UN says it will not withdraw peacekeepers from Lebanonpublished at 06:50 British Summer Time
Jonathan Head
Reporting from Beirut
The United Nations says its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon
will stay in their positions, despite repeated demands by Israel that they
should move out of the way of its forces there.
The head of UN peacekeeping operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told
journalists in New York that the decision to keep the Unifil force in place had
the full backing of both the UN Security Council and the member states
contributing troops to the force.
On Sunday Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly
warned the UN to move from its bases in southern Lebanon, which he said were
providing a human shield to Hezbollah fighters.
But the UN is standing firm.
Its head of peacekeeping said it was essential that the blue
helmets stay in place, to carry out the mandate they were given by the UN
Security Council and to assist the civilian population.
Israel argues that the UN has failed to stop Hezbollah from
building tunnels and positioning weapons like rockets and missiles near the
border, in violation of the agreement which ended the last war there 18
years ago.
The UN says its mission is to support the parties to the
conflict, not to enforce the agreement.
It has accused Israel of deliberately targeting its bases, with
five peacekeepers injured in the past week, an accusation rejected by
Netanyahu.
In another statement last night he said Israel would do its
utmost to prevent such incidents, but that UN peacekeepers needed to get
out of harm’s way.