UNTSO chief perceives new dynamic in region

BEIRUT: The Obama administration provides an historic opportunity for lasting peace in the Middle East, according to the head of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star on Wednesday, UNTSO Chief of Staff Major General Robert Mood said that the current US approach to regional reconciliation differed noticeably from that of previous administrations. 

“There is a new dynamic in the Middle East,” he said. [There is] the Obama administration in particular but you can also add elections in Israel and Lebanon, even the election in Iran. 

“There is a dynamic, there is willingness and there is an engagement that makes it very interesting to be one of the players trying to make a difference.” 

UNTSO was one of the United Nations’ seminal organizations, established during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 to supervise the truce in Palestine called for by the Security Council. For more than 60 years UNTSO has assisted Israel and its Arab neighbors in keeping the Armistice Agreement. 

It is an unarmed force, as Mood explained. 

“We do not dissuade parties on the ground by putting up a roadblock or using firearms. We do it with the moral authority we carry,” he said. “Dissuasion is stronger in that context than if you come in and start pointing weapons at people. 

“You don’t come in like the elephant in the glass house and dictate to people. That doesn’t work,” he added.

Mood took up his position as chief of staff in February of this year and is enthusiastic about the prospect of Arab-Israeli rapprochement. 

“It is tangible. It has energized many players to see that in the coming year or two there are new opportunities,” he said. 

But he warned that involved parties must make good on their apparent willingness to reconcile differences soon, in order to maintain momentum. 

“There is also a danger when you create high expectations that if you don’t move in the direction of fulfilling them, there will be a growing impatience.”

Stationed in the country’s south as a peacekeeper in the UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) during the Civil War, Mood said that mediators continued to play an important role in the region. 

“I was in Lebanon in the 1980s. It was an interesting time,” he said. “I served on the ground as an operation officer. The hospitality of the Lebanese was really enjoyable and I’m sure we made a difference on the ground every day. 

“UNIFIL still does make a difference every day.” 

This summer has seen a number of incidents in which peacekeeping troops have been accosted by citizens close to the UN-demarcated Blue Line – the boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon. 

The most serious, in which 14 UNIFIL troops were injured, involved protesters throwing stones at peacekeepers trying to investigate the explosion of a suspected Hizbullah arms cache near the village of Khirbet Silim on 14 July. 

Mood said that UNIFIL and UNSTO members continued to feel welcome in Lebanon, in spite of altercations with locals. 

“We still feel very much welcome and my observers on the ground tell me that they don’t feel any hostility. I can’t speak for UNIFIL but I get the message that there is not a negative attitude toward [soldiers] in the south,” he said. 

“By its nature, when you put a military force with weapons in civilian communities with strong personalities there will be some sort of friction.” 

Mood also congratulated the Lebanese Armed Forces [LAF] on its continuing coordination with UNIFIL troops in the south. 

“The Lebanese Army has to be commended in the work it is doing,” he said. “They are growing in capability and credibility. They are doing a very professional job.” 

He highlighted the need for continuing dialogue between LAF, UNIFIL and Israeli Army officials in order to prevent further violations of Security Council Resolution 1701 – drafted to end to summer war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006. 

“If the dialogue is not going in a constructive way, you will not get anywhere,” he said. 

“Dialogue can solve issues like Ghajar, like Shebaa Farms, like the return of the refugees. It can address and achieve results on issues such as the Blue Line. We see very promising examples of how effective dialogue can de-escalate and control tension. 

Mood cited the case of improving LAF coordination with UNIFIL as evidence of this. Last month saw a fierce exchange of rocket fire between positions in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Although no injuries were sustained from either side, it was the most serious example of almost daily violations Resolution 1701 which show little sign of abating. 

“Every single violation is part of a reporting scheme brought to the attention of the United Nations. It’s a key point that any violation should be dealt with in a similar fashion,” said Mood. 

He denied that not enough was being done by the UN to end violations, including continuing over flights of Israeli warplanes entering Lebanese airspace. 

“Some violations get more attention with others, but the reporting of the violations at the United Nations is very consistent,” Mood said. 

He also dismissed Israeli accusations that Hizbullah was stockpiling weapons received from Iran and Syria in locations south of the Litani River. 

“The position of the UN is very clear: there is no evidence that these things are smuggled into southern Lebanon,” he said. 

Mood added that UNTSO and UNIFIL’s mandate of impartially monitoring peace accords seemed to be bearing fruit. 

“In 2006, small incidents were used to trigger military action. Since I came in, we have seen exactly the contrary. The growing dialogue with UNIFIL and its counterparts is making it possible to handle these incidents with trust among the people on the ground,” he said. 

Turning to the festering issue of Lebanese cabinet formation, he added that while a government was necessary in order to face pressing issues, Lebanon showed no signs of destabilizing in the meantime. 

“It is important for Lebanon to have a government, although the people of Lebanon are re-sourceful,” Mood said. “We experience every day that it is not critical for Lebanon; the country is still running. [But] to have a strong national position on [regional] issues you need a government,” he added.