Compiled by Eran Strod, Temple Isaiah Israel Action Committee, October 2006
Please send questions or comments to eransterling-pub@yahoo.com.
Version 1.7
Q: What is the historical context of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon?
Q: What does Hezbollah want?
Q: What does Israel want?
Q: Does Israel want peace?
Q: Did the policy of unilateral disengagement work?
Q: Did the Israeli Defense Force target Lebanese civilians?
Q: Can Hezbollah fire rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?
Q: Was Israel’s response “disproportionate?”
Q: What is the link between Hamas and Hezbollah?
Q: What is the role of Syria and Iran in the current crisis?
Q: How do Israelis feel about their government’s military response?
Q: How has the conflict affected those living in Northern Israel?
Q: Did Israel lose the “public relations war?”
Q: Did Israel achieve the objectives of the war?
Q: What are the conditions for the cessation of violence?
Q: What can I do to help?
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Q: What is the historical context of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon?
A: Like much of the Middle East, the area now known as Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century to the early 20th century. Following World War I, the area became a part of the French Mandate of Syria. After World War II, France recognized the independence of Lebanon and after a few difficult years withdrew the last French presence in 1946. Lebanon's unwritten National Pact of 1943 required that its president be a Christian and its prime minister be a Muslim. The political compromises made during those years, exacerbated by demographics, prevented the development of a strong central government in Lebanon. This has had implications for Lebanon’s neighbors. Since 1967, independent armed militias, operating beyond the reach of the Lebanese government, have essentially behaved as “states within a state” in Southern Lebanon. This has been a continuing security problem for Israel.
Lebanon is very demographically diverse. According to the CIA World Fact Book, Lebanon is about 60% Muslim (Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri) and 39% Christian. The majority of Lebanese are Arab with 4% of the population identified as Armenian. Many Christian Lebanese do not identify themselves as Arab but rather as descendents of the ancient Canaanites and prefer to be called Phoenicians.
In 1947 Lebanon joined the Arab armies that attacked the newly created State of Israel. After the Arab armies lost, Lebanon immediately accepted an armistice, and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) withdrew from Lebanese territory. The border remained quiet until the PLO, under Chairman Yasser Arafat, asserted control of Southern Lebanon in 1970,
Arafat relocated to Lebanon after Black September; a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Jordan invoking a response in which King Hussein’s forces killed thousands of Palestinians and expelled the PLO from Jordan. The PLO actively participated in the sectarian violence of the 1970’s that left Lebanon with no effective central government. While there were periods of prosperity for Lebanon, the 1970’s and 1980’s were marked by terrible conflict and tragedy; a civil war.
The PLO also conducted numerous cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon against civilians in Israeli territory. These operations provoked responses from Israel: the Litani River Operation in 1978 and Operation Shalom La-Galil (Peace for the Galilea); an Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, architected by then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.
It is estimated that during the 15 year civil war more than 100,000 were killed, and 100,000 maimed. The Taif Agreement ending the Lebanese civil war was signed in 1989. It gave Muslims a greater voice in the political process while maintaining the institutionalized sectarian structure of the government.
In 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the south of Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978. Between 2000-20006, the governments of Israel and Lebanon did not engage in military conflict. However, Hezbollah continued its armed struggle against Israel resulting in an outbreak of open warfare in the summer of 2006.
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Q: What does Hezbollah want?
A: Israel occupied Lebanon in 1982 in order to establish a security zone against the firing of Katyusha rockets by the PLO into Northern Israel. Hezbollah was originally founded by Iran as an extension of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Shi’a Islamic revolution, with the purpose of resisting Israel’s presence in Lebanon and establishing Islamic rule in Lebanon. This is counter to the expressed wishes of other Lebanese sects (Christian, Druze and other non-Shi’a). It should be noted there was much anti-Israeli sentiment in Lebanon before 1982. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the world community expected Hezbollah to disband its military arm. They did not – in fact, they became increasingly active against Israel.
