MUSCAT, 20 September 2004 — The UN Security Council recently adopted Resolution No. 1559, tabled by the US and France, demanding the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon and the disarming of Lebanese militias, aimed at, what it termed, protecting Lebanese sovereignty.
Apart from its contents and the aim, the resolution represents a unique case as far as the international organization is concerned.
In contrast to all the conventions, including those of the UN Security Council itself, the resolution had not been initiated upon a complaint from the government of Lebanon, the sovereignty of which the resolution claimed it wanted to protect! Nor had it been at the behest of the people of Lebanon.
It was, in fact, the US and France who imagined that Lebanese sovereignty was in danger, even though the people of Lebanon themselves had felt no such danger. Even if there was, it was, in the first place, the prerogative of the Lebanese government to take the matter to the Arab League, which is more concerned with such matters and has the upper hand in protecting its members than the international organization. The manner of the adoption of the resolution by the Security Council, which is supposed to uphold justice and equality among all states, raises more than one question about the future of this organization and its role in protecting the rights of the oppressed and deprived.
Let us not forget that many issues central to the Middle East conflict are in the organization’s archives for more than 50 years. Of course, we mean the Palestinian cause and the plight of a people suffering from Israeli occupation and its horrible crimes everyday. The UN is the sole body concerned with this issue and finding a just solution is by all means its bounden duty. Instead, the very same organization is busy discussing and adopting unjust resolutions.
Lebanese sovereignty had not been in any need of an international resolution to protect it from an imaginary danger, as those who took the draft of the resolution to the Security Council had claimed. Obviously, there was a hidden foreign hand that has a deplorable agenda it wants to carry out against Syria and Lebanese resistance forces. This is very clear from the contents of the resolution adopted by the Security Council.
No other state than Israel has any interest in opposing the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon. And none other than Israel has been resorting to all possible means to disarm Lebanese resistance forces. The Zionists can’t be more concerned about Lebanese sovereignty than the Lebanese themselves. Lebanese “sovereignty” is nothing but a pretext for fulfilling goals that Israel has been working to achieve ever since its occupation of Palestinian lands.
It is unfortunate that the world body is being used by Israel to fulfill its vicious schemes. The same organization has failed to force the Israeli government to implement the World Court’s decision, issued some months ago, against the barrier being erected by Arial Sharon — a racial wall condemned by the whole world except the US.
It was not surprising then that the US would lend a helping hand to the Israeli agenda in the Security Council and help adopt Resolution 1559 under false, illogical justifications. At the same time, it is a matter of serious concern that the UN has been turned into a puppet at the hands of the Israelis and being used for the violation, not protection as it has been claimed, of the sovereignty of a state.
The UN Security Council is supposed to have firm and sound procedures and principles to protect the rights of the oppressed and deprived — not to reward the aggressors.
The UN has to shoulder its duty. It should focus its attention and efforts on the real issues — not imaginary ones that are raised with the sole aim of prolonging the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
— Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali is editor in chief of The Times of Oman.
