June Thursday 01 -2000:

Lebanese cartographers accuse UN colleagues of bias…(1)

" Relations between UN cartographers and their Lebanese colleagues monitoring the completeness of "Israel's" withdrawal were strained Wednesday because of what a Lebanese official statement described as the UN's "biased" attitude.

"The UN cartography team deviated from its mission by asking the Lebanese to ignore parts of Lebanese territory still occupied by "Israel" in a number of places, in particular near the region of Odaisseh and Wazzani in the eastern sector of the previously occupied border strip," said a statement issued by the official ANI news agency, quoting an unnamed Lebanese official.

The team "asked (Lebanon) to respect "Israel's" needs and take into account the peculiar characteristics of the region," the statement said.

"The Lebanese side refused to accept this biased view considering that it contradicts the UN role," it added.

Lebanese sources have said that throughout the years, "Israel" had seized patches of Lebanese territory at 16 different locations along the two countries' borders.

Sharaa: Shibaa Farms must be returned to Lebanon…(2)

"Syrian FM Sharaa told Syria's official news agency SANA that Shibaa "must be returned to Lebanon (...) or "Israel" must withdraw from it under UN Security Council Resolution 242 demanding a pullout without delay from Syria's Golan Heights."

Sharaa later telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss to tell him that on the issue of sovereignty, "Syria reaffirms that the Shibaa farms are Lebanese" and that "Lebanon has the right to request that they be returned," an official Lebanese source said.

"This has been Syria's steadfast position" and "has not changed," Shara added.

"Israel" has refused to withdraw from all of Shibaa as part of its pullback from south Lebanon, insisting it was Syrian territory and must be dealt with in negotiations with Damascus.

One of Hizbullah's MPs in the Lebanese parliament warned Wednesday that armed resistance would continue "in order to free every last inch of Lebanese territory occupied by "Israel", including the Farms of Shibaa."

NGOs race to alert South to peril of mines…(3)

South Lebanon may be free of "Israeli" troops but it remains littered with land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), which have already claimed the lives of 6-year-old Alaa Adnan Madi and 14-year-old Lama Ahmad Hamadi, and wounded 15 people in the past week alone.
The problem of mines in Lebanon is no novelty, but the liberation of the South brought with it a new danger, with an influx of people returning to their villages or visiting the region for the first time.
In their excitement, people parked their cars on roadsides and posed for photographs with abandoned tanks and artillery or tore down signs written in Hebrew, including signs warning of minefields.
Such behavior put people and their adventurous children at great risk and revealed the need for large-scale land mine and UXO awareness campaigns. Parallel to the army’s efforts in mine clearance in the liberated south and its northern border, awareness is important in preventing accidents.
International organizations have worked closely with local NGOs and community leaders in an effort to create awareness about mines around the country. But in light of the recent withdrawal, emergency task forces were set up to focus special attention on the villages in or near the liberated zone.
One of the programs already in existence held a three-day training program for 24 young volunteers in Tyre in mid-April. The volunteers, who come from STC Youth Clubs in Siddiqeen, Zibqeen, Srifa, Deir Kifa, Sidon and Tyre, as well as a number of local youth organizations, were instructed in mine awareness by the Lebanese Army’s National De-mining Bureau and STC trainers who had attended a mine-awareness conference in Yemen in 1998.
Similarly, the World Rehabilitation Fund has financed mine-awareness projects here since 1998 but events prompted it to mobilize to make more of an impact in the country’s southern region.
“We’re printing flyers, stickers and posters to be distributed by the Red Cross in the South and the western Beqaa,” said WRF’s land-mine project coordinator Toufik Rizkallah. The Red Cross will also be replacing mine warning signs, Rizkallah said, while warning brochures were being distributed in Rashaya by the Vision Association for Development, Rehabilitation and Care.
WRF emergency meetings began last week, with lectures held in Jibsheit and in high schools in Qaroun. The Scouts and Red Cross workers in Tyre also got a crash course in mine-awareness last Saturday.
Explaining the STC’s focus on training for children, Christine Nelke, the mine-awareness program officer in Lebanon, said: “Children are the most common victims of land mines and UXO. This is because these things attract children’s curiosity.”
Newly trained STC youth volunteers return to their communities and formulate mine-awareness programs together with children from their youth clubs and with the help of leading members of their community.
“STC doesn’t believe in intervening as outsiders to lecture people about the dangers of mines,” explained Nelke. “We try to involve key people in the community, like health workers, educators and religious personalities.” Such people command respect and credibility in their communities and are more likely to have an impact on others.
The STC is also an advocate of the child-to-child educational approach, which, according to Kamal Shayya, community development specialist at STC-US, is a faster way to spread information.
As its name suggests, it elicits children’s participation in their own learning process. Photos, videos, games, drawing, storytelling and role-playing are some of the less traditional educational methods used by STC to change children’s attitudes and behavior toward mines and UXO.
After identifying community needs, youth club members collect information from their environment, analyze it and plan their own mine-awareness programs. They implement the program in their environment, spreading the warning message to parents, siblings and friends. Finally, they evaluate the success of their work.
Experience has shown that when children are asked to think through the mine problem and discover their own solutions, sound behavior and attitudes are more likely to result.
The warning message varies slightly for different age groups, depending on their intellectual development, but anyone in an area where it was suspected there could be mines should heed the following rules:

•ask for the safe path
•stay on the safe path
•if you find something unusual, don’t touch it!
•mark a suspected mine with a light object
•report your finding
•keep out of signed mined areas
•recognize warning signs
•recognize warning clues

“There’s no use raising awareness if nothing is done about the mines,” said Heba Hajj, STC-US’s Education Program Coordinator. “That’s why it’s very important to notify someone, preferably the army, when you find a mine or UXO.”
Without reporting, which assists in the army’s mine-clearance task, land cannot be declared safe or put to use.
“Farmland, grazing pastures and roads remain inaccessible and useless if there are mines on them,” said Nelke, highlighting another facet of the mine problem.
For the time being, it is highly recommended that everyone visiting the south to stay away from fields or unpaved roads. If these can’t be avoided, it is good idea to know the key indicators that there are mines in the vicinity, say Hajj and Shayya. These are:

•mounds of earth
•electric cables on the ground
•protruding metal
•planted stick or pile of stones (may be a mark left by others)
•bare patches in otherwise grass-covered terrain
•anything irregular in the land’s topography

“We all knew the "Israelis" would eventually leave,” Nelke said. “This is why we began preparing, with the conference in Yemen, in 1998.”
Although good results have been achieved though the youth club awareness projects, especially in the villages of Zibqeen, Saida and Tyre, Nelke felt that the awareness campaigns were not being implemented fast enough now that access to the south has opened up.
“It’s natural that people want to explore the south,” said Hajj, “but the role now of mine-awareness workers is to quickly spread danger warnings to people.”

Camouflaged explosive wounds four in eastern Baalback…(4)

An explosive device went off in eastern Baalback on Wednesday while workers were clearing a road, wounding four of them, police said.
The device, camouflaged with fiberglass and painted to look like a rock, detonated when it was hit by a bulldozer in Assira.
The wounded were identified as Maher Awar, 20; his father Suleiman, 50; Hassan Amhaz and Hussein Steif, whose ages were not given.
The Awars sustained minor injuries, while Amhaz and Steif‘s wounds required surgery. Their conditions were said to be stable.
Police said that the device “was probably left by "Israeli" commandos a few weeks ago. Baalback residents recall that last month, "Israeli" surveillance planes hovered above the town.”
Last summer, a similar device was found by Assira residents and exploded while Hizbullah experts were trying to defuse it, killing Ghassan Ahmad.

UN experts fly in to aid army against scourge…(5)

UN land mine experts have arrived for talks with the Lebanese Army over a plan to clear south Lebanon from land mines left after 22 years of "Israeli" occupation, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.
The team from New York landed in Beirut on Tuesday evening and was expected to meet army officers, said Timur Goksel, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. The talks were meant to “study a plan of action to clear the area of land mines,” he said.
In Jerusalem, the Defense (War) Ministry said the "Israeli" Army had provided UNIFIL officials with a detailed map on Wednesday on where its troops buried land mines in south Lebanon.
Goksel said land mines were mainly located around army positions evacuated by the "Israeli" troops and their allied militia at the Jewish state’s pullout on May 24.
Mines were also spread along the international border and on the frontline of the former border zone occupied by "Israel" in south Lebanon from where resistance guerrillas operated, he said.
Goksel said the valleys of Wadi Slouqi, Wadi al-Hujeir and Wadi al-Nafkha at the edge of the central sector of the former occupied zone “contained hundreds of land mines because they were passageways for the resistance.
“We have to clear these areas, particularly since dozens of shepherds wander there every day because of the water and the greenery,” he said.
Goksel said UNIFIL needed a special team to remove the land mines after its deployment in the southern border zone once the UN officially certifies the "Israeli" withdrawal.
He said UNIFIL has removed 30,000 land mines from the frontline along the edge of the former occupied zone in south Lebanon in the last 15 years.
“But the area is still filled with mines,” said Goksel who did not give an exact figure on the number.
If it is mainly Lebanese civilians who fall victim to mine explosions, UNIFIL troops have also suffered casualties, the first being a Swedish peacekeeper in 1978 when the force first deployed in the area.
 
"Israel's" theft of Lebanese water revealed on camera…(6)

"Beirut is accusing "Israel" of stealing precious water from a river in southern Lebanon. The government is to make an official complaint to the United Nations. Southern Lebanon's water fell into the hands of the Jewish state 22 years ago when "Israeli" troops invaded Lebanon.

" The Wazzani River, for years part of occupied southern Lebanon, is now back in Lebanon proper following the "Israeli" withdrawal. People from the small town of Wazzani say "Israel" has been stolen the water for years. Now they warn the pumping must stop. An APTN cameraman was taken to this spot by local people. The pipes can clearly be seen running from the river, across the border fence to a small pumping station guarded by "Israeli" soldiers. The local Lebanese are in no doubt the water belongs to them. They say that water tankers arrive every few days to take the water away. The latest pictures have brought the water issue back near the top of the political agenda in southern Lebanon. (Prime Minister Salim Hoss saying: "Well two things should be done, actually. We would complain to the UN about this. It's our water and they should not be taking it away. If the peace talks should resume, this would be one of the topics that would be on the agenda, as far as Lebanon is concerned. After the area is completely liberated- and we hope this come about soon- I think we would recover our rights to water"). A spokesman for the "Israeli" army first claimed "Israel" did not steal Lebanese water, but when approached by APTN again, he said the matter was being dealt with by "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office".

"Israel" incorporates Lebanese land…(7)

""Israel" has been incorporating Lebanese land into its territories in clear breach of international law. Villagers in Odaisseh and Maroun al-Rass along the border with "Israel" revealed to Future Television large estates that belong to Lebanon but have been seized by the Jewish state.

" This land belongs to villagers in Odaisseh. But "Israel" incorporated the land into its territory more than a decade ago. The workers are busy installing telephone line in the area which now adjoins the Mesgav Am settlement. Future Television captured these shots of Lebanese villagers asking the workers to stop all construction, saying it is Lebanese territory. [NS: Resident of Aadasieh saying, This is Lebanese land. Even if the "Israelis" are paying you, don't work here. Don't you have any dignity? If you continue working here, you are without dignity.] But construction continued and the workers scoffed at the villagers' desperate cries. This barbed wire border separates two worlds. One of them was liberated after fiercely resisting twenty-two years of brutal occupation. The other world is still struggling for freedom. "Israel" has been occupying some seventeen other chunks of Lebanese territory that fall north of the 1923 internationally-recognized boundaries. In Maroun Ras, a village close to the border, residents told Future Television, entire farmlands were incorporated into "Israel" in 1978. Villagers have documents proving it is theirs. MP Rhayed Khazen of Kesrouan also has documents proving "Israel" illegally seized 500,000 square meters of his land in the village of Wazzani, close to the border. "Israel" this week claimed it withdrew entirely from all Lebanese territories it had occupied since 1978, but a growing number of villagers in south Lebanon have been revealing official documents attesting to "Israel's" incorporation of large chunks of Lebanese territories.

1-        AFP, 31-5-2000.

2-        Same source.

3-        The Daily Star, 1-6-2000.

4-        Same source.

5-        Same source.

6-    Future TV, 31-5-2000.

7-    Same source.

  June Friday 02 -2000:

UN changes tack in border dispute
Map-makers come around after tongue-lashing from Beirut…(1)

Members of a UN border-verification team displayed more understanding of the Lebanese position on Thursday after an initial reluctance drew accusations of a pro-"Israeli" bias from Beirut.
UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and members of the UN team met President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Salim Hoss at Baabda to discuss technical details of the verification process.
Political sources said that the talks had been more successful than the “tense” meetings of recent days, during which Lebanon had accused the verification team of supporting "Israeli" claims to parts of Lebanese territory. The sources said that the UN team conceded that the Lebanese “had a point.”
On Wednesday, official sources released a statement claiming that the UN team was “asking Lebanon to give up its claims to land still occupied by "Israel" in areas near the borders, especially those falling between Odaisseh and east of the Wazzani, giving as a pretext the "Israeli" necessities and the sensitivity of the area.”
Larsen said that the meeting had been “very constructive and very positive.” He said that discussion of technical and legal issues would continue on Friday.
He added that the UN team would fly along the disputed sections of the border to ascertain whether the "Israelis" have withdrawn to the actual boundary line. His experts later traveled to Naqoura in a helicopter to resume an on-site inspection of the new frontier. The two key areas reportedly in question are the incursion zone near Odaisseh and the border east of the hamlet of Wazzani. The "Israelis" have been in the process of dismantling an outpost constructed inside an incursion zone near Odaisseh, where the border fence was pushed around 500 meters into Lebanon. They have at the same time been reinforcing another outpost beside the settlement of Misgav Am, which lies inside the genuine border. The source of the dispute at the Odaisseh incursion remains unclear. The 1923 Anglo-French map and accompanying written description ­ upon which the UN is basing the permanent border ­ leaves little room for ambiguity as to where the frontier lies.
A Western diplomat said that the Lebanese were justified in their complaints over perceived UN bias toward "Israel".
“There is a problem,” the source said. “The Lebanese aren’t wrong. There are some places along the border where the UN has been siding with the "Israeli" point of view.”
The controversy apparently forced the postponement of a meeting between the UN and "Israeli" mapping teams set for Thursday.
Despite the controversies, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan remained confident that the UN could certify that "Israel" has fully withdrawn from Lebanon “in the next few days.”
Annan also said that once the pullout has been certified it will be Lebanon’s sole responsibility to impose law and order along the border.
“My men are on the ground as we speak and I hope we can certify full withdrawal in the next few days,” Annan said in an interview with CNN. “Lebanon is supposed to assert law and order there,” once the certification process is complete, Annan said. “It is not the peacekeepers’ role to keep law and order. I have appealed to them (the Lebanese) to deploy their forces as soon as I certify the withdrawal.”
Official sources said on Thursday that the UN will be presented with a new document over the sovereignty of the Shibaa Farms on Friday which carries the endorsement of Syria.
In the Shibaa dispute, Speaker Nabih Berri accused "Israel" of trying to drive a wedge between the UN and Lebanon as well as between Lebanon and Syria. “There are attempts to create a schism between Lebanon and the United Nations,” he charged. “These are "Israeli" intrigues that make it seem as if Lebanon and Syria are on a collision course with the United Nations.”
When reporters asked the speaker if Lebanon was going to go against Syria and accept the UN’s position on the farms, he replied: “What has Syria got to do with this subject? This is a Lebanese stance, the farms are Lebanese. We accept Resolution 425 and the Shibaa Farms fall within its context. They’ve withdrawn from other areas, but they’ve remained in the farms. We’ll follow up this matter until we regain the Shibaa Farms.”
The speaker said that armed resistance against "Israel" had not been ruled out as a possible strategy for retaking the territory.
But he added: “We hope that (the "Israelis") won’t force us to fight once again.” Berri made the remarks after conferring on the issue with a visiting Syrian delegation led by Defense Minister General Mustafa Tlass that had come to Beirut to congratulate the leadership and the resistance on "Israel's" withdrawal.
In "Israel", the European Union’s special Middle East envoy urged the Justice Ministry to review the case of the 19 Lebanese prisoners still held in "Israeli" prisons, another demand by Beirut for accepting "Israel's" retreat as being complete.
Miguel Angel Moratinos promised to try and mediate the release of the detainees.
"Israeli" Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said he “took note” of the EU request.