In 2004, France and the U.S. coauthored UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called for the withdrawal of foreign armies from Lebanon (Syria finally left in April 2005) and the disarmament of non-government militias (Hezbollah’s military wing). 1559 was based upon the UN’s prior declaration that Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanese territory – Hezbollah’s original demand. Shortly before the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, Hezbollah revised their position and demanded that Israel further withdraw from an area of land called Sheba Farms (and free some prisoners) as a condition of implementing UNSC 1559.
Sheba Farms (aka Har Dov) is a roughly 30 Km2 area of the Golan Heights. The Golan is a plateau on the Israeli – Syrian – Lebanese - Jordanian border that Israel conquered, after being attacked, in 1967 and again in 1973 and annexed in 1981. Syria has never accepted that the Golan is part of Israel so many consider that area to be disputed territory. In January 2005, after conducting an inquiry and studying over 90 historical maps, the UN Secretary General issued a report affirming that Sheba Farms was not part of Lebanon. Surprisingly, Syria has verbally supported Lebanon’s claim to Sheba Farms, but has refused the UN’s request to put this statement in writing. Syria does not officially recognize Lebanese sovereignty – considering Lebanon to be part of greater Syria. More to the point, Sheba Farms is perceived by many to be a pretense by which Hezbollah continues to assert that Israel is an “occupier” of Lebanon. Sheba Farms, the obscure 30 km piece of territory, is the justification for Hezbollah’s continued armed struggle against Israel.
When attempting to position itself as moderate to the western media, Hezbollah represents itself as being devoted to resisting the Israeli Defense Force presence occupying South Lebanon. Hezbollah rejected the Oslo Accords on the grounds that the agreement recognized Israel and failed to return 100% of Israeli territory (Tel Aviv included) to the Palestinians. Hezbollah’s true mission is to destroy Israel and extend fundamentalist Shi’a Islamic control over the entire region, as stated in the Hezbollah official manifesto, and as regularly repeated by Hezbollah leaders. Hezbollah’s military wing has been described as terrorists, an armed militia, a guerilla army or even a division of the Iranian military. They refer to themselves as resistance fighters in a Jihad.
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Q: What does Israel want?
A: Israel would like to see a strong and sovereign Lebanese central government secure its own borders. Israel wants Lebanon to implement the relevant UN resolutions which call for the dissolution of Hezbollah’s military wing. In the absence of this, Israel wishes to significantly diminish Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Israel also wishes to secure the safe return of the kidnapped reserve duty soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Israel would ultimately like to co-exist alongside Lebanon in peace within the framework of a mutually recognized border.
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Q: Does Israel want peace?
A: In a radical and visionary move, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reversed his lifetime commitment to the territorial expansion of the State of Israel and advocated for a unilateral disengagement from Gaza and the West Bank. The disengagement from Gaza was completed in September 2005. This required Israel to evacuate 21 Jewish settlements and numerous businesses and institutions.
Afterward, Sharon broke from the hard-line, conservative Likud party and established a new party called Kadima (“forward” or “first” in Hebrew). Kadima won 29 out of the 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset in the March 2006 elections making it the strongest party in Israel. PM Sharon suffered a stroke so party leadership passed to Ehud Olmert who is the current Israeli Prime Minister.
Kadima’s core platform was to extend the policy of unilateral disengagement to the West Bank, thus establishing Israel’s permanent borders alongside a newly formed Palestinian state.
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Q: Did the policy of unilateral disengagement work?
A: It is hard to argue that the policy was a success. Like Hezbollah, Hamas used the territorial autonomy it received from Israel as a launching pad for military activities against Israeli civilians (suicide bombs, Qasam rockets, kidnappings, etc, …). Since Hamas was elected in January 2006, over 1,000 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli civilians in the south of the country from Gaza where there is no Israeli occupation or presence.
