It’s a pity this more accurate name wasn’t chosen instead of
UNIFIL. It’s far from Interim, and it’s close to cheating to use
"in" in an acronym in that way. Further, this acronym better
describes the observational nature of the task force: counting attacks
in each direction, reporting on non-uniformed casualties, and doing
some humanitarian work.
But given the recent tendencies of Hezbollah to use UNIFIL
peacekeeper positions as strategic cover, what should the UN guys do?
Let’s say that there are some moral members of the team. Take the
Canadians. They want to continue their mission, observing and
helping those civilians trapped between Hezbollah and Israel. They
don’t want to become belligerents on either side: though one side has
the moral edge, there is still some value to having neutral observers
in such a conflict.
They could try to move away. How can they do so while still
conducting their humanitarian and observational mission?
They could attack, becoming partisans. They could… what? I don’t
like that they’re letting themselves be used as shields, but I’m not
sure what they can do about it on the ground. Complaining in public
about the bad guys using them as shields would be nice, but wouldn’t
fix their actual problem: Hezbollah doesn’t care what the New York
Times prints.
Update: The UN has
begun publicly
complaining. Will this have an effect on Hezbollah’s actions? Will
this have an effect on complaints that the UN is complicit in
shielding Hezbollah?
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