"Israel" continues to pump water from Lebanon after pullout…(2)

" "Israel" continued Thursday to pump water from south Lebanon where it has cut off drinking water distribution to several villages, more than a week after its troop pullout, AFP correspondents saw.

A pump is still installed to take water from the Wazzani spring, just inside Lebanese territory some 10 kilometers (six miles) south of the Lebanese town of Marjeyoun, they said.

Two pipes, each of a diameter of 25 centimeters (10 inches), emerge from the pump and cross the barbed wire at the border to carry the water to a reservoir in northern "Israel", they said. The pump itself is powered by cables leading from territory under "Israeli" control.

From there the water can be seen transported in a white pipe to Ghajar, a village in the Golan Heights occupied by "Israel" since 1967, they said.

Meanwhile, "Israel" has cut off drinking water distribution to 14 towns and villages in the border zone in southern Lebanon which it occupied for 22 years until its troop pullout on May 24.

They include the town of Bent Jbeil and the villages of Ain Ibel, Rmeish, Aita al-Shaab and Alma al-Shaab, all of which are located in the western sector of the former "Israeli"-occupied border zone.

About 20,000 Lebanese are now drinking from water tanks distribution provided by the Lebanese government.

They had been drinking water provided by the "Israeli" national water company Mekarot which had installed counters and had been collecting payments from the residents.

Occupation resumes harassing Lebanese fishermen

An "Israeli" gunboat intercepted and hit Thursday a Lebanese fishing boat claiming that it went beyond Lebanon's territorial waters while Lebanese security sources said ""Israel"" was still in
those waters.

Khalil Taha, head of the Fishermen Syndicate in the port city of Tyre in south Lebanon, said the "Israeli" gunboat destroyed part of a boat which was sailing at dawn off the Lebanese southern coast. Three Lebanese fishermen were on board…(3)

" Taha said nine fishing boats from this port city sailed south off the town of Naqoura, near the border with "Israel", when an "Israeli" gunboat hosed them with hot water and asked them to leave.

Eight fishing boats turned back, but fishermen on the ninth vessel were still trying to pull their nets from the water when an "Israeli" gunboat smashed into their boat, he said.

The fishing boat was pulled away by the others to the port of Tyre, he said.

The "Israeli" navy had since 1985 prohibited Lebanese fishermen from sailing more than a mile away from southern Lebanese ports.

Enforcement of the sea blockade ended after the "Israeli" troop pullout from southern Lebanon on May 24…(4)

Lebanese security sources indicated that the "Israeli" navy boats were still inside Lebanese territorial waters at some 2 kms from the Naqoura area although the enemy entity withdrew its troops from south Lebanon last week, ending 22 years of occupation.

By pulling out, ""Israel"" should refrain from violating Lebanon's land, air space and territorial waters.

The U.N. was still in process of confirming ""Israel's"" complete withdrawal in line with Security Council Resolution 425 amid Lebanese complaints that ""Israel"" was trying to retain some areas on the border.

Taha said some 1,500 Lebanese fishermen resumed fishing in the territorial waters when ""Israel"" pulled out from south Lebanon last Wednesday, ending a tight siege it has been imposing on the Lebanese fishermen in the Tyre region since ""Israel's"" offensive in April 1996…(5)

65 collaborators questioned…(6)

Sixty-five former members of "Israel's" proxy militia were questioned by three military investigating magistrates on Thursday, but no official charges were filed against them.
So far, more than 1,700 former militiamen have turned themselves in to the authorities, but only 246 have been referred to the judiciary.
Official charges have been filed against 79 suspects, while 31 have been released. Trials are due to start on Monday, a judicial source said. Additional judges and investigating magistrates were transferred to military courts to help speed up the prosecution of suspected collaborators.

Troops begin mine-clearing operation in liberated zone…(7)

"Soldiers from the army’s engineering division began the arduous task of locating and detonating land mines in the liberated areas on Thursday.
Under the scorching sun in a remote area between Arab Salim and Kfar Romman, the unit carefully worked on removing the mines that have claimed the lives of two children wounded 15 others since "Israel" withdrew last week.
Sources close to the land mine detonation process said that the army set up committees to supervise the process in the liberated areas. The priority, the sources said, was to remove mines from areas that civilians often use to get to their houses or fields.
At the start of the day, a military truck, carrying 15 soldiers, detection equipment and a Daily Star reporter, bounced along the narrow unpaved road. The truck was preceded by an army patrol unit that paved the way for the truck to enter the mine-filled area.
Along the two sides of the road, destroyed houses appeared. The soldiers firmly warned the inexperienced visitors not to touch anything or even get close to either side of the road. As soon as the truck approached the bridge linking Arab Salim to Kfar Romman, the officer in charge ordered his men to disembark while keeping civilians on board.
One soldier put up a sign indicating that the road was blocked because of the detonation process. It was only when the soldiers cleared a wide enough spot of barren land that the civilians were allowed to get off the truck.
The sergeant in charge, using a sensitive device linked to a detector, carefully walked forward, marking clear areas with red and yellow ribbons to guide the rest to follow the safe path. Suddenly, the sergeant stopped, motioned the others to stay in place and indicated that a land mine was nearby. One soldier, wearing a helmet and a visor, began the delicate job of uncovering the mine.
As the minutes ticked by, the land mine appeared. The soldier, clearing all dirt from around the explosive device, carefully removed it, taking it to a distant place to detonate it.
In a piece of land no more than 100 square meters, 10 mines were removed, making for a tense eight-hour day.
The sergeant said that what complicated matters were the presence of many unexploded shells in the wadis and fields across the liberated areas.

1-         The Daily Star, 2-6-2000.

2-         AFP, 1-6-2000.

3-         Manar TV, 1-6-2000.

4-         AFP, 1-6-2000.

5-         Manar TV, 1-6-2000.

6-         The Daily Star, 2-6-2000.

7-         Same source.

  June Sunday 04 -2000:

More reports on "Israeli" withdrawal violations…(1)

Press reports quoted one of the official experts who are overseeing the border demarcation as acknowledging Zionist violations of Lebanon's borders.

The experts based their conclusions on the results of the air and ground survey of the 1949 Armistice line as it turned out that the UN and "Israeli" maps are not identical with those of the Geographic Affairs Directorate in the Lebanese army.

The disagreement, over more than six spots, was in the Tallet al-Hamames (slopes of Mount Hermon), the outskirts of Kfar Shouba (near the Shibaa farms) and in the towns of Blida, Aitaroun, Meis El-Jabal, and Yareen.

During a meeting with the Lebanese team, the UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen expressed readiness to deal with these violations.

Scores of residents have called Al-Manar Television affirming large "Israeli" violations on the Lebanese side of the border.

However, sources said an agreement has been reached on determining the withdrawal line which the Lebanese government would endorse.

But there are three disagreement points: near Rmeish, near Misgav Am colony, (which extends into Lebanese territories) and near al-Ghajar town.

The experts also talked about violations in the towns of Blida, Aitaroun, Meis El-Jabal and Yareen. 

1- Manar TV, 3-6-2000.

  June Monday 05 -2000:

Lebanon: Resistance will continue if "Israeli" violations remained…(1)

"Lebanese officials re-affirmed their commitment to the full implementation of Resolution 425. A senior political source said that implementation must include the areas still under "Israeli" control: the south of Rmeish and areas facing the "Israeli" villages of Masqav Am and Metulla. Also, "Israel" will have to evacuate positions from the Mount Hermon hills falling within Lebanese territory.
The source said there was no ambiguity surrounding this border, since it separates Lebanon from Syria and not Lebanon from "Israel".
Also, the issue of the Shibaa Farms will be addressed separately, the source said. Although these farms are Lebanese, Beirut has agreed to deal with this issue in separate fashion, as suggested by Larsen.
Lebanon and Syria will submit a written document to the Security Council asserting that there is no conflict between them on the farms’ identity, in a sign that Beirut is showing full cooperation with the UN.
"Israel"’s withdrawal should also extend to equipment and infrastructure installed to help the "Israelis" steal Lebanese water, the source said. “Any failure to fulfill these legitimate demands will constitute a violation of the withdrawal, rendering it incomplete, and as such, will leave the door open for the resistance to continue its activities,” the source said.
He added that Beirut rejected UN suggestions of a “withdrawal line” that would be as close as possible to the internationally recognized border without totally conforming to it. The UN delegation had tried to persuade Lebanon that it could later retrieve the small areas left under "Israeli" control, the source said.
By doing so, UN officials were ignoring the fact that neither UN Resolution 425 nor UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report on the pullout mentioned a withdrawal line, only the border laid down in 1923 and confirmed in the Armistice Agreement of 1949.
The source said "Israel" claimed it had no copy of the agreement. During their meetings with Lebanese officials, the UN staff also said they had lost their copy of the agreement in a “flood.” Lebanon presented its own copy to the UN delegation, asking that it be adopted, the source added.
While Beirut has sought to demonstrate considerable cooperation with the UN team, Lebanese officials were surprised by the attitude of the UN delegation, which appeared to be negotiating with Lebanon on "Israel"’s behalf.
On the ground, international news agencies quoted witnesses who reported seeing "Israelis" moving the fence back toward the "Israeli" side near Metulla. “It’s clear that "Israel" has left all of the interior of Lebanon and now we’re nearing the final stage,” said one UN official. “I hope we’re within sight of at least ending the cartographers’ work … They’ve done in a week what normally takes months.”
A UN source was quoted as warning that “if Lebanon disagrees with the lines established by the UN, UNIFIL, whose mandate expires July 15, may have to withdraw.”
Last week, the National News Agency quoted “official sources” as saying that the team had asked Lebanon to renounce its claim to land in the border’s central sector.
Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday said that Lebanon “won’t allow any problem to break out between the UN and it,” brushing aside speculations that Syria was opposed to deploying the army in the South.
“"Israel" is used to lobbying international support for its viewpoints,” he said. “But this
time it won’t succeed,” he told Monte Carlo Radio. “Once the UN finishes verifying the "Israeli" pullout, we’ll see if we need to send troops to the South,” he added, urging the government to “explain this more clearly to the people to avoid misunderstandings.”

Sojod returns to resistance, destruction, and hope…(2)

They refused to collaborate and they paid the price. Nothing ­ not one building, not one wall ­ remained of the once-picturesque village of Sojod.
In the aftermath of "Israel"’s withdrawal from the South, silence reigned as those who used to live in Sojod approached the rubble that once made up their village. Shocked, they looked around trying to establish where their stone houses had been.
They knew that a fig tree once stood in the village square, so the hunt began. They found it, albeit withered, but it was their first landmark. Slowly, others emerged. A walnut tree that could only have been the residence of the Nassereddine family; a deep well from which 97-year old Hassan Nassereddine used to water the cherry tree behind his house.
One family could not find their father, 90-year-old Ali Nassereddine. He was later found weeping on top of the rubble that was once his home.
“I built this house with my own hands,” he cried. “I carried the rocks on my shoulders. I chiseled them one by one. I’m too old to do it again.”
In time, the depression gave way to optimism, and a sense of pride prevailed.
“We were the only occupied village who refused to let its young men join the "Israeli"-allied militia,” said Hassan Nassereddine, recalling the events that led to Sojod’s complete destruction. “It was December 1983. I was tending my garden. Three "Israelis" came and told me to prepare coffee and they sat under my cherry tree. I got them coffee, fruit, everything. They asked for the mukhtar,” he recalled.
The entire village appeared and listened intently as the "Israelis" asked for five young men to join the militia.
“We said no,” said Hassan. “We flatly refused.”
About a month later, the "Israeli" agents showed up early in the morning.
“They stormed into our houses and ordered us to the square,” he said. “They grabbed me by the neck and looted our houses. They took everything.”
In the square, villagers stood by helplessly. Many were in their night clothes. One woman was taking a shower when militiamen barged in on her and dragged her outside. Villagers wrapped her in bed sheets.
“They forced us onto tractor carts and told us to leave,” said Hassan. “We never came back.”
But three families stayed behind. It is unclear whether the militia knew of their presence at the time. Nevertheless, a few days later, the collaborators returned and began shooting at the remaining residents who fled to the hills.
As Alia Onaissy, then 23, ran carrying her two infants while pregnant with the third, she stepped on a land mine. Her left leg was blown off. Arab Salim villagers heard her screams and carried her to safety.
Limping on her wooden leg, it was hard at first to return to her village, especially since her destroyed home was surrounded by mines. “But I can’t remain a refugee all my life, going from one house to the other, finding affordable rent,” she said. “It’s time I came home.”
Onaissy and her family had pitched a tent where her home once stood. The smell of frying potatoes on an open fire filled the area. As soon as the school term ends, she plans to move into the tent with her family.
Others were doing the same.
“Tonight,” Hassan declared to his family, “I’m sleeping here. There may be wild pigs or snakes, but I don’t care. I’m setting up a tent next to my home.”
Eagerly, he led the way to the rubble that was once a nine-room stone house. He had already started trimming some overgrown shrubs and created a seating area by laying a wooden plank on some rocks. Nearby, a tent lay in its bag. Hassan began to make a small clearing to pitch it. Close by, his relative Leila Nassereddine arranged some supplies in her own tent.
“I’ve already brought coffee, tea, and whatnot,” she said. “If we have to live in a tent, that’s what we’ll do until somehow we can rebuild our village.”
Slowly, people made their way through the mine-strewn rubble. Hizbullah fighters, who had located and detonated some mines, labeled a few safe passages. Red ribbons marked dangerous areas and signs warned people of their location. A lot of work remained for the resistance fighters who set up their own tents in the square. Some were turned into shaded seating areas for visiting villagers who were offered tea and coffee, and some were used as sleeping areas for the fighters. Ironically, the sleeping tent bore Hebrew writing ­ residue of the withdrawing "Israeli" Army.
Sojod has special significance for Hizbullah. It was a favorite infiltration point and claimed the lives of 213 fighters. It was here that Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was martyred in 1998. It was also where, half a year ago, seven fighters were caught infiltrating the zone and were bombarded by "Israeli" planes as they took cover in the rubble. All were killed. With its strategic location overlooking areas stretching north of the former occupation zone, Sojod became a key military area.
“They planted land mines everywhere,” a Hizbullah fighter said. “But we had special engineers who went ahead and guided us through the hills when we were on a mission.”
Just beyond the village lay the Sojod position, which had long terrorized villages below. It is actually the burial place of a Jewish prophet named Sojod.
“Jews would come here every April and spend a few days visiting the burial place,” recalled Hassan Nassereddine. “They then built a fire in the square and danced some traditional dances. Afterward, they would scoop up some ashes and put them into napkins. It was some sort of tradition. How could they allow their own people to destroy their prophet’s burial ground? I don’t understand.”
With determination considered typically southern, those returning are already planning how to rebuild their village.
“Every house must have a garden,” said Aql Shabani, 58. “And hopefully we can build them in stone again. Look at Metulla or Manara. The villages seem organized. So can ours.”
Easier said than done. Returning residents are fully aware that the compensation to be offered by the Council of the South will barely be enough to rebuild their village.
“We need more help,” said Shabani. “And we deserve it. Had we given up just one young man to the militia, our village wouldn’t have been destroyed.”