Early on Sunday morning, 25 June 2006, Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants who attacked an army post in Israel after crossing the southern Gaza Strip border into Israel via an underground tunnel they dug near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. During the morning attack, two Israel Defense Force soldiers were killed and four others wounded, not including Shalit, who suffered a broken left hand and a light shoulder wound.
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Q: Did the Israeli Defense Force target Lebanese civilians?
A: It is impossible to address this topic without expressing deep regret for the terrible pain and suffering and loss that has befallen the Lebanese people; many of whom are truly innocent. Israel shares some responsibility for this tragedy. However, Hezbollah instigated the conflict with Israel on July 12th by conducting a cross border raid. Israel did not choose the location of Hezbollah headquarters, training camps, rocket launchers, underground tunnels, arm caches, and logistics routes. The decision by Hezbollah to commingle military operations with civilian residences and institutions has had serious humanitarian implications. Hezbollah bears significant responsibility for having endangered the people that they claim to protect.
The short-range Katyusha rockets in Hezbollah’s arsenal can be fired from a lightweight tri-pod which is easily set-up and quickly moved. It appears that the Israeli forces used sophisticated airborne sensors, such as radar, to detect rocket launch activity and ordered immediate strikes on those targets. By firing at Israel from locations that were heavily populated with civilians, Hezbollah purposely drew Israeli fire to positions which resulted in Lebanese civilian casualties. Further, Hezbollah guerillas dress in plain clothes, not military uniforms, making it difficult for Israel to distinguish between civilians and military operatives. Hezbollah capitalized on gruesome photographs of civilian injuries and deaths to wage a public relations war against Israel.
Israel has intelligence that Hezbollah uses Lebanon’s naval ports, airports and highways for military logistics. Israel acted to disable these in order to prevent Syria and Iran from resupplying Hezbollah militarily. Militant Islamic groups have been known to use vehicles marked as ambulances to transport military payload and then protest loudly when these vehicles are treated accordingly.
On July 25th, a UN observation post was struck by an Israeli precision-guided aerial bomb. Four UN observers died. The next day, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed shock at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon. One of the four UN soldiers was Canadian Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener (z”l), who wrote an email to CTV, Canada’s largest media organization, on July 18th. The email was published on the Internet on July 26, 2006:
…we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing [from the Israeli’s]. The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but has rather been due to tactical necessity.
For the whole story:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060718/mideast_lebanon_UN_060716/20060718/
Israel came under intense criticism by the world community when a building collapsed in a village called Qana killing 28 or more Lebanese civilians; mostly women and children. The Israeli government, prime minister and IDF spokespeople all apologized immediately and expressed regret at this unfortunate outcome.
Here is a part of Prime Minister Olmert’s comments about Qana:
I express deep regret, along with all of Israel and the IDF, for the civilian deaths in Qana. Nothing could be further from our intentions and our interests than harming civilians - everyone understands that. When we do harm civilians, the whole world recognizes that it is an exceptional case that does not characterize us.
A Hezbollah leader has never expressed regret for Israeli civilian casualties. In fact, civilian deaths appear to be the main Hezbollah objective and trigger much celebration among Hezbollah supporters.
The Israeli Defense Force released video of Qana showing mobile rocket launchers taking refuge in civilian structures. This video can be found at the IDF Internet site. See 30.7 Rockets being launched against Israel from village of Qana. Part of the video is also hosted by Yidioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, along with an article about the incident. See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3283816,00.html.
Below are additional media reports of damage to civilian locations in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's Heartland - Canada National Post, Aug 2006
The surgeon led a group of journalists over what remained [of his hospital in Tyre]: mangled debris, shredded walls and a roof punched through by an Israeli shell. "Look what they did to this place," Dr. Fouad Fatah said, shaking his head. "Why in the world would the Israelis target a hospital?" The probable answer was found a few hours later in a field nearby. Hidden in the tall grass were the burned remnants of a rocket-launcher. Confronted with the evidence, Dr. Fatah admitted his hospital could have been used as a site from which to fire rockets into Israel. "What choice do we have? We need to fight back from somewhere," he said.
