area is indeed Lebanese. The officials added that Syria and Lebanon also agree that the area is Lebanese. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon apparently transmitted the UN's conclusions in a meeting with Olmert in New York last month.

Lebanon Pays a High Price

Dr. Joseph Hitti writes in "Lebanon Pays a High Price":

With UN Resolution 1701 now a fact, has Hezbollah achieved the goals it set for itself when it attacked Israel on July 12?

1. Release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

The resolution only asks that the issue of those prisoners be worked out later.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

2. The “liberation” of the Shebaa Farms.
Hezbollah had wanted the Shebaa Farms free of Israeli troops. The resolution again only calls only for the delineation of the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Shebaa Farms. This requires Syria to deliver on officially ceding sovereignty back to Lebanon, a demand Syria has constantly rejected in the past. Meanwhile, Shebaa remains under Israeli control.

The subservient Lebanese government had wanted the resolution to place Shebaa under U.N. control. Shebaa will remain under Israeli control.

Israel has agreed to withdraw from Lebanese territories it had never wanted to control. Any claims to the contrary by Hezbollah are moot and self-serving.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

3. Lebanese sovereignty over the entire South of Lebanon.

After ceding sovereignty over south Lebanon to the PLO in 1969 (The Cairo Accord), then to Hezbollah in 1989 (under a semantic interpretation of the Taef Accord that Hezbollah is a “resistance” not a “militia”), Lebanon’s government now has been forced to stop leasing its own territory to foreign militias to fight other countries’ delusional wars against Israel. Had the Lebanese government been more united and accountable to its people, and less corrupt and accountable to other countries, the devastation and the killing would not have gone for so long.

The Lebanese government now is under obligation by the international community to send its own troops to take control of its own territory. The government can no longer use the ridiculous argument that it will not send its army to the south so as “not to protect Israel against Hezbollah”.

Moreover, with up to 30,000 foreign troops to be injected into UNIFIL under resolution 1701, Lebanon in fact will still be under some form of foreign control for a long time to come.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

4. Freedom of action for the “Sacred Weapons of the Resistance”.

With a buffer zone created between the border and the Litani, Hezbollah lost its ability to import, parade and use its “sacred weapons”. Also, the Lebanese government is now under a re-stated obligation (per UN resolution 1559) to disarm Hezbollah. This time, Hassan, the M-16 will have to come out from under the robe and the turban.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

5. Foreign/Western intervention:

As in 1860, Lebanon now has been saved, not by an Arab League resolution, not by brotherly Syria, not by Iran, and not by the Arab or the Islamic Umma. It has been saved by a Western intervention.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

6. Lebanon’s economic future:

Lebanon is now economically much worse off than prior to July 12. Not only the setback is monumental, but Lebanon is again a beggar country in the community of nations. Even the US has increased its assistance to US$50 million, and the Lebanese government will be rebuilding Hezbollah’s offices with dollars from the great Satan, from the Sunni Hariri Junior whose Solidere Company may confiscate the entire south of the Litani in exchange for rebuilding what Israel has destroyed, and also from the decadent Sunnis of the Gulf who house secret Israeli trading offices. Where do the Lebanese get their pride from?

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

7. Wiping Israel off the map:

Hezbollah’s dream, and that of its sponsor Iran, will have to go unfulfilled. In fact, Israel has learned so much from its mistakes in this war that it will come out stronger from this experience.

Conclusion: Hezbollah’s reckless attack on July 12 failed.

And now, with nothing left to liberate, what will Hezbollah do? We have seen Hezbollah rise to glory by blowing up peacekeeping forces, hijacking planes and kidnapping innocent civilian Westerners in the Lebanon of the 1980s.

There is great anxiety that Hezbollah, now on its way to losing its false territorial and nationalist pretexts, will:

--Turn back to its roots of being the Shiite cognate of Sunni Al-Qaeda: Attacking Western interests to avenge the great Islamic fundamentalist inferiority complex towards the West, and to impose its Fascist Islamic Supremacist ideology over other cultures and religions. Thus, the expanded UNIFIL may become a target.

--Destabilize Lebanon: Even the Lebanese army may be their next target. Recall that Hezbollah succeeded for close to 24 years in preventing the Lebanese State and Army from exerting any control in the south. Hezbollah now may see internal Lebanese cohesion as its new target in order not to become irrelevant. It may infiltrate the Lebanese army to regain control in the south and force a clash between the Lebanese army and Israel. It may try to destabilize Lebanon internally through civil strife. Chances for combustion remain strong in the Lebanese south as long as Hezbollah’s ideology is beyond simple Lebanese nationalism and rests on the belief that Islam is the superior religion on Earth, that God sent its final message to the world through Islam, and that the rest of the (non-Moslem) world is an apostate and a sinner for not embracing the true religion.