1- The Daily Star, 5-6-2000.

2- The Daily Star, 5-6-2000.

  June Tuesday 06 -2000:

Occupation's provocation continues, enemy aircraft violates Lebanon airspace…(1)
The "Israeli" occupation forces renewed its provocation against Lebanon as the enemy's aircraft at 10:00 a.m. Monday violated the Lebanese airspace.

Another air violation was perpetrated 10 minutes later over the town of Nabatieh.

It was also noted that enemy espionage pilotless drones returned to violating Lebanon's airspace.

The enemy's drones flew on Monday over villages in the districts of Bint Jbeil and Tyre.

Occupation's leftovers hurt more Lebanese in south…(2)
Lebanese civilian Ali Wajih Alaaeddeen, 18, sustained injuries in his eyes and different parts of his body when one of the cluster bombs left over from "Israeli" aggressions exploded near his house in the southern town of Majdal Selem. Alaaeddeen was taken to hospital for treatment due to his serious condition.

Civil groups fear more civilian victims, especially children and adolescents, will fall in similar incidents due to the prolonged "Israeli" aggression against Lebanon as the occupation forces had constantly used this type of internationally-banned weapons.

Killings by "Israelis" may be war crime…(3)

"Amnesty International claims in a report issued today yesterday that "Israel" may have deliberately fired at four Lebanese civilians who were killed after "Israel's" withdrawal from southern Lebanon last week which would, if proved, constitute a war crime.

The humanitarian organisation, whose team has been investigating the killings – including that of a BBC driver – are demanding a full investigation by the "Israeli" authorities.

The report describes how the four men appear to have been targeted by an "Israeli" tank firing from near the "Israeli" town of Misgav Am and records how the BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen called the "Israeli" army spokesman from a neighbouring Lebanese village in an attempt to end the bombardment after his car was hit.

It also contains witness descriptions from other Western journalists on the "Israeli" side of the border who saw an "Israeli" tank firing at the vehicles in which the men were travelling on 22 and 23 May.

"If these attacks were indeed wilfully directed at civilians," the Amnesty report states, "the "Israeli" army has committed war crimes and those responsible should be brought to justice."

"Israel" pulls out of border road in south Lebanon…(4)

" "Israel" abandoned a road near its northern town of Metulla Monday, apparently to ease problems over one of three points of disagreement on its borderline with Lebanon, an AFP correspondent reported.

The "Israeli" army withdrew from the road, linking the Lebanese border villages of Kfar Kila and Khiam, which it had banned to Lebanese civilians and kept exclusively for its military patrols since 1986, he said.

The seven kilometre (4.34 mile) stretch of road, eight meters acrossfeet), runs along the "Israeli"-Lebanese international borders and falls within the border zone "Israel" had occupied for 22 years in southern Lebanon until May

Lebanon is demanding that the "Israeli" border fence be moved at three points along the international frontier: on the outskirts of Rmeish in Lebanon, at the "Israeli" town of Metulla, and in Kibbutz Misgav Am inside "Israel".

Arrests and injuries on "Israeli"-Lebanese border…(5)

" "Israeli" troops arrested 11 "Israeli" Arabs meeting relatives on the Lebanese border Monday, accusing them of disturbing the peace after clashes broke out, an AFP correspondent saw.

The arrests came after hundreds of "Israeli"-Arabs arrived at Adamit, some 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the Rosh Hanikra border crossing to see their relatives, many of whom fled "Israel" in 1948.

When they climbed the border fence to get closer to the people on the other side, the "Israeli" army which had difficulty controlling the crowd declared the area a closed military zone, sparking clashes.

Earlier Monday four Palestinian refugees were slightly injured when "Israeli" troops used tear gas and percussion grenades to stop crowds on both sides getting close to the border fence at nearby Douhaira.

All the injured were residents of Lebanon, and were among some 350 who had gathered on the Lebanese side.

A 60-year-old man received superficial burns on his foot from a tear gas grenade, while three young women were slightly hurt by shrapnel, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

One woman lost consciousness when a percussion grenade exploded next to her.

The troops used the same means to break up the groups of "Israeli" Arabs who had gathered on the other side, as they had for several days previously.

However, the "Israeli" army announced Monday that the border sector near the town of Metulla, further east, was again open to the public.

It had been declared a closed military zone after clashes involving Lebanese demonstrators throwing stones at "Israeli" troops.

On Sunday several hundred Lebanese gathered at the fence to demonstrate against "Israel". They included a large number of women dressed in black and waving flags of Hizbullah movement, which spearheaded the resistance against the "Israeli" occupation.

1- Manar TV, 5-6-2000.

2- Same source.

3- Independent, 6-6-2000.

4- AFP, 5-6-2000.

5- Same source.

  June Wednesday 07 -2000:

The stupendous view from the hills of south Lebanon: too good to give up…(1)

" From the top of the Tellat Katma hill, standing next to a church that lies in ruins, the view stretches over the village of Rmeish to the north and the "Israeli" border on the south.

"That's where I lost 10 dunums (one hectare, 2.5 acres) of land. My land is on the other side," said Najib Shufani, a peasant from Rmeish, pointing at the fence the "Israelis" put up in 1986.

"I used to plant wheat and tobacco over there," he told AFP, insisting the land in question is Lebanese territory.

Another villager, Elias Hanna Kallas, explained that the "Israelis" took more than a thousand dunums, or one square kilometer (half a square mile), five hectares (12 acres) of which belonged to him.

The son of the mayor, Elias Karim Aalam, says his family lost four hectares (10 acres) on the other side of the fence.

Despite "Israel's" troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon on May 24, this area remains one of the three points on the ground that are still contested.

To conform with UN Resolutions 425 and 426, which called for "Israel's" complete withdrawal from Lebanon, "Israeli" forces must withdraw beyond the internationally recognized border.

UN cartographers have been busy marking out the line of withdrawal, and UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Tuesday he expected both sides to comply with the UN's assessment that the withdrawal was complete.

But Lebanon wants the land of the Rmeish villagers returned.

At the foot of the hill lies a ravine and the border fence winds its way across the opposite slope. Along the Lebanese side runs a sandy footpath that has been kept carefully swept, in order to show up the footprints of any would-be intruders, and on the "Israeli" side there is a road.

But the land is mined, and therefore inaccessible.

The road running along the hilltops veers away from the line of the watershed, to dip down to the gully and then move back up. At the high point at each end stands an "Israeli" redoubt.

This is the point -- two kilometers (one mile) to the south of Rmeish, between the Sumaka hill on the west and the Haramon on the east -- where "Israel" has encroached into Lebanon, the Lebanese government says.

The "Israelis" refuse to give back the heights above Rmeish for military reasons, the Lebanese believe.

The hilltops provide a stupendous view into "Israeli" territory, first of vineyards and olive groves two kilometers (one mile) away, then in the distance beyond one can make out an "Israeli" village, with its red-roofed buildings and neat rows of cypresses.

Elias Hanna remembers vividly the white-painted rocks dating back to the time of the French mandate over Lebanon, which marked the 1923 border with British mandate Palestine.

Behind the fence, Hanna says there there was always another one, on the "true" border.

Rauf Hajj, a businessman, remembers that in 1948, when the state of "Israel" was created, Rmeish residents found any titles they held to property on the Palestinian side had become worth no more than the paper they were printed on.

The rocky, unirrigated land looks like nothing, but everywhere neglected mulberry and fig trees are to be seen, testifying to the fact that it was once cultivated.

A first infringement in 1967 brought in the UN truce observers, who confirmed the 1949 armistice line and made the "Israelis" head back.

Three years later, when the "Israelis" were fighting Palestinian guerrillas, they advanced as far as Tellat Katma hill, and stayed there two years.

A metal gate on the small road linking Rmeish with "Israel" -- painted blue and white, the colours of the "Israeli" flag -- is closed.

It was through this fence that hundreds of Rmeish residents, some of them members of "Israel's" proxy militia fled last month, fearing reprisals after the "Israeli" pullback.

And it was here that the "Israelis" abandoned a position they had held since 1978 and moved back some 200 meters (yards). But not quite to the line along the hilltops.

Human-rights watchdog demands "Israelis" answer for civilian deaths…(2)

"Amnesty International is probing the deaths of four Lebanese, including BBC driver Abdel-Rahman Taqqoush, believed to have been killed by "Israeli" tank fire during "Israel's" withdrawal.
Meanwhile, in a separate open letter detailing its recent trip to Khiam prison, the human-rights watchdog also said, “there should be no blanket amnesty for any serious abuses” committed by "Israel's" proxy militiamen.
“For torture and other serious abuses, they should be brought to justice in fair trials without the death penalty,” the letter said.
Concerning the deaths of four Lebanese civilians during "Israel's" pullout, the organization released a statement on Monday, stressing that “the "Israeli" authorities must bring to justice anyone found responsible for serious violations of the laws of war and compensate the victims of any such violations.”
AI said that it was writing to "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Barak requesting a thorough investigation into the attacks that killed the four civilians and wounded several others.
It said that it had gathered information suggesting that in at least four incidents on May 22 and 23, “"Israeli" forces directed tank fire from the "Israeli" side of the border at Lebanese civilians, killing four people and injuring several others.”
Amnesty stated that “if these attacks were, indeed, willfully directed at civilians, the "Israeli" Army has committed war crimes and those responsible should be brought to justice.”
The four civilians; Abdel-Karim Assaf, 22; Ibrahim Marouni, 16; Salman Rammal, age not available; and Taqqoush, 54 , were killed “when there was no hostile military action and many Lebanese civilians were on the move, celebrating the withdrawal and their return to their villages.” The organization said that they were apparently targeted without warning.
According to Amnesty International, the laws of war, included in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their two 1977 additional protocols, categorically prohibit any direct attack against civilians or civilian objects, including attacks made in reprisal. They also prohibit attacks that do not attempt to distinguish between military targets and civilians, as well as attacks which, although aimed at a legitimate military target, have a disproportionate impact on civilians or civilian objects.
The organization collected part of its information during a recent trip to south Lebanon, in which it also visited the Khiam detention center.
On May 27, a delegation from the organization, along with former detainees, visited Khiam, where, it said, “hundreds of Lebanese nationals have been detained over the years without charge or trial.”
In its open letter, AI pledged continuous support for the former prisoners, saying “international solidarity will be essential to provide a minimum of practical as well as psychological support to the victims of Khiam.”
It said the crimes committed in Khiam were “the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, in short, war crimes.”
Amnesty also said that, together with the militia, “the state of "Israel" … is fully accountable for the arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses committed in Khiam.”
The delegation described its tour of Khiam as “an extraordinary and moving day, full of incongruous sights and strong, mixed emotions.”
“On the one hand, a festive atmosphere, with kids waving flags, primarily those of Hizbullah and Amal, playing in the wreck of a military vehicle abandoned in the central courtyard and enjoying refreshments from vendors at the gate of the center. On the other hand, former prisoners, sometimes with their families and sometimes alone, telling their stories, bumping into each other, recognizing and embracing each other in highly emotional scenes, often fighting back the tears.”

BBC demands answers from "Israel" over killing of driver in Lebanon…(3)

" The BBC fired off a letter to the "Israeli" army on Tuesday demanding answers over the death of one of its drivers who was killed in southern Lebanon during the hasty "Israeli" withdrawal last month.

Abed Takkoush, who was working with a BBC camera crew in "Israel's" former "security zone" in southern Lebanon, died when a shell slammed into his car on May 23, turning it into a fireball.

The case has been taken up by the human rights group Amnesty International, which said at least four Lebanese civilians including Takkoush were killed by "Israeli" tank fire during the two-day withdrawal.

"If committed wilfully, such attacks would constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law and therefore a war crime," Amnesty said in a report released this week.

"The people killed appear all to have been targeted without warning, even though they were not engaged in hostilities," it said.

The British broadcaster said its investigation determined that an "Israeli" tank had fired the shell, although Middle East correspondent Paul Adams told AFP the army had not yet made any formal acknowledgement of responsibility.

"We are seeking an admission of responsibility and we shall also be pressing for compensation for the family of Mr. Takkoush," the BBC said in its letter of protest.

It said the army should have been able to determine that the car's occupants were unarmed civilians, and that even if there were some doubt, the attack was "disproportionate and reckless."

Takkoush, who was married and had three children, had worked for the BBC as a driver for 25 years.

"Israeli" ended its bloody 22-year occupation of Lebanon weeks earlier than planned after its allied militia crumbled in the face of advancing Hizbullah fighters.

1- AFP, 7-6-2000.

2- The Daily Star, 7-6-2000.

3- AFP, 6-6-2000.

  June Thursday 08 -2000:

‘Withdrawal line’ splits village in two…(1)

Abbassieh is awaiting liberation

Lebanon’s tiny community looks set to increase soon when part of the village of Ghajar village from "Israeli"-occupied Syria is turned over to Lebanese rule under the United Nation’s ruling on the “withdrawal line.”
As furious residents in Ghajar burned tires and blocked roads to denounce the proposed split on Wednesday, "Israeli" troops flattened an earthen outpost 1.5 kilometers northeast of the village in preparation for the move.
A small and patient group of Lebanese watched the bulldozers plowing through the rich chocolate-colored earth from just 200 meters away, separated by a 2-meter-high border fence and a padlocked gate.
Among the group were residents of Abbassieh, a demolished village just the other side of the fence inside "Israeli"-occupied Syria. But typical of the murky ambiguities at this juncture of the Lebanese, Syrian and "Israeli" borders, the residents
all insist that they are Lebanese.
They said that they were expelled from their village in 1967 when the "Israeli" Army invaded the Golan Heights. Since then they have been granted Lebanese citizenship but have been unable to return to their homes.
“We’re very happy to be here,” Hajj Abu Youssef said as he gazed through the border gate toward his village. “But we’d all like to be able to go to our real border.”
Youssef claimed that Lebanon’s “real border” ran 5 kilometers to the south ­ what is presently the frontier between occupied Syria and the Jewish state itself. A hand-written sign attached to the gate read “Attention. Ahead is a Lebanese village that is still occupied called Abbassieh.”
Little of whatever is left of Abbassieh was visible from the border gate, just the remains of stone walls half-hidden by the knee-high golden grass and dark basalt boulders washed down from the soaring Golan Heights to the east.
However, the UN mapping team has decided that the “withdrawal line” should run right through the center of Ghajar village, a move that has sparked incredulity and anger among the residents.
In effect, the line will run 200-300 meters south of the existing fence. The "Israelis" troops were demolishing the outpost beside Ghajar in preparation to retire.
They completed their task at 2pm. As the bulldozers disappeared, "Israeli" soldiers deployed on the flattened ramparts to keep a watchful eye on the crowd beside the border gate.
One of the soldiers settled into a prone position, his sniper rifle mounted on a tripod and pointed in the direction of the crowd.
An "Israeli" television crew arrived on the other side of the fence after filming the protests in Ghajar. They and their Lebanese counterparts spent a few minutes filming each other from a distance of a single meter before a bizarre but good-natured argument broke out in Arabic between the two groups revolving around the historical misdeeds of the "Israelis" toward the Lebanese and the Palestinians.

