The Region: Questions for a multinational force

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 08/08/2006 | Barry Rubin

[garbageseeker]

The Franco-American cease-fire plan looks good. Hizbullah, Iran and Syria want to sabotage it for precisely that reason. It should soon be apparent to the world that Israel prefers peace, and that the radical trio seeks continued strife within Lebanon and on the border.

Among the cease-fire proposal's key points are the following:

• a south Lebanon buffer zone which only Lebanon's army and an international force can enter;

• all sides to respect the Lebanon-Israel border;

• a procedure to disarm Hizbullah;

• strengthening Lebanon's army to ensure it controls the south;

• establishing an embargo on the supply of weaponry to Hizbullah from abroad.

If this is really implemented, the border should become calm, Lebanon will prosper, and the terrorists will be dealt a major defeat. Therefore Hizbullah, Iran and Syria - aided at least in part by a fearful Lebanese government - have tried to scuttle this program. Will the world stand up to the terrorists and their sponsors, or is it going to water down the cease-fire plan into something they can accept?

But what if the world does stand behind such a serious effort to change things for the better? Let us assume there is an agreement to create an international force with a mandate for maintaining the peace. All the following contingencies had better be covered by their rules of engagement.