Exclusive: Leaked Copy of Security Council Resolution

Via our friends at Vital Perspective: A Vital Perspective exclusive:

We have obtained a copy of the draft Security Council resolution to be presented for a vote in New York, possibly as early as tonight. This, to our knowledge, is the first outlet to present it publicly.

It is presented below:

UNSC DRAFT RESOLUTION LEBANON / PROJET DE RESOLUTION LIBAN

The Security Council,

Recalling all its previous resolutions on Lebanon, in particular resolutions 425 (1978), 426 (1978), 520 (1982), 1559 (2004), 1655 (2006) 1680 (2006) and 1697 (2006), as well as the statements of its President on the situation in Lebanon, in particular the statements of 18 June 2000 (S/PRST/2000/21), of 19 October 2004 (S/PRST/2004/36), of 4 May 2005 (S/PRST/2005/17) of 23 January 2006 (S/PRST/2006/3) and of 30 July 2006 (S/PRST/2006/35),

Expressing its utmost concern at the continuing escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hizbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006, which has already caused hundreds of deaths and injuries on both sides, extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons,

Emphasizing the need for an end of violence, but at the same time emphasizing the need to address urgently the causes that have given rise to the current crisis, including by the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers,

Mindful of the sensitivity of the issue of prisoners and encouraging the efforts aimed at urgently settling the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel,

Welcoming the efforts of the Lebanese Prime Minister and the commitment of the government of Lebanon, in its seven-point plan, to extend its authority over its territory, through its own legitimate armed forces, such that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon, welcoming also its commitment to a UN force that is supplemented and enhanced in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operation, and bearing in mind its request in this plan for an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon,

Determined to act for this withdrawal to happen at the earliest,

Taking due note of the proposals made in the seven-point plan regarding the Shebaa farms area,

Welcoming the unanimous decision by the government of Lebanon on 7 August 2006 to deploy a Lebanese armed force of 15,000 troops in South Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws behind the Blue Line and to request the assistance of additional forces from UNIFIL as needed, to facilitate the entry of the Lebanese armed forces into the region and to restate its intention to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces with material as needed to enable it to perform its duties,

Aware of its responsibilities to help secure a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict,

Determining that the situation in Lebanon constitutes a threat to international peace and security,

1. Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations;

2. Upon full cessation of hostilities, calls upon the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL as authorized by paragraph 11 to deploy their forces together throughout the South and calls upon the government of Israel, as that deployment begins, to withdraw all of its forces from Southern Lebanon in parallel;

3. Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon;

4. Reiterates its strong support for full respect for the Blue Line;

5. Also reiterates its strong support, as recalled in all its previous relevant resolutions, for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized borders, as contemplated by the Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement of 23 March 1949;

6. Calls on the international community to take immediate steps to extend its financial and humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people, including through facilitating the safe return of displaced persons and, under the authority of the Government of Lebanon, reopening airports and harbours, consistent with paragraphs 14 and 15, and calls on it also to consider further assistance in the future to contribute to the reconstruction and development of Lebanon;

7. Affirms that all parties are responsible for ensuring that no action is taken contrary to paragraph 1 that might adversely affect the search for a long-term solution, humanitarian access to civilian populations, including safe passage for humanitarian convoys, or the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons, and calls on all parties to comply with this responsibility and to cooperate with the Security Council;

8. Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements:

-full respect for the Blue Line by both parties,

-security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11, deployed in this area,
full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state,

-no foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government,

-no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government,
provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land mines in Lebanon in Israel's possession;

9. Invites the Secretary General to support efforts to secure as soon as possible agreements in principle from the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel to the principles and elements for a long-term solution as set forth in paragraph 8, and expresses its intention to be actively involved;

10. Requests the Secretary General to develop, in liaison with relevant international actors and the concerned parties, proposals to implement the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), including disarmament, and for delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including by dealing with the Shebaa farms area, and to present to the Security Council those proposals within thirty days;