1- The Daily Star, 8-6-2000.

  June Monday 12 -2000:

Lahoud responds to UN hurry-up with a rejection of ‘Larsen’s Line’…(1)

"As UNIFIL inspection teams edged slowly along the border over the weekend, President Emile Lahoud issued a withering attack on the United Nation’s handling of the process of verifying the withdrawal of ""Israeli"" occupation forces.
In a memorandum to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan released by Baabda Palace, Lahoud expressed “surprise” that the UN’s special Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, had insisted on a unique “withdrawal line” instead of demanding that ""Israeli"" troops pull back to behind the internationally recognized borders referred to in UN Resolutions 425 and 426.
In the five-page memorandum, Lahoud based his case on the references to the “internationally recognized borders” found in 425 and Annan’s May 22 report on the implementation of the resolution.
Annan’s report based the line on the Anglo-French border of 1923, later confirmed by the 1949 Armistice Agreement.
Lahoud’s memorandum even quoted the shortlived May 17 agreement of 1983 between Lebanon and "Israel", in which both countries agreed that their mutual border was “inviolable.”
Lebanon’s objections center on Larsen’s apparent decision to deviate from Annan’s instructions and issue what has become known as “Larsen’s Line,” justifying the decision by claiming that Lebanon’s borders with "Israel" were open to doubt.
“Lebanon submitted the 1923 and 1949 documents and all maps adopted for these borders, which leave no room for doubt regarding their accuracy and authenticity, while no counter-evidence was submitted,” said Lahoud’s memorandum.
The 1923 border was clearly recorded on a map accompanied by a detailed written description that, even 77 years later, leaves little room for ambiguity.
Lahoud attacked the UN’s assertion that it was not responsible for demarcating international boundaries, saying that neither was it the UN’s responsibility to “deny the existence of internationally recognized borders and create in its place a so-called ‘withdrawal line’ to be used as a basis for confirming the ""Israeli"" withdrawal.”
Lahoud said that Larsen’s withdrawal line had left a “dangerous vagueness” over the true demarcation of the border and the extent of the required ""Israeli"" troop withdrawal.
The decision to release the memorandum appears to have been prompted by Annan’s telephoning Lahoud on Friday to call for a hasty conclusion to the verification process.
A Western diplomat suggested that Lebanon’s argument had received some sympathy at UN headquarters in New York.
“There has been some opposition in New York to putting this pressure on Lebanon to accept the withdrawal line,” the diplomat said. “Larsen and his cohorts, for whatever reason, want to push this through as soon as possible and this has created the problem.”
The inspection teams moved slowly, covering some 20 kilometers before ending at Maroun ar-Ras on Sunday evening.

Lahoud’s latest memo to Annan…(2)

Excerpts from the text of President Emile Lahoud’s memorandum to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
I would like to draw your attention to the points below, which take on exceptional significance for us…
First ­ Security Council Resolution 425
This resolution stipulates “strict respect for the integrity of Lebanon’s territory, sovereignty and political independence within the internationally recognized borders.” It also calls on "Israel" to withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory …
Second ­ The Secretary-General’s report of 22 May 2000
Paragraph 11 of this report stipulates: “For the practical purpose of confirming the "Israeli" withdrawal, the United Nations needs to identify a line to be adopted conforming to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon ... The United Nations will then identify physically on the ground those portions of the line necessary or relevant to confirming the withdrawal of "Israeli" forces.”
Paragaph 13 of the same report stipulates that: “The international boundary between "Israel" and Lebanon was established pursuant to the 1923 Agreement between France and Great Britain ... This line was reaffirmed in the "Israeli"-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement signed on March 23, 1949. Subsequently there were several modifications mutually agreed upon by "Israel" and Lebanon.”
Third ­ Summing up the Resolution and the report, and the work of Mr. Larsen and his team
The resolution and the report, as well as the historical facts, documents and maps of all types, including those with the UN, unambiguously and unequivocally confirm that there are “internationally recognized borders” between Lebanon and "Israel" that were never at any time the object of dispute between the two countries …
During meetings with UN representatives, Lebanon was surprised by the implication that the borders with "Israel" were not precisely confirmed and that "Israel" did not submit any documents or maps, while the UN had lost documents identifying the 1949 Armistice line in a flood!!
Meanwhile, Lebanon submitted the 1923 and 1949 documents and all maps adopted for these borders, which leave no room for doubt regarding their accuracy and authenticity, while no counter-evidence was submitted …
Lebanon was also surprised by the proposal of adopting a “withdrawal line” to confirm the "Israeli" withdrawal. Resolution 425 and the secretary-general’s report do not refer to this line at all, but to “a line conforming to the internationally recognized boundary.” Therefore, the "Israeli" withdrawal can only be confirmed based on the border, and not on a non-existent, imaginary line namely the “withdrawal line.”
Lebanon was also surprised by the answer that “it is not the UN’s responsibility to demarcate borders between Lebanon and "Israel".” Lebanon answered clearly that: “Of course it is not the UN’s responsibility to demarcate borders between Lebanon and "Israel", just as it is not the UN’s responsibility to deny the existence of internationally recognized borders and create in its place a so-called ‘withdrawal line’ to be used as a basis for confirming the "Israeli" withdrawal, in contravention of the spirit and the letter of the Resolution and the report.”
Moreover, "Israel" itself, in the first paragraph of the 17 May 1983 agreement signed between "Israel" and Lebanon (and later annulled) acknowledged the following: “The (two parties) consider the existing international boundary between Lebanon and "Israel" inviolable.”
Thus, there are existing international borders that cannot be subject to doubt ... they are clear for the purpose of confirming the "Israeli" withdrawal.
As for the Shibaa Farms, it was clear in the secretary-general’s report that the practical line would be adopted in this region, in light of the absence of old maps confirming the border between Syria and Lebanon. Thus, the practical line was considered to be that between the UNIFIL and UNDOF mandates, with the UN noting that this line can in no way be considered to infringe upon the border rights among the parties concerned.
Lebanon agreed to this evaluation while awaiting a common formula for the Shibaa Farms area, signed between Lebanon and Syria, to submit to the UN ... therefore the "Israeli" withdrawal from the Lebanese heights of Mount Hermon is part of implementing Resolution 425, as it involves “from all Lebanese territory.”
Lebanon was surprised by the concept of a practical line, which the secretary-general’s report mentions only regarding the situation of the Shibaa Farms. Lebanon was surprised by the attempt to apply the concept of the practical line to the border between Lebanon and "Israel", which totally contravenes the secretary-general’s report and Resolution 425 …
Fourth ­ Cooperation with the United Nations in drafting the Non-Paper [preliminary agreement]
The Lebanese delegation spent more than a week with Mr. Larsen and his team in order to draft a Non-Paper. Long discussions were held and led to the arrival at a understanding in principle on this point, while awaiting the confirmation of the ""Israeli"" withdrawal. However, Lebanon was surprised by the June 6, 2000, press statement on the results of the work of the UN team, which were contradicted several points that were agreed to in the agreement on the Non-Paper.
The most important of these was putting the existing international borders between Lebanon and "Israel" in doubt and again adopting the concept of the “withdrawal line” and not the “border line” in violation of Resolution 425 and the secretary-general’s report. This leaves a dangerous vagueness regarding the area ... meaning that the withdrawal will constitute protection for continuing "Israeli" violations of the international border present behind it …
Lebanon also raised with Mr. Larsen and his team the issue of Lebanese detainees and hostages in ""Israeli"" prisons, and the issue of retrieving the bodies of resistance martyrs.
Lebanon has requested their immediate liberation, because the situation of detention and kidnapping of two hostages (Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid and Hajj Mustafa Dirani) took place during the "Israeli" occupation; this should be solved at the time of the withdrawal.
Lebanon also raised the issue of the stealing of water from Lebanese territory and considers that the dismantling of all "Israeli" installations and equipment used in this regard should take place simultaneously with the withdrawal. In addition, there is the request for a UN investigation into the siphoning of the Hasbani River near the international border.
Summary
... Lebanon would also like to draw your attention to the difficulties facing the work of the UNIFIL team charged with verifying the withdrawal on the ground. This imaginary withdrawal line, which was drawn by Larsen’s team on the ground, despite our objection to it as I have mentioned above, is seeing "Israeli" violations on several points and is imprecise, due to pressure that the UN team is facing regarding speeding up its work at the expense of accuracy; we fear that this will also complicate matters …

Beirut incensed at UN prodding on border…(3)

"Well-informed political sources said on Sunday that Beirut would step up its efforts to gather information on ""Israeli"" violations of its border with Lebanon in preparation for a diplomatic campaign to counter UN calls to speed up verification of the withdrawal.
A political source said that government officials were surprised by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s accusation that Lebanon was behind the delay in confirming the withdrawal of ""Israeli"" troops.
A source said that Beirut would “make sure that the ""Israeli"" Army withdraws from every centimeter of Lebanese territories,” ignoring Annan’s call for the process to move faster.
“If he was concerned about the security situation, all foreign countries have said that the situation is under control,” the source said, going on to reiterate Beirut’s dissatisfaction with the UN’s effort.
“Annan didn’t acknowledge in his report that the Shibaa Farms fall within Lebanese territory,” the source said. “And his envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, hasn’t acted on Lebanon’s comments about the border delineation and instead has considered Annan’s report to be final and unquestionable.”
Political sources said that they were unsure about whether Annan would attend the funeral of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad on Tuesday or postpone his Middle East tour, scheduled for next week.
"Israeli" officials said on Sunday that Annan was due in "Israel" this week as part of a tour of the Middle East.
The UN chief is expected to arrive on Wednesday evening and hold talks with "Israeli" Premier Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy on Thursday, said Levy’s spokesperson, Odelia Carmon-Lazar.
Diplomats at the UN said on Friday that Annan was also expected to travel to Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

1-            The Daily Star, 12-6-2000.

2-            Same source.

3-            Same source.

  June Tuesday 13 -2000:

Step by step: "Israeli" frontier takes shape…(1)

Just meters away from the border with "Israel", two generals, one Lebanese, the other Irish, squint in the bright midday sun at an array of hand-held electronic devices as an aide reads out a list of coordinates.
“Are we okay?” asks Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, the Irish officer who serves as UNIFIL’s deputy commander.
“Yes, we’re in agreement,” replies General Amin Hoteit.
Smiles break out among the multinational group of soldiers clustered around the generals. “Mabrouk,” someone calls out.
The location of Boundary Pillar 26 on the border between Lebanon and "Israel" has just been formally approved and verified by the Lebanese Army and the United Nations.
The process of confirming "Israel's" withdrawal from Lebanon began last Thursday when two teams on either side of the border set out from Ras Naqoura on the coast. The separate Lebanese and "Israeli" teams were accompanied by UN officers belonging to both UNIFIL and the Observer Group Lebanon, part of the UN Truce Supervision Organization.
Ahead of them lay a little more than 100 kilometers of international border, ending near Shibaa Village, none of which has been verified independently since the early 1950s.
Sreenan said that UNIFIL’s task and the work of the accompanying Lebanese officers differed slightly. “We have two different purposes here really,” he said. “We’re here to confirm the withdrawal of "Israeli" forces from Lebanon. The Lebanese are checking the precise demarcation of the border.”
The Irish general explained that UNIFIL’s task was relatively straightforward. “We can see easily whether there is an "Israeli" position on Lebanese soil,” he said. Precisely measuring the delineation of the border was a more painstaking exercise.
“So the process takes a little longer,” he said.
Time, however, is in short supply, at least as far as the UN is concerned. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been badgering the government to speed up the process of verifying the border, thus enabling plans for UNIFIL’s expansion and new deployment to proceed.
But Lebanon has aired some objections to the line drawn up by a UN team of cartographers, headed by Annan’s special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, behind which the "Israelis" are supposed to withdraw.
Annan decreed last month that the withdrawal line should follow the 1923 Anglo-French boundary ­ ratified by the 1949 Armistice Agreement.
Larsen, however, appears to have acquiesced, in part, to "Israeli" security demands and has deviated his line from the 1923 border in a few places. The three areas of contention cited by Lebanon are near Rmeish, where "Israel" reportedly has yet to fully dismantle an incursion zone, at the kibbutz of Misgav Am above Odaisseh and at Ghajar, village on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Consequently, progress has been slower than Annan would have preferred.
“Everyone is talking about time except for us,” said a Lebanese Army officer on the team. “We have to check our borders properly.”
The team began its task on Monday with an inspection of Boundary Pillar 19 near Yaroun in Bint Jbeil. However, the threat of landmines in the area forced the team to postpone checking the precise location of No. 19 until the area had been cleared by Lebanese Army engineers.
The presence of minefields along the border has added to the delay in verifying the "Israeli" withdrawal. Army engineers have been accompanying the verification team since the operation began last week. An ambulance is also included in the 11-vehicle convoy.
By early afternoon, the team had reached a border crossing between Aitaroun and Blida beside Boundary Pillar 26.
A group of armed and uniformed Hizbullah fighters stood guard beside the shattered remains of an "Israeli" position which was dynamited by the resistance last week. The fighters were keeping an eye on a newly constructed "Israeli" outpost ­ its observation towers strewn with camouflage nets ­ just 200 meters away on the other side of the border.
Out came the GPS (global positioning system) handsets, a navigation tool that uses satellites to pinpoint a location anywhere on Earth. These would ascertain the coordinates of boundary pillars that could be viewed, but not reached on foot.
Calculations also had to be made to correlate the two different systems used by the United States and France, upon which the accuracy of UN maps and Lebanese Army maps, respectively, are based.
The team’s verification efforts soon attracted a swarm of local reporters.
One of the team suggested discussing a query over the location of Boundary Pillar 19 near Yaroun.
“Let’s talk about 19 later, away from the journalists,” Sreenan said through gritted teeth as the reporters continued to film, photograph, and eavesdrop on the team.
“Sometimes we have minor disagreements over the measurements,” admitted the Lebanese Army officer. “But if there is a disagreement, we continue to discuss it until we’re all agreed. It’s generally just a matter of a few meters.”
But there are no disagreements over Boundary Pillar 26 and the team swiftly moves on to No. 27.
“Thence it follows a straight line to cairn 27, situated 700 meters west northwest of the village of Kades, near the large tree of Khorbet Menafir,” reads the quaint 77-year old description which accompanied the map charting the 1923 Anglo-French border.
The “large tree” no longer exists. Instead, the team was afforded a stunning view of woods, olive groves and wheatfields in Galilee and the sepia-colored slopes of the Golan Heights rising gently through the heat haze to the east.
Boundary Pillar 27 was out of sight from where the dusty track terminated in a small wadi. The marker was located above the wadi. The UN delegation had already satisfied itself that there were no "Israeli" troops on the Lebanese side of the border at this point and were ready to move on.
But Hoteit wanted to see the border marker and suggested marching up the side of the wadi.
“Ask him if he knows the land-mine situation here,” Sreenan said.
“There’s an old incursion and a former outpost up there,” replied a Danish OGL officer, gazing up at the bleak, grassy slope. “I’m not going up there,” he added emphatically.
“Neither am I,” muttered an OGL officer from New Zealand.
The mine-clearing squad was called in to clear a path up the side of the wadi as the team departed to Boundary Pillar 28, planning to return to 27 later.
“I think this operation will take a few days yet before it’s over,” Sreenan said as he stared into the distance.
Hoteit grinned broadly when asked how much longer he believed the task of verifying the border would take.
“It will take,” he said, “as long as it takes.”

