The “Honest Broker’s” Plan for occupying Southern Lebanon

Mike Whitney

... President Bush and Tony Blair have come up with a plan for sending a UN multinational force into southern Lebanon to provide a buffer-zone for Israel. Why? The UN just withdrew its observers after their compound was "deliberately" flattened by a well-placed Israeli missile killing 4 of its staff. What makes Bush and Blair believe that a multinational force would fare any better? The real motive behind the initiative is to "militarize" the area south of the Litani River and "ethnically cleanse" the predominantly Muslim population. This is how Bush intends to stealthily annex more Lebanese land and create a new de-facto northern border for Israel. Hezbollah should reject this offer outright as a violation of its national sovereignty and an obvious attempt occupy its southern flank. If Bush and Blair believe that this is a reasonable offer, then they should not object to "militarizing" the ’67 borders between Israel and Palestine. That would force Israel to accept the "unanimous ruling of the international body" in resolution 242 demanding that Israel withdraw to the pre-war borders. Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah would undoubtedly give greater consideration to the present plan if the UN demonstrated that it was as willing to provide the same security guarantees for the Palestinians as it is for the Israelis. Let the multinational force protect the Palestinians first; then, we’ll see...

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