Letter from Beirut: The Battle for Lebanon, by Jon Lee Anderson - New Yorker Magazine, Aug 7, 2006:
We turned north, to a hospital in Sidon. Near the hospital, a mosque lay in ruins. A man approached and told me that he was a teacher at the Hariri school. I asked him why he thought the Israelis had hit a mosque, and he said, simply, “It was a Hezbollah mosque.” A younger man came up to me and, when we were out of earshot of others, said that Hezbollah had kept bombs in the basement of the mosque, but that two days earlier a truck had taken the cache away. It was common knowledge in Sidon, he said, and everyone was expecting the mosque to be hit. When, the previous evening, displaced people from the south had gathered on the grounds, they had been warned away.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a document entitled "Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah" which was highly critical of Israel from a human rights perspective. The below New York Sun link is a published debate between critics of the HRW report (including Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz) and Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.
http://www.nysun.com/specials/hrw.php
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Q: Can Hezbollah fire rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?
A: A significant part of Israel’s population and industry is in greater Tel Aviv. Hezbollah has implied that they do have the capability to strike at central Israel. One possible weapon is the Iranian Zelzal rocket which can travel for 200+ km. During the conflict, Hezbollah gradually fired rockets to points farther and farther south in Israel to give the impression that they were expanding the reach of their attacks into Israel. One report is that Israel was able to eliminate most of these weapons during the conflict.
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Q: Was Israel’s response “disproportionate?”
A: The list of countries that accused Israel of responding in a disproportionate fashion includes: the United Nations and its secretary general, Kofi Annan, the European Union and many European newspapers. The term “disproportionate” implies that Israel’s reaction was excessive and unnecessarily aggressive. The moral judgment about Israel’s response to Hezbollah hinges upon the perceived threat.
In the past, Israel has taken preemptive actions against threats to its security. In 1981, Israel destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in order to prevent Iraq from obtaining nuclear weapons. At the time, this action was widely criticized, even by lawmakers in the United States.
Israel’s actions were a direct response to the killing and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006 by Hezbollah guerillas. According to International law, countries do have the right to secure and defend their borders. Israel was also acting within the context of a much more significant threat to its security. Hezbollah had deployed over 10,000 rockets specifically aimed at Israel. The launching of about 4,000 rockets, during the conflict, significantly disrupted life in Northern Israel and caused a humanitarian crisis, largely unreported by the international media. The actions of the Israeli Defense Force targeted Hezbollah’s rocket launch capabilities which still remain unfortunately embedded throughout Lebanon. The bombing of bridges, roads and other infrastructure in Lebanon were intended to disrupt Hezbollah’s military logistics.
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Q: What is the link between Hamas and Hezbollah?
A: Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shi’a political party aligned with the religious movement founded by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini. Its stated goal is to establish Shi’a Islamic rule in Lebanon. As a political party, Hezbollah represents the Lebanese Shi’a community in the Lebanese government. Hezbollah receives financial, military and political assistance from Iran and Syria. Hezbollah is believed to be behind the 1983 suicide car bomb that killed 241 American troops stationed in Beirut. Hezbollah was founded to resist Israel’s presence in Lebanon from 1982-2000. Hezbollah continues to fight with Israel and has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel.
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently leads the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people. Hamas was founded in 1987 by Shaikh Ahmed Yassin, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic Jihad, the militant arm of the Muslim brotherhood, was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Hamas’ stated goal is the establishment of a Palestinian state on the territory that is now recognized as Israel.
Hezbollah and Hamas both conduct political and social service activities in addition to harboring a military wing. There is fundamental sectarian tension between Suni and Shi’a groups in the region, but Hezbollah and Hamas share an opposition to Israel, questioning its legitimacy and right to exist. The two organizations work together in their fight against Israel. The United States government views both groups as terrorist organizations. The European Union views Hamas as a terrorist organization, but has refused to declare Hezbollah as such.