Civilian injured by mine in southern Lebanon…(2)

" A teenage youth had to have his leg amputated Monday after being injured by a mine in the former "Israeli"-occupied zone of southern Lebanon, Lebanese police said.

The incident brought the toll of civilian casualties from mine explosions to three dead and 11 injured since the "Israeli" pullback on May 24.

Walid Awaid al-Mohammed, 17, was injured in the village of Ain Arab, near the border with "Israel".

No mine-clearing operations had been carried out before hundreds of thousands of civilians poured into the area, which had been barred to them for 22 years.

UN experts arrived in Lebanon on May 31 to draw up a mine clearance plan with the Lebanese Army.

The "Israeli" army handed over to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) a map showing the mines it had laid in southern Lebanon in several sectors of the occupied zone.

Occupation's air violations and soil theft continue…(3)

The Zionist warplanes violated the Lebanese airspace for the third time since the retreat of the "Israeli" occupation forces from Lebanon on May 24.

Three enemy warplanes on Monday flew over the western range of Lebanon's Mountains in Beqaa breaking the sound barrier.

Meanwhile, the occupation's bulldozers proceeded with stealing soil from Lebanese territories.

Al-Manar Television's cameras on Monday monitored the theft from the Kfar Kila outskirts that are still under "Israeli" occupation.

The enemy's trucks moved the stolen soil to the Mtulla colony where it will be used in fields near the border.

Grave of fighters believed killed by "Israeli" forces found in southern Lebanon…(4)

"A grave containing the bones of around 15 youths believed killed in fighting when "Israeli" forces invaded Lebanon in 1978 was discovered near this village in the former "Israeli"-occupied zone, police said.

But one woman, who said she lived in the area at the time, said it was commonly believed then that 28 people were actually killed.

The 35-year-old woman said most of those killed were taking cover in a house that "Israeli" tanks shelled over the course of several hours, ultimately destroying it.

Police said a pathologist who examined the bones said they undoubtedly belonged to young people and that many of the bones had been broken.

The discovery was made during work to widen a road in the area.

Residents of nearby villages said those killed belonged to the Lebanese Communist Action Organization or to the Fatah student battalion of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, most of them Lebanese university students.

1- The Daily Star, 13-6-2000.

2- AFP, 12-6-2000.

3- Manar TV, 12-6-2000.

4- AFP, 12-6-2000.

  June Thursday 15 -2000:

Verification of 425 could be completed on Thursday (1)

Verification of "Israel's" withdrawal from Lebanon could be completed on Thursday, a United Nations spokesman said on Wednesday, while the Lebanese team participating in the verification process complained that "Israel" still held military positions inside Lebanon.
“The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, accompanied by Lebanese Army experts, resumed verification activity on Wednesday along the border with "Israel",” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. “They made significant progress.
“They expect to go back to work early on Thursday and the UN mission says there’s hope that the verification process could be completed tomorrow.”
Acknowledging that he had said the same thing last week, he added: “We’re getting close.”
But according to a Lebanese officer who requested anonymity, "Israeli" border intrusions range from 50 meters to 250 meters inside Lebanese territory in areas already checked, including fixed military positions, patrols inside Lebanese territory and fences.
The Lebanese have voiced their complaints with the United Nations, which is dealing with "Israel", the official said. There was no immediate comment from "Israel".
Brigadier General Amin Hoteit, the head of the Lebanese team, would not comment about "Israeli" violations along the frontier except to report that an "Israeli" fence outside Metulla encroached into Lebanese fields in the village of Kfar Kila, carving out an area six meters deep and 200 meters wide.
UN officials refused to comment on whether "Israel" was violating the line of withdrawal, as they were continuing their border inspection and report for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will visit Lebanon on Monday as part of a Middle East tour.
“We’re here to examine the withdrawal line and to check if there are any "Israeli" violations. And if there are, we’ll find them and report them,” said Irish Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, deputy commander of the 4,500-strong UNIFIL.
After five days of work, the team has finished inspecting almost two-thirds of the 120-kilometer border, which was drawn anew by UN cartographers after the May 24 "Israeli" pullout under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 425.
UNIFIL troops will be deployed at the border after the UN verifies the withdrawal. Until then, the government will decide whether to send the army south. So far, it has deployed police in the region and will decide on Thursday whether to reinforce the security forces with soldiers.
The verification, which Annan wanted completed over the weekend, is taking time because of the rough terrain, lack of roads and presence of land mines.
Lebanon wants to accurately survey the frontier and “will not give up a single grain of its soil,” said the Lebanese team member who had spoken of the "Israeli" violations.
On Wednesday, UN and Lebanese officers in a dozen UN-marked vehicles stopped at points east of Meis al-Jabal to inspect and compare the actual border fence with the UN maps.

Occupation reinforces positions in Shibaa…(2)

Observers noted that the "Israeli" occupation forces reinforcement of positions in the Shibaa farms has increased as the date of the visit by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the region is drawing near.

It was also noticed that the declaration about the reinforcement coincided with the "Israeli" occupation's media announcement on Annan's visit.

The occupation has been building new barricades, bunkers and ramparts around the Mount Hermon monitoring base besides new watchtowers at the mountain's western slopes.

Moreover, a new outpost was built on the western side of the Abbasiyeh gate outpost only two weeks after an older post at the site was destroyed by the occupation army.

Near the Mtullah outpost, opposite the Khiam plain, "Israeli" bulldozers were seen setting barbed wires.

Mass grave from 1978 invasion is unearthed…(3)

A mass grave, containing the remains of 20 Lebanese fighters killed during the 1978 "Israeli" invasion, has been unearthed by construction workers digging in Bint Jbeil to install water pipes.
Stacked on top of each other, the deceased have been identified and are thought to have been members of the National Movement, a loose alliance of Lebanese parties and Palestinian guerrilla groups who fought together against "Israel's" first incursion in 1978.
The grave, discovered on Monday, lies only several meters from Shalaaboun Hill, a scenic area surrounded by mountains and a kilometer away from the old "Israeli"-allied militia headquarters in Bint Jbeil.
Mohammed Berri, south Lebanon’s public prosecutor, closed off the site until further investigations can be conducted. A sign has been placed over the grave, with the words: “Martyrs of the "Israeli" Invasion, 1978.”
According to a source, the remains of several of the bodies were placed in bags while others were thrown on top of them.
“The bags preserved the bones better and personal documents remained intact ­ that’s how they knew the names of the victims so quickly,” he said.
The source said that several battles took place around Shalaaboun and speculated that “there are probably several hundred more bodies buried in the area, especially in the ravine under Massoud Hill, a few meters away.”
Village residents claim that the fighters were killed when "Israeli" tanks fired on a house in which they were hiding. Another story circulating in the village claims that they died fighting in the field.
“The fact that some were in body bags and others weren’t means that they came from different places or were even buried at different times,” the source claimed.
Busloads of visitors to the south stopped along the roadside and looked into the pit, but did not approach the grave for fear of land mines. “It’s sad because the discovery of this grave will bring back so many painful memories for those waiting for their loved ones to return, hoping that they are still alive,” said Ali Amro, from Baalback-Hermel.

1- The Daily Star, 15-6-2000.

2-  Manar TV, 14-6-2000.

  June Friday 16 -2000:

“Israelis” fire at UN team on border
Jewish state ‘regrets’ incident, verification suspended…(1)

“Shots were fired at the United Nations withdrawal verification team on Thursday as “Israeli” troops maintained their grip on Lebanese territory at the flashpoint village of Ghajar.
The border inspection was immediately suspended for the day and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was notified and a complaint lodged with the “Israeli” Army.
The UN and Lebanese Army officers have spent the past week inching along the border to confirm that all “Israeli” forces have pulled back to behind the line of withdrawal. The line was created by UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and is supposed to be based on the original 1923 Anglo-French boundary.
Thursday’s program began with verifying the location of Boundary Pillar 38, the last border marker along the original mandate frontier between Lebanon and Palestine. Then the team would proceed along the less well-defined border between Lebanon and “Israeli”-occupied Syria.
Boundary Pillar 38 is located on a small hill southeast of Metulla. The team was unable to reach the summit but the spot was marked by a lone “Israeli” soldier.
At first glance, the soldier appeared to have staged a one-man occupation of Lebanon because the border fence and patrol road was sited 200 meters behind him. But the “Israelis” had allowed the fence to dip slightly into “Israel” to suit the topography of the area.
Moving on from No. 38, the team inspected the location of an “Israeli” outpost at a crossing just 1 kilometer west of the Hasbani bridge which marks the border between Lebanon, Syria and “Israel”. The desolate boulder-strewn landscape was made more ominous by minefields, surrounded by rusting coils of barbed wire, which flanked the last 200 meters of a potholed road leading to the border crossing.
A UNIFIL officer explained that the outpost was one of the three disputed areas between Lebanon and the United Nations. The others are at Rmeish in the western sector and Misgav Am above Odaisseh.
The outpost ­ some 100 meters in length consisting of bulldozed earth ramparts fronted with steel-mesh anti-missile fences stacked 3-meters high ­ was supposed to be 70 meters further south, according to the Lebanese, the officer said.
Peeking above the ramparts was an M163 Vulcan gatling gun, which has become the “Israeli” Army’s principle defense against Katyusha rockets. The gun’s radar locks onto an incoming rocket and then unleashes a fearsome 3,000 rounds a minute from six 20mm rotating barrels.
Having finished business at the crossing, the convoy of 11 UN vehicles, accompanied by a growing number of press, headed toward the village of Arab Loweizeh, an untidy sprawl of cinder block homes housing a few hundred Bedouins.
Arab Loweizeh lies on the west bank of the Hasbani River and affords a clear view of the Wazzani springs at the bottom of a 50-meter gorge as well as the white-washed houses of Ghajar on the opposite bank. Dozens of people lined up on the edge of the village to watch the UN team at work 500 meters on the other side of the gorge.
The border follows the deepest part of the Hasbani until it veers up the eastern bank and bisects Ghajar just south of the Wazzani springs. This places the plentiful water source firmly within Lebanon.
However, perched on a slope above the springs, in what is now sovereign Lebanese territory, were two “Israeli” soldiers. One of them sat on the ground nonchalantly eating an ice cream while his comrade erected a tent of camouflage netting. They were some 200 meters north of the withdrawal line.
“The line is correct,” acknowledged General Amin Hoteit, the head of the Lebanese Army delegation. “But there are two “Israelis” north of the line. We consider this a violation of the withdrawal.”
Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, UNIFIL’s deputy commander, nodded. “Yes, we see that.”
As the team digested this development, a disembodied voice suddenly floated across the gorge from Ghajar.
“My name is Salman Khatib. I’m the mukhtar of Ghajar,” the voice echoed from the walls of the gorge.
“We hope the UN won’t abide by this line which will cut our village in two,” Khatib continued. “We hope the UN won’t separate mother from child and husband from wife.”
The passionate plea wafting across the divide contrasted with the business-like demeanor of the UN team. When the loudhailer fell silent, the team went back to the vehicles, with the Abbassieh crossing on the other side of Ghajar next on the agenda.
Last week, the “Israelis” bulldozed a position beside the Abbassieh gate in preparation to retire to the withdrawal line a few hundred meters further south.
In the days following the demolition of the post, a handful of soldiers, including a sniper, remained hidden in the bulldozed earth, their rifles trained on the gate to deter over-eager Lebanese from entering the area.
But when the UN team arrived at the gate, no “Israeli” soldiers were in view. Two civilians attempted to push the gate open, allowing the UN inspectors to verify that the “Israelis” really had pulled back. But the gate resisted their efforts and three reporters squeezed through an opening in the fence.
Sreenan and Hoteit, flanked by a crowd of reporters, were about to follow when five rifle shots were fired toward the gate. At least one round ricocheted off the road just meters from the UN personnel.
The source of fire could not be spotted, leading the team to speculate that a soldier with a sniper’s rifle was hidden in the bulldozed earth of the outpost’s demolished ramparts.
“This is the first time that we’ve come under fire … “Israel” is lying, it has not pulled out (fully) from Lebanon and it continues to occupy Lebanese land,” a furious Hoteit said, ordering an immediate halt to the operation for the day.
The “Israeli” Army later apologized for the shooting, claiming a patrol had shot at “trespassers.”
“A security patrol ... identified a number of citizens close to a UN force that had entered “Israeli” territory. The force fired warning shots at the trespassers,” the army said.
Yet the reporters and UN personnel were on Lebanese territory as defined by the line of withdrawal and it was the “Israelis” who were the trespassers.
UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel confirmed that the “Israelis” had apologized.
“They have given assurances that it will not happen again,” he said.

Frustrated Lahoud takes tough line on nagging delays in verifying withdrawal…(2)

“Increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the border verification process and perceived attempts to allow “Israel” to hold on to some Lebanese territory, President Emile Lahoud rejected on Thursday a UN reference line being used to confirm that “Israel’s” withdrawal was complete.
“Lebanon will not compromise on its rights with regard to a total “Israeli” withdrawal from all its territories, and rejects any attempt to alter the internationally-recognized and documented border that was demarcated in 1923 and reconfirmed in the (1949) Armistice Agreement,” Lahoud told the Cabinet during an extraordinary meeting on Thursday.
He spoke after five shots fired by the “Israelis” across the border suspended the work of a joint UN-Lebanese mission probing the extent of “Israel’s” withdrawal.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is awaiting the results of the verification to confirm whether “Israel” has indeed ended its 22-year occupation of Lebanon, telephoned Lahoud to explain that incident was “unintentional,” according to a senior political source.
But the source indicated that the president was increasingly skeptical of “Israel’s” intentions.
“One day they fire to suspend the work at the border, another day they claim the area is riddled with mines and therefore our team cannot approach. How can you verify anything under such conditions?” the source said.
Asked whether Lahoud’s remarks constituted a shift from “reservations” over the UN line to “a flat rejection,” the source said: “The president has indeed adopted a firmer stand.”
Said Lahoud: “Lebanon is basing its position on Resolution 425 and the UN Secretary-General’s report of May 22 which called for verifying the “Israeli” withdrawal to the internationally recognized border, and not for confirming it according to a fictitious line that does not correspond to the true border.”
He added: “We want a verification based on legitimate rights and the facts on the ground. Others want a quick verification under the pretext of time constraints ...
“We’ve waited 22 years to liberate our land. Is it logical that we should not wait a few more days to confirm the withdrawal?”
The president said Lebanon did not wish to quibble with the United Nations, “but at the same time insists that “Israel” not be given a clean slate in a way that does not comply with Resolution 425 and the secretary-general’s report and does not fulfill a withdrawal to the international border, as this would entail (unspecified) consequences.”
The government had voiced reservations over the so-called “withdrawal line” which UN envoy, Terje-Roed Larsen, drew last month.
However, Lahoud’s latest statement suggested that Lebanon was raising the stakes ahead of Annan’s visit to Beirut on Monday, even though the UN chief was still likely to send his report to the Security Council on the extent of the withdrawal before heading to the Middle East.
Also on Thursday, the Cabinet ordered the formation of a 1,000-strong force of army and Internal Security personnel which will be deployed in the areas vacated by “Israel”.
Information Minister Anwar Khalil said the force will be headed by an ISF officer and will have its headquarters in Marjeyoun and a sector command in Bint Jbeil.
When asked how soon he expected the deployment, Khalil said that depended on “the developments on the ground,” without being specific.