11. Decides, in order to supplement and enhance the force in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operations, to authorize an increase in the force strength of UNIFIL to a maximum of 15,000 troops, and that the force shall, in addition to carrying out its mandate under resolutions 425 and 426 (1978):

a. Monitor the cessation of hostilities;

b. Accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the South, including along the Blue Line, as Israel withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon as provided in paragraph 2;

c. Coordinate its activities related to paragraph 11 (b) with the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel;

d. Extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons;

e. Assist the Lebanese armed forces in taking steps towards the establishment of the area as referred to in paragraph 8;

f. Assist the government of Lebanon, at its request, to implement paragraph 14;

12. Acting in support of a request from the government of Lebanon to deploy an international force to assist it to exercise its authority throughout the territory, authorizes UNIFIL to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind, to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council, and to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, and, without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Lebanon, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence;

13. Requests the Secretary General urgently to put in place measures to ensure UNIFIL is able to carry out the functions envisaged in this resolution, urges Member States to consider making appropriate contributions to UNIFIL and to respond positively to requests for assistance from the Force, and expresses its strong appreciation to those who have contributed to UNIFIL in the past;

14. Calls upon the Government of Lebanon to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel and requests UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11 to assist the Government of Lebanon at its request;

15. Decides further that all states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft,

(a) the sale or supply to any entity or individual in Lebanon of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories, and

(b) the provision to any entity or individual in Lebanon of any technical training or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of the items listed in subparagraph (a) above,

except that these prohibitions shall not apply to arms, related material, training or assistance authorized by the Government of Lebanon or by UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11;

16. Decides to extend the mandate of UNIFIL until 31 August 2007, and expresses its intention to consider in a later resolution further enhancements to the mandate and other steps to contribute to the implementation of a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution;

17. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council within one week on the implementation of this resolution and subsequently on a regular basis;

18. Stresses the importance of, and the need to achieve, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on all its relevant resolutions including its resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and 338 (1973) of 22 October 1973;

19. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

Thank You, Hezbollah by Dr. Joseph Hitti

Via FrontPageMagazine:

Thank you, Hezbollah, for showing us that we, the Lebanese people, don’t need an army or a government or an infrastructure. As long as we have “sacred unity”, steadfastness and brotherhood and all the other slogans, we do not need organized society, and History will judge us well on our actions. We don’t need incomes, a GDP, a budget or any of those Western economic concepts, since our love for each other under the rubble and the wreckage of our country is sufficient to sustain us. What’s the big deal if our Hariri-inflicted $40 billion deficit grows to $50 billion, and if the nascent economy we had is back to ground zero, for it does not weaken our resolve to liberate Palestine for the Palestinians and show the world what clay we are made of. In our megalomaniacal tendencies as the not so humble people that we are, we want to prove to the world that the Islamic faith is a great motivator for high-quality warmongering and that our irresponsibility as a country can lead us to success, all our failures of the past 40 years notwithstanding. With friends like Iran and Syria who provide us, respectively, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year and plenty of rockets and missiles, we don’t need the world.

Thank you, Hezbollah, for showing us that of all the Lebanese people, only Lebanese Shiite men are brave, courageous, and capable of defending the country. There is no need now to ask – but it’s just a thought for the future wars of liberation we are dreaming of – with the unity demonstrated by the Lebanese against the Israeli aggression, why are there no Sunni, Christian or Druze Lebanese men or women joining their Shiite brethren to fight off that aggression, either through their own militias or under the banner of the near-mythical highly organized, highly-trained Hezbollah? Anyway, thank you for showing us that we don’t need a regular army. After all, Lebanon is the Switzerland of the Middle East – though not as clean or organized – and even though the real Switzerland is neutral, it still has a powerful army. But we the Lebanese are so smart. We are not neutral, we have a salon army that we display but never use, and to wage wars on others and ourselves, we hire militias like the PLO, the Lebanese Forces, the Amal militia, the Revolutionary Guards, and now Hezbollah, to fight our wars. We’re just so smart, except that we never seem to think thoroughly of the consequences of our actions. Just watch our leaders, Nasrallah, Siniora, Berri, Hoss, Karami, Frangieh, Gemayel, Aoun, Geagea and all the rest. They are so smart that they went about killing their own people for decades, then suddenly, after 40 years of warfare, discovered unity only when they were in excrement up to their eyeballs. Too bad they did not discover that unity 3 months ago, or a year ago, or 5 years ago, or 30 years ago. We would have spared ourselves so much pain and destruction.

Thank you, Hezbollah, for showing us that our elderly men and women, in the final years of their lives, can be stripped of their children, their dignity and their possessions, and after having lost everything, they are made to flee alone, on foot, in front of Israeli tanks, leaving behind them homes and villages they have known all their lives. Thank you for hiding behind our houses to fire at the enemy, and for making our children fodder for war, while all the children of the Arab Umma are quietly enjoying their summer vacations in summer schools or on the beach. Thank you for preparing the country so well for the possible retaliation you knew was coming as a result of your smart and ballsy action.

