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Mean ol' Israel forces Lebanese peace activists to beat up U.N. peacekeepers

Everything else is the fault of Ariel Sharon, so why not this, from the AP:

Three unarmed U.N. observers and two armed peacekeepers were injured in scuffles with Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping force commander said.

I'm sure there's some way we can blame Israel. Perhaps Hezbollah was so upset by the battles in Bethlehem that they couldn't control themselves and had to release their anger on the U.N.

The scuffle with Hezbollah forces broke out after an unarmed U.N. observer patrol reached the village of Mari, near the disputed Chebaa Farms area.

The observers - from Ireland, Norway and France - were confronted by Hezbollah gunmen who would not let them pass, a U.N. observer force officer said on condition of anonymity. An argument broke out, resulting in the gunmen beating up the observers.

A separate U.N. peacekeeping patrol - manned by armed Indian officers - was nearby at the time and intervened in the scuffle. This sparked a fist fight in which two Indians were hurt. Two U.N. vehicles were also damaged.

Kofi Anan "strongly condemned" the attack. And Hezbollah promised, cross their hearts and hope to die, that they wouldn't do it again. Oh good. But this is the priceless part (with emphasis added):

Col. Amol Astana, commander of the Indian peacekeeping contingent, said the patrol and the observers were confronted by eight to 10 armed Hezbollah members. Astana said his forces did not respond because their role is to act as peacekeepers. They reported the scuffle to Lebanese authorities.

This is the logic of the United Nations. A fight breaks out -- so the "role" of peacekeepers is to run and hide, as far from the fight as possible. These are the people Israelis are supposed to rely upon to protect them once there's a Palestinian state?
posted by David Nieporent at 4/04/2002 09:37:00 PM |