[Editorial] U.N. needs to right situation in Lebanon

The situation in Lebanon is reaching a turning point, as the international community begins to do something about a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds dead and turned 600,000 into refugees. Britain, France, and Germany have sent their top diplomats to the area to begin mediation, including U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. There is a meeting between Arab and European leaders scheduled for July 26 to discuss proposals for a cease fire.

While somewhat late in coming, this is a welcome effort on the part of the international community, because it shows an obligation to prevent innocent deaths by coming up with ways to stop the cycle of violence between Israel’s inhumane air raids and Hezbollah’s terror attacks. The meeting needs to start by forcing the parties involved to immediately begin a cease fire and then find ways to establish a permanent peace.

It is in this context that one notes a proposal by Israel that is suddenly the object of a lot of discussion. Meeting with Germany’s foreign minister, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would be willing to accept a multinational force composed of combat-experienced personnel from European Union countries stationed in southern Lebanon. The plan has not even been worked out in detail, but EU countries like France, Germany, and Italy already say they are in favor of it, and the U.S. says its is worth considering.

The idea involves using NATO troops as a peacekeeping force, however, and carries with it various problems. To begin with, Israel says the peacekeeping force would have to be strong enough to stop Hezbollah attacks on its territory. That demand has the potential to look like Israel wants to use NATO to achieve its goal of disarming Hezbollah. In addition, while they say NATO has been transformed into a something that is much more of a political body since the fall of the Soviet Union, it is fundamentally a security organization led by the U.S. The U.S. one-sidedly supports Israel, so having a U.S.-led military organization maintaining peace in the region could make it harder to maintain neutrality, even if the U.S. military is not actually participating.

The United Nations (U.N.) secretary-general Kofi Annan’s proposal of building up U.N. peacekeeping force looks like it makes more sense. The U.S. and Israel have long vetoed U.N. actions or ignored resolutions when they conflicted with their respective national interests, and in doing so have incapacitated the U.N., so it is of urgent importance that its authority is restored so that it is able to handle international conflicts from a neutral position.