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Q: What is the role of Syria and Iran in the current crisis?
A: Iran provides Hezbollah with financial support estimated at $100M annually. It has also provided Hezbollah guerillas with training and weaponry. Hezbollah has rockets, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns. Israel claims that it has recovered the bodies of members of the Iranian Republican Guard after clashes in Lebanon with Hezbollah. Syria officially supports Hezbollah but denies providing it with material assistance.
The Debka File web site (http://www.debka.com/) quoted an Israeli military source describing how Hezbollah has used a Syrian command center to conduct military operations in the recent conflict.
The command which coordinates the pace of those attacks is located at the Anjar base of the Syrian Army’s 10th Division opposite the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani. It is manned by Iranian and Hizballah officers, who take their orders from a Syrian military intelligence center in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached. It is headed by a general from one of Syria’s surface missile brigades. This joint command is provided with the most up-to-date intelligence and electronic data available to Syria on targets in Israel and IDF movements. The timing and tempo of Hizballah rocket strikes are set according to that information.
To keep the rockets coming without interruption, the joint Hizballah-Syrian-Iranian command is also responsible with keeping Hizballah supplied with an inflow of rockets and launchers. They use smuggling rings to slip the supplies into Lebanon by mule and donkey which ply the 5,000-7,000 feet mountain paths that straddle the Syrian-Lebanese frontier.
Q: How do Israelis feel about their government’s military response?
A: In the early stage of the conflict, Israeli public opinion was united behind the government’s actions in a way that had not been witnessed in many years. Israelis generally felt that the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 was an act of good faith and that Israel cannot go on absorbing random attacks and rocket barrages on its citizens.
Israel is a free and pluralistic society with a rich tradition of civil discourse. Many Arab Israelis opposed the action against Lebanon. Not all Jewish Israelis agreed with the government’s actions either and a fierce debate has raged within Israel about tactics and strategies.
During the war, Tom Ashbrook of National Public Radio hosted a lively discussion titled “Israelis Speak About War and Peace.” The program included a diverse set of Israeli viewpoints:
· Aharon Valency, head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council in Northern Israel and a resident of Kfar Giladi in Northern Israel where 12 Israeli reservists were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire
· Moshe Arens, former Foreign Minister and three-time Defense Minister in Israel
· Ambassador Dore Gold, President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He served as Israel's ambassador to the U.N. from 1997 to 1999.
· Naomi Chazan, Former deputy speaker of the Israeli Parliament the Knesset (1992 to 2003) who's been involved for many years in Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives.
· Yossi Beilin, long-time member of the Knesset, former Justice Minister and leading liberal voice in Israel.
To hear this program, please go to the following URL:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/08/20060809_a_main.asp
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Q: How has the conflict affected those living in Northern Israel?
About 1 million people living in Northern Israel were affected by the war: living in bomb shelters, serving in the army reserves, etc, … About 300,000 Israeli citizens were temporarily evacuated to other locations within Israel. Farm produce rotted, factories were silent and normally bustling communities like Naharya were eerily vacant. Now that the conflict is over, people are returning to their homes. Estimates to rebuild damage caused by the war are over $1B.
Impact of the war on Israel:
* CASUALTIES - 157 dead, of which 40 were civilians killed by Hizbollah rocket fire and the rest soldiers, most of whom were killed in fighting inside Lebanon. Some 1,000 people were wounded in rocket attacks in Israel and 450 soldiers were hurt in fighting in Lebanon.
* ECONOMY - The Bank of Israel has put economic damage in lost tourism and industrial activity at 5 billion shekels ($1.5 billion), or up to 1 percent of projected gross domestic product. Israel's Manufacturing Association puts the cost to northern industries at 4.6 billion shekels and estimates that projected GDP may fall by 11.5 billion shekels, or 1.9 percent.