1- The Daily Star, 16-6-2000.

2- Same source.

  June Saturday 17 -2000:

UN chief lets "Israel" off with partial pullout

Lahoud rejects withdrawal to ‘imaginary line’…(1)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan took the Lebanese government by surprise on Friday, ignoring Beirut’s objections and declaring that "Israel" had fully withdrawn from land it occupied for 22 years and therefore complied with Resolution 425.

“This is a happy day for Lebanon but also for "Israel",” Annan told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York. “It’s a day for hope for the Middle East … And it’s a day of pride for the United Nations.”

Lebanon, however, was anything but happy with the announcement. Prime Minister Salim Hoss rejected the finding, insisting that “the reality on the ground as it appeared on Friday evening showed that "Israel" has not withdrawn from all Lebanese territory.”

“The Lebanese team that has been cooperating with international experts in verifying the border points has found that there are several "Israeli" military outposts still within the Lebanese border and there are several patches of Lebanese territory still under "Israeli" control in a blatant creeping annexation,” Hoss said.

“I don’t believe that the UN secretariat-general could declare that the withdrawal has fulfilled Resolution 425 had it been provided with these realities.”

Annan said he had been informed by UNIFIL “that "Israel" has withdrawn from the country in full compliance with Security Council Resolution 425.”

There was no immediate comment from UNIFIL on Annan’s announcement.

But earlier, UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel had told Reuters that although the inspection of the border had finished “that doesn’t mean that the verification process is completed.”

General Amin Hoteit, the head of the Lebanese delegation to the verification team, discussed several points of contention along the border with UNIFIL’s commander, General Kofi Obeng, on Friday night. The news of Annan’s announcement came during the meeting, a UN source said, “embarrassing the Lebanese considerably.”

Hoteit was due to brief officials at Baabda late on Friday night. A formal response from the presidential palace is expected on Saturday.

A UNIFIL officer admitted that the UN team had not completed its task of confirming the "Israeli" withdrawal and was planning to return to 12 disputed points on the border.

Furthermore, "Israeli" troops were seen by The Daily Star ­ still deployed on Lebanese soil ­ at Ghajar on Friday, having been overlooked by the UN verification team during its inspection of the area.

Annan’s declaration angered Lebanese officials, who were already dismayed at what they perceived as a deliberate attempt by UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to push through the verification process based on his own “withdrawal line” rather than the international border referred to in 425. A senior political source described the move as “Larsen’s tricks.”

During his last trip to Lebanon 10 days ago, Larsen announced in a news conference that "Israel" was obliged to withdraw from Lebanon in compliance with a line to be established by the UN. No mention was made of the international border.

Lebanon responded by releasing a presidential memorandum to the United Nations, reasserting the country’s adherence to the international border. The memorandum was accompanied by supporting documents, some of them from the UN, confirming the legitimacy of the international border.

The political source said that Larsen was asked to attach the memorandum to Annan’s report on the withdrawal. Larsen refused, however, increasing Lebanon’s discontent with the way he was handling the issue. Lebanon subsequently released the memorandum as a separate document to the member states of the UN Security Council.

Lebanon’s position toward the “Larsen Line” hardened on Friday, with President Emile Lahoud declaring that Beirut would not consider "Israel's" withdrawal complete unless the UN-demarcated line complied with the internationally recognized border.

“Some people try to interpret Lebanon’s position in the most recent presidential memorandum to … Annan as a mere reservation and an attempt to make sure that Lebanon’s rights will be protected in the future if the "Israeli" withdrawal does not prove to have reached the internationally recognized border,” he warned in a statement. “Contrary to these renditions and interpretations, Lebanon ­ which calls for full abidance by Security Council Resolution 425 and by the text and the spirit of the UN secretary-general’s report ­ will consider the withdrawal incomplete if it conforms only with a non-existent and imaginary line.”

He said that the line of reference should be “the existing and recognized international border that is documented and well-known by the United Nations and all parties concerned.”

“This border is not subject to amendment,” he added, “and its fate cannot be postponed.”

Annan did made no mention of Lahoud’s comments in his prepared statement, saying only that he was heading to the region later to meet all the leaders “to see what the United Nations can do to consolidate and build on today’s achievement.”

The Daily Star has learned that Annan proceeded with the news conference based on guarantees from the "Israeli" government that it would withdraw troops from two disputed positions along the withdrawal line ­ near Rmeish and Misgav Am ­ by Saturday. UN sources said that the "Israelis" were in the process of relocating from these positions on Friday evening.

A Western diplomat argued that the UN had made “serious” mistakes. He said that Larsen should never have compromised on Annan’s instructions to base the line of withdrawal on the Anglo-French boundary of 1923, which was subsequently ratified by the 1949 Armistice Agreement.

“Deviating from the established border was bound to upset one party or the other,” the diplomat said. “It would appear that some of the Europeans in UN headquarters believe that the Lebanese are easy prey and can be pushed around.”

"Israeli" withdrawal "incomplete" unless reaches border: Lahoud…(2)

" The United Nations said Friday it had finished work verifying "Israel's" withdrawal from south Lebanon, but Lebanon said it would not accept anything short of "Israel's" withdrawal to the internationally recognized border.

"Lebanon would regard the "Israeli" withdrawal as incomplete if it is calculated against a fictitious, non-existent line," Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said in a statement.

"Lebanon is demanding the complete implementation, in letter and spirit, of Security Council Resolution 425 and the report of the (UN) Secretary General (Kofi Annan)" he added.

Lahoud's statement comes on the eve of schedule visits to the Middle East by both Annan and his regional envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen.

Lahoud told Annan in a four-page memorandum made public last Sunday that the United Nations had been too hasty in mapping the border to which "Israel" had to withdraw and called the UN line "fictitious."

He said Friday's new statement was designed to put an end to claims that "the sole purpose of the memorandum sent by Mr. Lahoud to Mr. Annan was to preserve Lebanon's rights even if the "Israeli" withdrawal did not go back to the recognised border."

Lebanese Lieutenant-Colonel Amin Hoteit said the major difference was over a 180 square-meter (1,935 square-feet) area in Abbassiyeh, a village he said the "Israelis" trespassed onto and destroyed. Hoteit called on the United Nations to move barbed wire so that Abbassiyeh's residents could return.

Lebanon says that UN Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978, and Annan's May 22 report, called for an "Israeli" withdrawal to the international frontier established in 1923 and confirmed in the 1949 armistice agreement between the two.

Annan's report made it clear that the UN "blue line" should not be taken as the definitive border.

Lahoud criticized Thursday those whom he said were in a rush to wrap up verification of the "Israeli" withdrawal from south Lebanon.

"We waited 22 years for the liberation of our land. How can they conceive of not being able to wait a few days to ensure the withdrawal" he said as he chaired an extraordinary cabinet session.

Information Minister Anwar al-Khalil said Lahoud was responding to those who held Lebanon responsible for delays in the United Nation's verification work, which is required by the Security Council.

UN experts started work checking the line of withdrawal on June 8, and completed it on the "Israeli" side a week ago, but it has been held up on the Lebanese side by disagreements over alleged "Israeli" encroachments.

Work was further held up Thursday after "Israeli" troops fired warning shots at the cartographers.

They resumed work Friday under the protection of two UN armoured cars and UN officials in Beirut said later the work had been completed.

But they added that some of the points were inspected by helicopter and Lebanese army experts still wished to visit "a few of them" on foot, which meant they could not officially confirm the withdrawal for several hours.

Enemy soldiers in Ghajar defy so-called ‘complete departure’…(3)

""Israeli" troops were still deployed north of the United Nations’ line of withdrawal at Ghajar on Friday, having gone unnoticed by the UN border verification team which visited the disputed area.

Their presence clearly contradicted UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s declaration that the "Israelis" have implemented Resolution 425 and totally withdrawn from Lebanon.

The "Israeli" soldiers were spotted less than an hour after the UN team ­ accompanied by Lebanese Army officers ­ verified the line of withdrawal stretching northeast from the center of Ghajar. The team said they were satisfied that there was no "Israeli" military activity north of the withdrawal line.

But The Daily Star saw several "Israeli" soldiers in military vehicles and in an observation post located at the northern end of Ghajar ­ which now falls on Lebanese territory.

The verification team consisted of two delegations: one from the Lebanese Army, headed by General Amin Hoteit, which was demarcating Lebanon’s borders with "Israel" and "Israeli"-occupied Syria. The second consisted of officers from UNIFIL and the Observer Group Lebanon, part of the UN Truce Supervision Organization. The task of the UN group was to confirm that "Israel" has withdrawn from Lebanese territory in accordance with Resolution 425.

The team arrived at the Abbassieh crossing on Friday morning for a second attempt to inspect the withdrawal line. On Thursday, the border inspection was canceled after an "Israeli" soldier fired shots at UN personnel as they attempted to pass through the gate. The "Israeli" Army subsequently apologized for the shooting and said a patrol had fired warning shots at “trespassers.”

Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, UNIFIL’s deputy commander, said he was hopeful the team could reach their final destination ­ just above Shibaa village ­ by the end of the day.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll do it today,” he said. “We’re not anticipating any problems.”

Reporters were prevented from crossing to the other side of the fence as the team checked the location of the border marker ­ two stacked concrete blocks painted in UN blue. A bearing was taken from the marker following the line of withdrawal to Ghajar, 1.5 kilometers to the southwest. The line effectively placed almost two-thirds of the village inside Lebanon.

An "Israeli" jeep pulled up 100 meters down the road, on the other side of the withdrawal line, to watch the proceedings.

Hoteit said he accepted the delineation of the blue line but noted that an "Israeli" position was located 118 meters inside Lebanese territory.

The outpost in question was demolished by the "Israelis" last week. But, for a few days afterward, "Israeli" soldiers continued to watch the Abbassieh gate, some 200 meters to the north, from the bulldozed ramparts of the outpost.

After checking the area, Sreenan said there did not appear to be any soldiers in the post.

“We have marked the (withdrawal) line. There’s no apparent sign of "Israeli" activity,” he said.

Sreenan added that the team had not entered the outpost due to the large number of land mines in the area.

A UN officer said that the team had spotted broken water pipes by the post which appeared to have been linked to the Wazzani springs, 2 kilometers to the west below Ghajar.

Hoteit announced that the Lebanese Army had just recuperated 4,000 dunums of Lebanese territory

Apparently satisfied with the inspection, the team boarded their UN vehicles and headed for their next destination, near Kfar Shouba on the border between Lebanon and "Israeli"-occupied Syria.

Three former residents of Abbassieh smashed the padlock securing the gate and swung it open. A Hizbullah supporter stepped through and gingerly planted a party flag on the edge of the road. One of the Abbassieh residents let out a feeble cheer for the newly liberated territory but his voice was carried away by the warm breeze.

However, it was only with the departure of the UN team that it gradually became clear that not all "Israeli" troops had departed the newly reclaimed Lebanese territory.

Scanning the area north of the withdrawal line, a military vehicle could be seen driving on what appeared to be Lebanese land on the edge of Ghajar. Clearer evidence of a transgression emerged, however, as we approached Ghajar alongside the existing border fence.

Six "Israeli" soldiers lay on top of a water tower, shaded by a canopy of camouflaged netting. One of them manned a light machine gun while two others observed our approach through binoculars. An "Israeli" Army light vehicle, known as a humvee, came into view just a few meters from the fence as we reached the edge of the village. The humvee was parked with the engine running and headlights switched on. The occupants could barely be seen through the smoked glass windscreen.

A small military troop carrier drove up and stopped on the other side of the fence. The back door swung open and a soldier leaned out.

“Take a picture of me,” he said grinning. “Put me in your paper.”

Three residents of Ghajar approached the fence, willing to talk.

“The "Israelis" have given us five minutes only to talk to you,” said Ahmad Khatib.

He reiterated the objections of the residents to the village being split between Lebanon and "Israeli"-occupied Syria.

“We’ll never leave our land behind. The village must remain whole and with all our land,” he said.

What about the "Israeli" soldiers in Ghajar? Why are they still there?

“The "Israelis" are putting up new defenses along their border,” Khatib said uncomfortably.

Do the "Israelis" intend to build a fence through the village?

“We have no contact with the "Israeli" soldiers,” he replied.

The five minutes were up. The residents left and we walked back to the Abbassieh gate with the "Israeli" soldiers watching us every step of the way.

UNIFIL had no comment to make on the continued presence of "Israeli" soldiers in Ghajar.

Pullout deaths ‘tragic mistake'…(4)

"Israel's" army admitted on Friday to committing a “tragic mistake” when an "Israeli" tank fired upon a BBC television car, killing a Lebanese driver during the army’s withdrawal from the South last month.

Abed Taqqoush was killed on May 23 when a tank shell hit his parked Mercedes. Veteran BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen and Reuters cameraman Malek Kenaan were filming 100 meters from the car when it was hit.

After investigating the incident the army found that the tank crew had acted “according to procedures based on the circumstances that it found itself at that time.”

The statement continued to say that "Israeli" soldiers mistook the car’s passengers for “terrorists who were preparing to fire anti-tank missiles.

“Afterward it was clear that a tragic mistake was made,” the report added.

But the "Israeli" Army’s statement did appease the BBC, which is conducting its own investigation into the incident.

The head of BBC news-gathering, Adrian Van Klaveren, said the BBC was “deeply dissatisfied with the "Israeli" Army investigation into the death of Abed Taqqoush.

“If they really believed that the car was being used by alleged terrorists, why attack the vehicle rather than the individuals who had just left it?” he asked in a statement.

Amnesty International is also investigating the killing of four civilians, including Taqqoush.

1-          The Daily Star, 17-6-2000.

2-          AFP, 16-6-2000.

3-          The Daily Star, 17-6-2000.

4-          The Daily Star, 17-6-2000.