Thank you for showing us that in Lebanon words mean nothing, that agreements, national dialogues, and memorandums of understanding are not worth the paper they are written on, and that in a headless country like Lebanon, the blind can truly lead the blind to certain death. Thank you for showing us that the Lebanese people, as a people, can be totally abnormal for discovering unity only after destruction, for discovering strength only after defeat, for discovering dialogue only in death. It really is just too much to ask a people to be united, strong and genuinely engaged before death, destruction and defeat, when they are alive, when their country is standing, and when their children and homes are safe.

I am sure there will be new giant posters of mullahs and ayatollas and martyrs on every dirty street corner of Beirut after all this ends one day. There will continue to be a great resolve to avenge the aggression, liberate Palestine, restore the dignity of the Umma, and add yet one more defeat to the long list of “victories in sacred unity”. For that is how Arabs measure victory or defeat: Not in terms of territory lost or won, not in terms of military battles lost or won, not in terms of buildings, cities, and villages saved or destroyed, not in terms of the numbers of dead and injured, not in terms of the effort it will take to rebuild, not in terms of how many people left the country to emigrate to more normal places to live. No. None of those things matter in this life for the smart people of Lebanon and their leaders. What matters in the end is how big we think the balls of our leaders are in comparison with the balls of the enemy, how much higher is the level of testosterone in their veins, and how much longer our phallic rockets are compared to theirs. That, my fellow Lebanese, is what we are dying for and why our country is being destroyed, and we should all thank Hezbollah for showing us how big Hassan Nasrallah’s balls are. This is a priceless piece of information that is worth the destruction of Lebanon and the death of its children.

The following is the balance sheet to date of the July 2006 war of “liberation” by Hezbollah against Israel. Bigger balls notwithstanding, we still have brains to take stock of the results of the “liberation” enterprise, and it does not take much to see that, no matter how big Nasrallah’s balls grow as a result of this conflict, Lebanon will still be the biggest loser.

Objective (implicit or explicit)

Lebanon
- Liberate 2 Hezbollah members from Israeli jails.
- Liberate Palestine & eliminate “Zionist” entity.
- Create Islamic State in Lebanon.
- Liberate Shebaa Farms

Israel:
- Liberate 2 Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah.
- Downgrade Hezbollah’s capability to fire rockets at Israel.
- Implement 1559 last clause


Objective achieved
Lebanon:
?

Israel:
?


Buildings destroyed
Lebanon:
Thousands of buildings and houses

Israel:
20


Bridges destroyed
Lebanon:
60

Israel:
0


Damaged Airports
Lebanon:
3

Israel:
0


Displaced people
Lebanon:
1,000,000

Israel:
500,000


Civilians killed
Lebanon:
900

Israel:
30


Civilians injured
Lebanon:
3,000

Israel:
600


Military killed
Lebanon:
Unknown number of Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese army troops, but estimated at ~ 200

Israel:
44


Damages (in dollars)
Lebanon:
4 billion

Israel:
Unknown


Loss of tourism business (dollars)
Lebanon:
1 billion

Israel:
Unknown


Years to rebuild
Lebanon:
5 years

Israel:
1 year
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Joseph Hitti of Boston is president of New England Americans for Lebanon.

Hizbollah's Hassan Nasrallah is a liar

Hassan Nasrallah has explained his current aggression is to reclaim Lebanese territory, the Shebaa Farms.

This has nothing to do with Lebanon. He also speaks about getting the release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel. The main prisoner - it is not clear how many others there are - is Samir al-Kuntar. In 1979 he was sentenced to 542 years imprisonment: he came by boat from Lebanon, got to Nahariya, shot dead Danny Haran in his house, his four-year-old daughter and a policeman. Mrs Haran hid, and accidentally smothered her baby in keeping her from crying.

The Kuntar website, www.samirkuntar.org/english.html, by the way, does not mention these terrible details.

Hizbullah's Hassan Nasrallah is a liar.

What he really wants is to destroy Israel. In a speech in May he boasted that he had 12,000 rockets - even 13,000 - to attack Israel. He mentioned Tel Aviv in particular.

Thus far, more than 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel, indiscriminately.

The lesson learned? Nasrallah mistakenly believes that the blood of a murderer is worth more than the blood of two Israeli soldiers.

He was wrong.