Hezbollah rocket attacks caused numerous forest fires inside northern Israel. As of August 8th as many as 9,000 acres including 3,000 acres of northern Israel’s few forests, were damaged by fires caused by Hezbollah rockets. Another report estimated that over 500,000 trees in northern Israel have been burned down.
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Q: Did Israel lose the “public relations war?”
A: Miri Eisen , Prime Minister Olmert’s press secretary and a Marin County California native, addressed this question while speaking to an audience from the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey at Jerusalem's Inbal Hotel. (source: Jerusalem Post)
“In this war, there is greater international understanding of Israel than in many previous conflicts," she said. "That doesn't make [the way the world perceives Israel] good but it does make it less bad. I don't expect to win the media war, but I don't intend to lose. We have managed to hold our own with our messages.
Eisen said the main messages that she had tried to get across in countless interviews with the foreign press since the war began on July 12 were that Israel wants a diplomatic solution but until there is one, it will continue defending itself and that the world is threatened by "Hizbullah = Syria = Iran.
“In these four weeks, the diplomatic situation of Israel in the international community has changed 180 degrees," she said. "It is the first time since 1982 where there is broad, wall-to-wall international backing for the disarmament of Hizbullah and the deployment of the Lebanese army. Four weeks ago, no one gave a damn, but now the Lebanese government has agreed to what it refused six years ago. It's a huge change.
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Q: Did Israel achieve the objectives of the war?
A: In an interview on CNN, Tzippi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister made the point that we will not be able to really judge this question until we know whether Hezbollah agrees to disarm according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
There is no doubt that Hezbollah proved to be better trained, better equipped and more effective than was anticipated. Hezbollah has survived this conflict, although at what price? In the New York Times Op-Ed section, Thomas Friedman wrote the following, published August 11th, before the end of the war:
With every war there are two days to keep in mind when the guns fall silent: the morning after, and the morning after the morning after. America, Israel and all those who want to see Lebanon’s democracy revived need to keep their eyes focused on the morning after the morning after.
Here’s why.
The only way that the fighting in south Lebanon will be brought to a close is if all the parties accept a cease-fire and the imposition of a robust international peacekeeping force, led by France, along the Israel-Lebanon border — supplanting Hezbollah.
The morning after that cease-fire goes into effect, everyone knows what will happen: Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah — no matter how battered his forces and how much damage his reckless war has visited on Lebanon — will crawl out of his bunker and declare a “great victory.” Hezbollah, he will say, fought the Israeli Army to a standstill inside Lebanon and rained rockets on northern Israel. Meanwhile, military analysts everywhere will write that Israel has “lost its deterrence” vis-à-vis Arab forces, and blah, blah, blah.
Sorry, been there, heard that, and I don’t buy it. What matters in war, alas, is the balance of destruction on the ground and the political weight it exerts over time.
On the morning after the morning after, Lebanese war refugees, who had real jobs and homes, will start streaming back by the hundreds of thousands, many of them Shiites. Tragically, they will find their homes or businesses badly damaged or obliterated. Yes, they will curse Israel. But they and other Arabs will also start asking Nasrallah publicly what many are already asking privately:
“What was this war all about? What did we get from this and at what price? Israel has some roofs to repair and some dead to bury. But its economy and state are fully intact, and it will recover quickly. We Lebanese have been set back by a decade. Our economy and our democracy lie in ruins, like our homes. For what? For a one-week boost in ‘Arab honor?’ So that Iran could distract the world’s attention from its nuclear program? You did all this to us for another country?”
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Q: What are the conditions for the cessation of violence?
A: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 is a resolution intended to cease hostilities in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict. It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council. The governments of Israel and Lebanon accepted the terms of the resolution.
