Trust the United Nations ... to Appease Terrorists

Back in 2000, when Israel unilaterally pulled completely out of Lebanon, a country it had no territorial dispute with and had entered only because the PLO had established a terrorist mini-state there and been using it as a base from which to attack Israeli civilians, it took no chances of there being any border disputes.

Rather than deciding where to pull back to unilaterally, it called upon the United Nations to demarcate the border. The United Nations called upon its experts and Israel pulled completely out of Lebanon.

Hezbollah, deprived of the pretext of occupation as an excuse for its attacks on Israelis, created a new pretext: the baseless claim that the area known as Shaba Farms, captured from Syria in 1967, was Lebanese territory.

Now, seven years after marking the border between Israel and Lebanon, a year after Hezbollah attacked Israel and launched thousands of Katyusha rockets at civilian areas in Israel, while Hezbollah is still holding Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser hostage, there are reports that the United Nations has suddenly discovered Shaba Farms is Lebanese territory.

On the other hand, the reports also said the United Nations proposed Israel withdraw from Shaba Farms and it would then be considered international territory and be administered by UNIFIL.

There may be few fish on the Golan Heights, but it all sounds a little fishy to me. If the UN really thought Shaba Farms was part of Lebanon, why didn't it so designate it back in 2000? If the UN really thought Shaba Farms was part of Lebanon, why would it propose it be considered international territory?

The only thing that's clear is that even when it's given what should be a totally technical task involving the Arab-Israeli conflict, the United Nations always manages to make things worse.