Are Pigs About To Fly?
FINALLY – some good news on the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire:
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to recommend Monday that the rules of engagement of the enhanced UNIFIL force to be deployed in Lebanon include opening fire on Hizbullah where necessary, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
While UN Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated an enhanced UNIFIL force to help the Lebanese Army deploy south and along the border with Syria, it did not spell out the operational procedures of this force.
Israel has been pushing for the need for an effective force, arguing that one of the criteria would be the ability to open fire on Hizbullah if the force saw, for instance, Hizbullah launching rockets toward Israel. This matter came up at a meeting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held last week in New York with Annan.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a telephone conversation in the afternoon with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Sunday, said that Israel would like to see Italy lead the force, a change from the widespread expectation that France would be heading it up.
According to a statement issued from Olmert’s office, the prime minister told Prodi that Israel viewed Italy’s sending troops as “vital” to the implementation of the resolution and that this would be an important contribution to “peace and security in the Middle East.”
Olmert told Prodi that it was not only important that Italy lead this force, but also that Rome send troops to monitor the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop the rearmament of Hizbullah.
Prodi, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, said that Italy intended to send a “significant” force, and that he would bring the issue up before the Italian parliament “as soon as possible.”
Put me in the skeptical camp still, but the fact that the UN firing on Hezbollah is even being discussed is the best news I’ve heard in about a week and a half from this sector…and Olmert’s decision to shun France in favor of Italy is his best move in quite some time, as well…
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