Below are some major points in the resolution:
· Urges the unconditional release of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers
· Calls for a full cessation of all attacks by Hezbollah and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations
· Mandates that Lebanon and UNIFIL forces deploy in the south and Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon in parallel. Calls for the Lebanese government to extend control and authority over all its territory. Welcomes the unanimous decision by the government of Lebanon on August 7, 2006 to deploy a force of 15,000 troops in south Lebanon. Authorizes an increase in UNIFIL forces to a maximum of 15,000 troops.
· Reiterates support for the Blue Line – the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon
· Calls for the establishment of a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon, between the Blue Line and the Litani River (12 miles north of the Israeli border). The Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces are collectively the only military presence allowed to be deployed in this zone.
· Calls for financial and humanitarian assistance from the international community for the Lebanese people
· Reaffirms the Taif Accords and resolution 1559 which require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon
· Forbids the sale or supply of arms to Lebanon without the consent of the Lebanese government
· Calls for Israel to forward to the UN all remaining maps of land mines in southern Lebanon
· Kofi Annan and the international community will propose a solution to the Sheba farms land dispute within 30 days
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah initially said his organization would honor the terms of the cessation of hostilities. However, it is now becoming clear that Hezbollah intends to continue to operate covertly. In a reversal of its position, Hezbollah has stated that it refuses to disarm or withdraw its militia from southern Lebanon: The Lebanese government responded that it will not attempt to disarm Hezbollah by force.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081500322.html
The military resupply of Hezbollah by Iran and Syria is against both the letter and spirit of resolution 1701. Yet, there are reports that this is already occurring, resulting in some military incidents since the resolution was adopted.
On Yom Kippur, Oct. 2, 2006 twenty four hours after the last Israeli soldier left South Lebanon and the day before UNIFIL published its rules of engagement, Hizballah placed roadblocks on all the approaches to the central sector of the South and the entrances to the towns and villages reoccupied by its forces and their rocket units. These enclaves were declared “closed military zones.”
The following link to the UN website contains the text of resolution 1701, a press release from the UN, and statements on the resolution from the Secretary General, US, France, Qatar, Greece, UK, Denmark, China, Slovakia, Russia, Argentina, Japan, Tanzania, Peru, Ghana, Lebanon, and Israel:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm
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Q: What can I do to help?
The UJC has published a list of things that you can do to help Israel today:
1. Make a contribution
to the Israel Emergency Campaign through your local federation. To find it, go to www.jewishfinder.com.
2. Write or e-mail the President and your legislators
E-mail President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov. Find your legislators' e-mail addresses at www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml or www.congress.org. In the subject line write "Thank you for your support of Israel." For a sample letter, click here.
3. Buy Israeli products
through www.shopinisrael.com and www.export.org.il. For business to business, go to www.usaisrael.org.
4. Learn the facts, and educate others
Visit the Israeli government's Web site (www.mfa.gov.il) and American Jewish organizations' Web sites (www.ujc.org, www.adl.org, www.jewishpublicaffairs.org). Email info@prescon.org
5. Challenge media coverage of Israel
Call radio talk shows, write letters to the editor, speak out in chat rooms. For information on contacting the media, go to www.honestreporting.com/a/contact.asp or www.camera.org.
6. Reach out to individual Israelis
in your community's Partnership 2000 region (contact your local federation to find out how). Go to www.walk4israel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Living to find out about Project Embrace, which twins schools and synagogues with families of recent terror victims.
7. Go to Israel
Join a local federation or national UJC mission. Contact the UJC Missions Information Center at (212) 284-6519 or missions@ujc.org. Or visit www.goisrael.com
8. Express solidarity with Israel
Wear a blue ribbon or pin, display a flag, sing Hatikvah. Participate in community events.
9. Join something Jewish.
Connect locally with a project that helps build Israel. Volunteer your time, spirit and talents to the world Jewish community. Go to www.ujc.org or your local federation's Web site for ideas.