  June Wednesday 21 -2000:

Hizbullah warns UN to play fair (1)
Nasrallah UN should resolve quickly & swiftly all Israeli violations
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan left Beirut on Tuesday following a landmark meeting with  Hizbullah’s secretary-general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, at a heavily guarded building deep in the party’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The unprecedented visit by Annan was an attempt to win support from Hizbullah for his plans to expand peacekeeping efforts throughout the South, tacitly acknowledging the party’s crucial influence in the area.
The first-ever meeting between a UN secretary-general and a Hizbullah leader reflected ­ in the eyes of the international community ­ the organization’s transformation from the “terrorist” pariah of the 1980s to a valid and recognized political and social-welfare institution.
Speaking to reporters after the 20-minute meeting, Annan said that he had held “good discussions” with Nasrallah, covering the continued Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, socio-economic needs in the South, Lebanese detainees in Israeli prisons and “cooperation between UNIFIL, the government and non-state actors.”
Accompanying Annan was Timur Goksel, UNIFIL’s special adviser and spokesman.
“It was a very useful and friendly meeting, very person-to-person,” said Goksel. “Nasrallah offered his continued support to UNIFIL.”
Nonetheless, Hizbullah called on the UN to swiftly resolve the outstanding Israeli violations along the border and warned that failure to do so would lead to renewed resistance attacks.
“Resistance fighters fought bloody battles to reach liberation and they are not willing to wait any longer for political mediation to eradicate these border encroachments,” a statement quoted Nasrallah as having told Annan. “The United Nations is called upon to resolve quickly and decisively all Israeli violations because the ‘Blue Line’ does not mean anything to us,” he added, referring to the UN line behind which Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces.

ANNAN VOWS TO "CORRECT" ISRAELI BORDER VIOLATIONS
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan vowed to pursue the issue of border violations and Lebanese held in Israeli detention centers with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Annan had drawn Lebanese criticism for confirming Israel's pullout from Lebanon before UN experts and Lebanese military officers finish their verification of Israel's pullout from the south. Lebanon has voiced anger over Israel's continued occupation of Lebanese land, and warned it will prevent UN peacekeepers from deploying in the border zone and will consider Israel's pullout incomplete if Israel does not withdraw its remaining forces from the south. 
(Future Television asking Annan: "What do you plan to do if Lebanon continues to reject the Israeli pullout as it is now and prevents the deployment of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon?" Annan responding: " I don't think that will happen. I think.. let's be careful here not to read too much into what is said and not said. I think what is important is we have violations that we are dealing with. I have worked in peace-keeping areas for many years, we have often created demilitarized zone areas.. there should not be violations, and violations can be deliberate, sometimes somebody can stray across the border so we will continue to have little incidents here and there even if we've cleared the south. We have to be sure of that, but what we are going to do is be vigilant to make sure there are no violations and UNIFIL, the government, and non-government actors should all cooperate to keep the situation calm".)
Annan is carrying a list of violations compiled by the Lebanese Army and UN experts with him to Israel. He will be asking Prime Minister Ehud Barak to ensure his troops withdraw to a UN demarcated line, which Lebanon opposes as well. The Security Council confirmed that Israel withdrew in line with Resolution 425, which calls for a troops pullout to the international border. But the Blue Line set up by the UN falls short of the frontier in some locations. Annan said UN forces are investigating Israeli incursions into Lebanon. UN officers so far confirmed that Israel had been found in violation at two points, but said the issue will be resolved in about a day. The Secretary-General asked Beirut to report any border violations to the UN force which will inturn investigate alleged incursions. Lebanese officials said Annan will report any violations to the Security Council if Israel refuses to withdraw to the Blue Line.  Annan held what was described as frosty meetings with top Lebanese officials, who were enraged by what many in Beirut believe is UN bias towards Israel. Annan who was met at Beirut airport by a cabinet minister yesterday was seen off by Prime Minister Selim Hoss. Kofi Annan failed to allay Lebanese fears over the UN's confirmation of Israel's pullout from Lebanon despite its continued occupation of at least six patches of Lebanese territory. The row threatens to destabilize the region and delay the deployment of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.(2)
A senior political source said that Beirut was unwilling to become embroiled in a dispute with the UN but would continue demanding an Israeli withdrawal behind the international border and not just the UN line of withdrawal.
The source said that Israel’s violations of the so-called “Blue Line” should be addressed first. Then Lebanon will ask the UN
to charge a cartographic expert with “rectifying the mistakes” between the “Blue Line” and the international border.
The source said that as far as Lebanon was concerned, UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen was solely to blame for the fracas over the verification process.
Officially, Larsen, who was due to accompany Annan in Beirut, remained in New York because his aircraft developed engine trouble shortly after departure and was forced to return. However, sources here have said that Annan chose to leave him behind to avoid further irritating the Lebanese, who have been incensed by perceived bias toward Israel while setting up the Blue Line.
 Meanwhile, the joint UN and Lebanese verification team was scheduled to continue its inspection of the border area on Wednesday, checking a stretch of the frontier near Kfar Shouba that has remained off-limits so far due to the presence of land mines. The team also plans to inspect an area near the Israeli settlement of Misgav Am opposite Addaisseh.
Annan, who reportedly received Iranian assurances of a hitch-free redeployment of UNIFIL in the South, also demanded security guarantees for the peacekeeping troops who will now man the UN-demarcated line.
During his visit, Annan reportedly pledged to help Lebanon muster financial aid from donor countries for the process of reversing the effects of Israel’s 22 years of occupation in the South and the Western Bekaa.
He reportedly promised to hold contacts with Beirut-based ambassadors of donor states in order to hold a preliminary meeting in the next two weeks designed to set the stage for a full-fledged donor gathering in Beirut next month.(3)

SHEBAA FARMS RESIDENTS DEMONSTRATE AT AIRPORT(4)
Residents of the Shebaa Farms which remain under occupation held a protest at Beirut airport minutes before Secretary-General Annan boarded his Amman-bound flight. They handed Annan a memorandum calling for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Shebaa plateau. The Shebaa Farms were not included in the UN withdrawal line. Annan said the Shebaa hamlets are in a zone occupied by Israel since 1967 and are subject to Resolutions 242 and 338, which called  for Israel's retreat from occupied territories, and not Resolution 425, which called on Israel to leave the zone it occupied in Lebanon in 1978. Israel said it captured the territory from Syria. 

BBC, AI reject Israeli excuse (5)
Israel, it seems, will not be let off so easily for killing BBC driver Abed Taqqoush and three other civilians in south Lebanon during its withdrawal.
Both the BBC and human-rights watchdog Amnesty International have expressed disdain for the Israeli account of the incident and have strongly hinted that they might take legal action.
“The matter is certainly not over for us,” Adrian Wells ­ who heads the BBC investigation ­ told The Daily Star on Tuesday. “We’re meeting Amnesty International lawyers hopefully this week to look at the ways forward, either through international or Israeli courts.”
Amnesty International (AI) reported that the Israeli response was “very inadequate.”
Israel said that the soldier who fired the shell that killed Taqqoush “followed procedures. Well, these procedures could be a breach of international law,” said Claudio Cordone of AI.
In a statement released last week, Israel claimed that firing the shell was a “tragic mistake” and that “under the operational circumstances in which the tank crew operated, and in the light of the data that was known at the time, the crew operated in accordance with the relevant procedures for such situations.”
On May 23, less than 24 hours before the end of Israel’s occupation, Taqqoush, 54, a long-time driver for foreign journalists, was killed when a tank shell struck his car. The shell was fired by an Israeli Merkava tank located near the settlement of Menara on the other side of the border.
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent, and BBC cameraman Malek Kenaan, were filming about 100 meters from the car when it was hit. Both Bowen and Kenaan were pinned down for an hour by an Israeli machine-gunner while Taqqoush’s body remained in the blazing car.
The BBC and Amnesty International immediately launched an investigation into the incident. At first, Israel blamed the shelling on the South Lebanon Army militia. But eyewitnesses in Israel and video footage from both sides have established that an Israeli tank was to blame. It wasn’t until June 16 that Israel admitted this.
In an attempt to justify the attack, Israel’s official said army personnel had spotted a “suspicious vehicle carrying individuals in civilian clothing, and suspected that they were members of a Lebanese group preparing to fire an anti-tank missile against the Israeli Army tanks and vehicles.”
What the Israeli Army failed to explain, however, was how reporters could clearly recognize the victims as civilians while the soldiers, positioned nearby, identified them as potential “terrorists.”
And the questions continue: If the Israeli Army indeed thought that the civilians were “terrorists” and that the camera equipment was a weapon ­ then why fire at the car rather than the suspects about to launch an attack, the BBC asked.
Furthermore, the BBC asked, why would the Israeli Army allow Israeli civilians to watch the unfolding events at the border if there was a risk of fighting in the area?
Taqqoush was not the only victim of the final stages of Israel’s occupation. Three other civilians were killed during the retreat. Groups of civilians and reporters also came under tank fire near where Taqqoush died, suggesting that targeting civilians was a policy rather than an isolated “mistake.”
“We believe, based on the available evidence, that the killing of Abed Taqqoush was either reckless or deliberate,” stated Ann Cooper, the executive director of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Monday.
The Israeli Army findings contradict or fail to explain eyewitness accounts of events that took place on the ground,” she continued. “Moreover, the Israeli Army cannot reasonably be expected to conduct an impartial investigation into alleged misconduct by its own forces. We therefore urge you to order an immediate and thorough independent investigation into this attack and to ensure that its findings are made public.”
If it can be proven that Israel intentionally fired at Lebanese civilians, then according to international law, any state can take the case to court. The soldier who fired the missile would then be held responsible for the killing, while the Israeli government would have to compensate the victim’s family.

1 – The Daily Star, 21-6-‏2000
2 – Future TV, 20-6-2000
3 – The Daily Star, 21-6-2000
4 – Future TV, 20-6-2000
5 – The Daily Star, 21-6-2000

  June Thursday 22 -2000:

Barak vows to tie up any loose ends on border
Annan claims Hizbullah agreement to lie low…(1)

“Israel” promised on Wednesday that it would swiftly clear up any differences with the United Nations over its withdrawal from Lebanon.

 UN chief Kofi Annan spoke at a joint news conference with “Israeli” Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem. He and Barak had discussed Lebanon’s complaints over a string of “Israeli” violations along the so-called “withdrawal line,” which the UN is using to verify that “Israel” relinquished all Lebanese territory in its May 24 pullout.
“In regard to the disagreements with the UN, we’re going to clarify them I believe within the next 24 hours, I hope, or maybe 36 hours,” said Barak.

Last week the United Nations verified that “Israel”’s withdrawal had been fully implemented. But the Lebanese government accuses “Israel” of still occupying Lebanese land and has threatened to block UN plans to deploy peacekeepers along the edge of the liberated areas.
A government source in Beirut said that “Annan is expected to convince the “Israelis” to withdraw from the border areas claimed by Lebanon.
“During his visit to Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese officials clearly told Annan that if the “Israeli” border breaches are sustained, there would be no deployment of UN peacekeepers in the liberated areas,” the source added.
Annan said in Jerusalem that Hizbullah’s secretary-general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, had indicated that the group’s fighters would exercise restraint in southern Lebanon.
Following Annan’s meeting with Nasrallah on Tuesday, Hizbullah issued a statement hinting that it might resort to violence if the border question were not resolved.
The Lebanese people and the resistance “fought fiercely for many years to liberate their land, but they will not wait long for political results to resolve the violations,” the group said in a statement.
In the South, UN officials underscored the complexity of the withdrawal verification, saying that some “Israeli” soldiers had strayed across the frontier and that Lebanon could legally move troops into part of Ghajar village, which is in the “Israeli”-occupied Golan Heights.
Brigadier Jim Sreenan, deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, told reporters that there were eight to 10 “very small items” of difference between “Israel” and Lebanon over the border.
Asked if “Israeli” encroachments had occurred since Annan declared the withdrawal complete, Sreenan said: “There have been some cases” where “Israeli” soldiers “have strayed across…

Berri believes Annan will get “Israelis” out of positions in a day…(2)

“Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism on Wednesday that “Israeli” positions on Lebanese soil would be vacated in the next 24 hours.
Berri said that during UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s meeting with Lebanese official on Monday, Annan “seriously promised to work on removing the breaches” during his trip to “Israel”. “I believe the breaches will be removed in a matter of a day or so,” the speaker said.
Annan will have a strong incentive to get “Israel” out of Lebanese territory, as Berri said soldiers and policemen will not deploy in the South before UN peacekeepers sort out Lebanon’s complaints about “Israeli” border breaches.
““Israel”’s breaches include three large areas and 13 smaller areas. All areas lie between the internationally recognized border and ‘Blue Line’ demarcated by the United Nations,” he told visiting MPs on Wednesday.
With respect to the 1,000-strong force of soldiers and policemen, which was formed by the government last week to handle interior security in the liberated areas, Berri said that “it will not be deployed in the South or cover any deployment of UN peacekeepers as long as the breaches exist.”

 lebanese civilian killed in mine blast near former “israeli” post…(3)

“A Lebanese man was killed by a landmine today (yesterday) in the southern zone of Lebanon that was abandoned by “Israeli” troops last month. Mohammad Hassun, 25, was killed near the former “Israeli” army position at Soweida, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sidon. Five Lebanese have been killed, including two infants, and 15 others injured by mines in southern Lebanon since “Israeli” troops withdrew on May 24, according to a partial count made by AFP. According to United Nations experts, there are about 130,000 mines and other explosive devices scattered over the 850 square kilometer (340 square mile) area that was occupied by “Israel” for 22 years. The UN said it had asked “Israel” to put up signs marking the minefields it had laid in Lebanon. Some, along the border between the two countries, are known and marked off. But the location of the majority of the minefields is unknown, particularly around positions formerly held by the “Israeli” army and its now-disbanded militia.

Lebanon reclaims six kilometers of territory near Kfar Shouba: sources…(4)

" Lebanese experts and UN officers have resumed checking whether “Israeli” encroachments over the UN-demarcated withdrawal line have been corrected. Sources in the Lebanese team said Lebanon reclaimed about six kilometers of territory in the Kfar Chouba area. The teams fly along the border in a UN peacekeeping helicopter. Lebanese experts had cited 13 violations on the "blue line" drawn by the UN, some of them occurring after the announcement that the “Israeli” withdrawal is complete. The majority of encroachments are military positions or roads. Some of them cover several hectares. The withdrawal line set by the UN violates Lebanon's border at Metulla, Misgav Am and Rmeich. 

1- The Daily Star, 22-6-2000.

2- Same source.

3- Future TV, 21-6-2000.

4- Future TV, 21-6-2000.

  June Friday 23 -2000:

Hizbullah: the occupation's violation need not to be justified and we shall face it…(1)

In response to Annan's trying to justify the “Israeli” violations at the Lebanese border during his visit in the region. Hizbullah's secretary-general deputy Sheikh Naem Qassem said that the “Israeli” violations need not to be justified or clarified and that Hizbullah shall face the occupation.

Sheikh Qassem who was speaking during a commemorative ceremony, furthermore stressed that the legal game played by "“Israel”" to continue the detention of the Lebanese hostage is of no matter to Hizbullah. This is a condemnation for "Israel" and to the silent international observer.

Sheikh Qassem confirmed the party will do its utmost to free the Lebanese detainees. He reminded that "Israel" is an aggressive state and that it shall always occupy Arab lands and disrespect international resolution or other agreement not in line with its will to expand. The most clear prove to that, affirmed sheikh Qassem, is what happened to resolution 425 is happening to the Palestinian authority.

