Israel attacks international community as conflict reaches nadir
Issued : Wednesday 26 July, 2006
The attack in Lebanon last night on a UNIFIL position that resulted in the deaths of four UN personnel was a direct attack on the international community by the Israeli military. Moreover, the subsequent questioning of Kofi Annan’s integrity for condemning the attack, by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, means we have reached an appalling new low in international relations.
There is little doubt this was a targeted, deliberate attack on the UNIFIL position. As such Israel has raised this conflict once again from an initial rescue mission for two kidnapped soldiers, to indiscriminate bombing raids on the Lebanese people, to the killing of independent foreign observers.
The message sent out by this attack is that no-one – not even UN personnel who are trying to keep the peace – will get in the way of Israel’s military offensive against Hezbollah.
This further indicates Israel’s scant regard for international law. Indeed we have now reached a horrendous nadir, whereby the UN system and the Secretary General are treated with contempt. This has set a precedent for a new world order that disregards multilateralism and where those with the greatest military capacity strike first and negotiate later. It represents little less than the assertion of the victory of military might over diplomacy and international law.
However fragile and regularly defeated the UN has been in the past, it provided a structure for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Yet now it seems that the taking of civilian life or the capture of foreign personnel is responded to with a massive counter terrorist offensive.
Moreover Israel clearly feels it can act with impunity given the comments of Dr Condoleezza Rice yesterday, in effectively encouraging their campaign for the immediate future.
