Weak UN mandate stalls Lebanon peacekeepers

Such concerns are valid, according to a former UNIFIL official. "The whole thing missing in this debate is a sense of realism," says Timor Goksel, the former UNIFIL spokesman who worked with the force for 24 years. "It's mind-boggling how naive this plan is."

As the new peacekeeping force is now defined, he says, it depends on the willingness of a weak Lebanese government and an untested Lebanese Army. Smugglers have also crisscrossed the borders for centuries and Hizbullah has strong links in the villages and clans of south Lebanon.

"What is an international force going to do in this environment?" says Mr. Goksel, now a professor at the American University in Beirut.

"Do you take on the families that have been smuggling for 200 years?" he asks. "The UNIFIL forces were allowed to fire in self-defense, but most countries never even wanted to do that. You can't sustain it because you'd be taking on the local people and then you become part of the problem, not the solution"

The European Union meetings this week – aimed at reaching a consensus on what members need to see in the forthcoming UN rules of engagement – are expected to hash out questions like those, as well as concerns over command of any European forces that might ultimately be deployed in Lebanon.

"The EU will try to arrive at a joint understanding of what this conflict is about, what the logical next step should be, and the responsibilities of all the parties involved," says Henning Riecke, an analyst with the German Council on Foreign Relations. "The point is that although the UN resolution is written, it contains a number of contradictions and a lot of details have to be worked out first."

The EU, he says, could end up simply taking on the role of coordinator for humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

France has had 200 soldiers working with UNIFIL and this week sent an additional 200 to join them. It also has about 1,700 troops in the area who were involved in the evacuation of French nationals during the war.

Those troops are now under French command, and experts here say France is unlikely to agree that they come under UN military control. One formula that might ease such concerns has been used in the Congo, where European soldiers are part of a larger UN force but remain under European command.

Germany is generally willing to send troops to Lebanon. But it also has many questions, including concerns about how an international force would have to deal with Israel, says Mr. Riecke.

"Sending troops to the Middle East is in German interests because we have the existence and security of the Israeli state at the top of our foreign policy agenda," he says. "But there are questions about what Israel is allowed to do. It can take defensive actions, for example, but what does that really mean? The whole war has been a defensive action."

Even Italy, with its offer to lead the force and send troops, appeared to have doubts.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper published Tuesday, noted that Israeli troops had fired on Hizbullah fighters after the cease-fire went into effect. He warned that no Italian troops would be dispatched if Israel "keeps shooting."

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