Annan seeks Bashar’s help to maintain calm in South…(2)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought Bashar Assad’s help on Thursday in maintaining calm on the “Israeli”-Lebanese border, conferring international recognition on the late President Hafez Assad’s son before he ascends to the leadership post.
The UN chief met Lieutenant General Bashar Assad in his capacity “as the future leader of the country,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters.
Damascus was the final leg of Annan’s Middle East tour. In addition to Bashar, he also conferred with Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa, seeking support for his plans to maintain peace in south Lebanon, including the deployment of an enlarged UNIFIL contingent to the border.
Annan’s trip to Syria occurred as the UN border verification team officially wrapped up the process of confirming “Israel’s” withdrawal. Both the Lebanese and “Israeli” delegations which accompanied the UN teams on either side of the border are to submit reports to their respective governments.
Despite the progress in the team’s work on the ground, “Israel’s” violations of Lebanese sovereignty continued with warplanes criss-crossing the skies and breaking the sound barrier over the South.
Police at Tyre said aircraft broke the sound barrier over the town of Naqoura and flew over the South for an hour, in particular over Nabatieh and Iqlim
al-Touffah.
It was the second time that “Israeli” warplanes have violated Lebanese airspace since the May 24 withdrawal of the occupation forces. “Israel” had pledged that the end of the 22-year occupation also signaled an end to military maneuvers in Lebanese territorial waters and airspace.
“Bashar Assad, commander in chief of the armed forces, assured the UN secretary-general that Syria will continue its cooperation with the United Nations, the official SANA news agency said.
Assad “also renewed Syria’s support for Lebanese demands that “Israel” withdraw completely from all Lebanese territory,” SANA said after Bashar and Annan met at the People’s Palace in Damascus.
Sharaa and UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen also attended the meeting.
Although the verification process along the border with “Israel” is over, Lebanon has listed 17 violations where “Israeli” forces remain on Lebanese soil.
Brigadier Maher Toufeili, the army’s liaison with UNIFIL, said the UN had been presented with a list of the violations “which occur all along the border.”
Lebanon has told the UN that it will not authorize the deployment of an expanded UNIFIL until the outstanding violations are cleared up.
Hizbullah, meanwhile, warned “Israel” against more violations.
“There’s no justification for “Israel’s” continued breaching of the border. We consider this an occupation and we’ll confront it,” Naim Qassem, the party’s deputy secretary-general, said.
“Israeli” Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Annan on Wednesday that those problems would be sorted out in 24-36 hours.

Remains of LAA men found in mass grave…(3)

Families flocked to an army barracks in Sidon on Thursday to try to identify their loved ones from the remains found in a mass grave in Marjeyoun-Khiam on Thursday.
However, soldiers turned most of the crowd away, maintaining that the army needed more time to investigate.
On Wednesday, the army announced that it had discovered a mass grave containing the remains of several soldiers of the Lebanese Arab Army, one of several breakaway military factions formed in the early years of the civil war. Many of the LAA officers were killed in 1976 in Marjeyoun barracks, shot in their beds at dawn in an attack by the “Israeli” agent Saad Haddad’s Army of Free Lebanon troops. The AFL later became the militia South Lebanon Army.
According to a security source in Sidon, a confession by “Israeli”-proxy militiamen who had participated in the incident led to the army’s discovery.
“I ask the Army commander and the government to explain to the world and public opinion how these martyrs died and who had killed them,” demanded Jawaher Tabaja, whose husband Mohammed Noura was among those killed in 1976. “My husband died in Marjeyoun and was buried between the villages of Khirbe and Qleiaa but was never found,” she added.
Ghaleb Dakrouni, who believes his cousin Zahran Dakrouni is among the buried, said that his family had asked him to investigate.
“The whole neighborhood where my family lived in Marjeyoun was destroyed twice by the occupation forces and the collaborators,” he said.
“My husband had been missing but was later pronounced dead by the army which has been giving me a monthly allowance,” said Nabiha Khobeiz, another woman looking for her husband’s body.

1-        Manar TV, 22-6-2000.

2-        The Daily Star, 23-6-2000.

3-        The Daily Star, 23-6-2000.

  June Saturday 24 -2000:

Beirut holds firm on border…(1)

”President Emile Lahoud said on Friday that Lebanon was in the process of recovering all its territory, “armed with its unity and its rights despite all pressures exerted by “Israel”.”
Lahoud made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from Jordan’s Federation of Unions which visited the president to congratulate him on the liberation of the South.
Lahoud said Lebanon was striving to recover all its internationally recognized and occupied territories.

Beirut maintains that “Israel” is guilty of violating the international border in more than a dozen areas. A UN official said on Friday that checks were made on the “Israel”i side of the border and that further consultations with Lebanese officers would be needed.
Lahoud stressed the necessity of restoring Arab rights and liberating the occupied Golan Heights, in addition to securing the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
For his part, Prime Minister Salim Hoss said on Friday that Lebanon insisted on re-establishing its “complete sovereignty” over the disputed Shebaa Farms. Hoss was addressing a delegation from Jordan’s Federation of Unions.
“We insist that the “Israel”i enemy vacate every inch of the Shebaa Farms. We also insist on re-imposing Lebanon’s sovereignty on these farms because they’re Lebanese,” Hoss told the group.
He added that Lebanon was certain to recover the farms, “if not today, then tomorrow.”
Hoss discussed “Israel’s” continuous violations of the “internationally recognized Lebanese border” in certain areas of the South, saying the government was following up the matter on a daily basis with the UN.
The premier also told the delegation that Lebanon would call for an international donors’ conference to help fund the reconstruction of the South.
The 50-member delegation relayed its wish to do its part by launching a donation campaign in Jordan upon its return.

Annan ends his tour while border verification works continues, and “Israel” still occupies Lebanese soil at 17 points…(2)

UN General Secretary Kofi Annan announced in Damascus during a joint press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa held Friday, that starting Monday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon would make weekly checks on any border violations, with copies of the report going to both sides and to the UN Security council.

Lebanese verification team reported Friday that there are still 14 violation points of the "blue-line" drawn by the UN, in addition to other major violations of the international border.

Moreover, official Lebanese sources made part of its fear that "Larsen's Experience" is to be repeated. For it was known that high placed UN General in Lebanon were behind sending non exact reports to Annan, although the UN force responsible possesses highly advanced equipment that measures exactly and by which they registered numerous “Israeli” border violations committed before July 16, the date UN Secretary General Kofi Annan handed in his report to the Security Council in which he announced that the withdrawal has been completed.

However, the U.N. General gave little interest to these violations and its number; while the Lebanese military team who very exactly verified the “Israel”i withdrawal refused the UN report.

1-     The Daily Star, 24-6-2000.

2-     Manar TV, 23-6-2000.

  June Monday 26 -2000:

“Israeli” troops fired at Jordanian delegation (1)
Beirut and Amman condemn civilian shootings

According to Taher Shakshir, head of the visiting Jordanian delegation, the crowd at the Fatima Gate was chanting anti-”Israeli” slogans.
“The Jewish soldiers behind the barbed wire suddenly turned their rifles toward us and opened fire,” Shakshir said.
The “Israeli” soldiers were reportedly using a mixture of live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets. Ali Abu Sukkar, secretary-general of the Jordanian Engineers’ Union, was shot in the back and Ghassan Abul-Hajj, an engineer, was shot in the leg. Rashed Rahman and Said Salah sustained light wounds. All four were taken to Marjayoun Hospital and then to a Hizbullah-run hospital in Beirut. They left for Amman on Sunday.
Both the Lebanese and Jordan governments were swift to condemn the shooting.““Israeli” aggression confirms Lebanon’s worries regarding the “Israeli” enemy in the wake of withdrawal from the occupied zone,” President Emile Lahoud said in a statement on Saturday.
Lahoud received Shakshir on Sunday to ask about the health of the wounded Jordanians and thanked the delegation for its visit to Lebanon, which he said was a show of support for reconstruction in the South.
Prime Minister Salim Hoss said that Israel “ignored international laws” and said the incident should be placed “in the hands of the international community.”
Hizbullah condemned the shooting and issued a veiled warning. “We are following up carefully the “Israeli” aggression. We know their purposes and aims. We know how to deal with them with the necessary wisdom at the right time and under the right circumstances,” the party said in a statement.
The Jordanian government said “the flagrant attack on defenseless civilians … is unjustified under any pretext and sows suspicion about the honesty of Israel’s intentions.”
Jordanian Deputy  Prime Minister Saleh Irshaidat summoned the head of the “Israeli” diplomatic mission in Amman to request an “explanation and apology” for the incident.
The “Israeli” Army claimed that men were seen attempting to climb the gate at the border fence at Fatima Gate. Warning shots were fired in the air before a few rounds were fired at their legs, the “Israeli” Army said.
A Lebanese engineer who attended the conference on Sunday, said that it was unfortunate that the delegation was fired at when they were visiting the country to support the Lebanese after Israel’s withdrawal.
According to a statement released by the Lebanese Order of Engineers and Architects on Sunday, the “aggressive actions against the Jordanian brothers who were in Lebanon to support us and celebrate with us after the withdrawal” should be taken to the United Nations.
Since May 24, Lebanese and foreign tourists have visited the Fatima gate between Kfar Kila and the “Israeli” settlement of Metulla.
Nine other civilians have been wounded along the border since the withdrawal in May.

1-   The Daily Star 26-6-2000

  June Tuesday 27 -2000:

UN Security Council demands “Israel” end Lebanon border violations…(1)

“ The UN Security Council on Monday demanded that “Israel” end violations of Lebanese territory reported by UN troops, said French ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the council president.

Council members called on all parties to respect the line of withdrawal which establishes the boundary between “Israel” and Lebanon following the pull-out of “Israeli” troops from southern Lebanon, he said.

According to diplomats here, the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon, in a report presented to the Security Council earlier Monday, have identified five such violations by “Israeli” forces.

Levitte said the Security Council members "reiterated their call upon the parties to respect the line," delineated by the United Nations and to end the "ongoing violations."

Since the “Israelis” ended their 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon on May 24, Beirut has complained of “Israeli” violations of the border in 17 places, and has made the full deployment of UNIFIL throughout the border zone conditional on these encroachments ending.

The UNIFIL report, which did not identify where the alleged encroachments had taken place, is the first of a series of weekly reports on the situation which Annan has requested from UNIFIL.

The first encroachment it identified was an “Israeli” patrol road which went 150 meters (490 feet) into Lebanese territory. The UN team asked “Israel” to block off this road and build a new one inside “Israel”. It made the same request for another road some 540 meters (1,770 feet) of which ran 25 meters (82 feet) inside Lebanon.

A third encroachment was by a patrol road which ran for 420 metersfeet) inside Lebanese territory, the report said. The “Israelis” had blocked this road off, but at the wrong places, it said.

UNIFIL also found that three “Israeli” machine-gun posts and some observation equipment were wrongly sited on the Lebanese side of the withdrawal line.

The fifth violation was where some “Israeli” soldiers had been deployed in trenches on Lebanese territory, with their tent on the “Israeli” side.

However the UN rejected one complaint by Lebanon, concerning a strip along the border which held an unoccupied “Israeli” observation tower, and it said an alleged 780-meter (2,560-foot) border infringement by another “Israeli” patrol track needed further investigation.

“Israel” wants to start all over again on verifying pullout…(2)

“The troubled task of verifying “Israel’s” withdrawal from Lebanon ran into further difficulties on Monday, with the Jewish state reportedly calling for the present operation to be scrapped and started anew under a different set of guidelines.
Although “Israel” has yet to formally deliver its demands to the United Nations, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been briefed on the latest set-back.
Prime Minister Salim Hoss described “Israel’s” stalling as a “process of procrastination” and called for a speedy end to verifying the “Israeli” pullout.
“Israel” made known its views on the procedure on Monday, three days after a UN verification team was supposed to have confirmed the pullout from the “Israeli” side of the border.
The operation ground to a halt on Friday, however, when the “Israeli” Army refused to pull out of several spots inside the UN-delineated line of withdrawal, the so-called “Blue Line.”
On Monday, Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, UNIFIL’s deputy commander and the head of the UN team, briefed General Amin Hoteit, the head of the Lebanese border delegation, on the impasse. “Nothing has changed since last Thursday,” Hoteit told The Daily Star. “When the UN has finished their work, then we’ll start again.”
He was unable to say when the Lebanese team would finish its work and declined to comment on the report that “Israel” wishes to scrap the process.
A UN diplomat described the “Israeli” ploy as “testing the waters,” adding that nothing official had been transmitted to UN headquarters in New York.
Annan, who is in Geneva at a special session of the UN General Assembly, was informed of “Israel’s” stance, however, and relayed the developments to the Security Council in a tele-conference, the diplomat said.
Hoss told The Daily Star that the task of confirming “Israel’s” withdrawal had proceeded too far to start again. “We’ve done a great deal of business,” he said. “This is a process of procrastination by the “Israelis”.”
Saying that 14 “Israeli” violations remained, Hoss said that the understanding reached with Annan during the UN chief’s visit to Beirut was that UNIFIL would deploy to the frontier “immediately” after the infringements had ended.
“Israel’s” desire to begin the withdrawal inspection again highlights the fact that Lebanon is not the only country unhappy with the verification process.
Although largely unreported by the media in “Israel” and Lebanon, “Israeli” Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the military have fiercely opposed the delineation of the UN’s line of withdrawal, claiming it undermines their security requirements.
Before Annan visited the region last week, he received a tongue-lashing from Barak in a telephone conversation. Reports said that their meetings in “Israel” were equally hot-tempered.
According to Agence France Presse, Barak shouted: “You keep moving the line … We don’t need lessons from the UN.”
Annan, who is known for his mild manner, also raised his voice. “We don’t want to see even half a tank” on the other side of the line, AFP quoted him as saying.
When Annan left Damascus last Friday, he announced that UNIFIL would be sending him weekly reports on possible violations of the “Blue Line.” He urged all concerned “to save themselves any embarrassment” and to make sure that he received “clean reports.”
UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel confirmed that the first of the weekly reports had been sent to Annan. “They cover the whole situation, including the violations,” he said.
The row between the UN and “Israel” reflects the Jewish state’s historical misgivings over its northern border with Lebanon. Much of the frontier runs along the top of ridges which fall steeply on the “Israeli” side, allowing Lebanon unfettered views over the Galilee.
The “Israelis” redressed the balance during their occupation by pushing the border fence into Lebanon to gain footholds along the strategic escarpments.
Government sources reported on Monday that Lebanon has rejected the possibility of resuscitating the five-nation Monitoring Group to oversee future border violations.
The government informed France, a co-chair of the group, that the panel no longer served a purpose with the end of the occupation. The Monitoring Group ceased operations in February following a walkout by the “Israeli” delegation.
The sources said that any border complaints would be addressed to UNIFIL or directly to the UN secretariat.

1-       AFP, 26-6-2000.

2-       The Daily Star, 27-6-2000.

  June Wednesday 28 -2000:

UN recognizes irregularities

Lahoud: Lebanon has fenced its borders with blood of martyrs…(1)

“Lebanon welcomed the UN Security Council’s recognition of six “Israeli” border violations on Tuesday, confirming Beirut’s complaints about “Israel’s” failure to remove all its forces from parts of the country that it had occupied for 22 years.
“This constitutes an international acknowledgment of “Israel’s” incomplete implementation of Resolution 425,” President Emile Lahoud said in a statement from Baabda palace.
He expressed “his relief regarding the Security Council’s acknowledgment of the “Israeli” violations along the Lebanese border,” the statement said.
The Security Council admitted on Monday that “Israeli” forces still remained on Lebanese soil in six locations along the border. The violations were included in a report compiled by UNIFIL and delivered to UN headquarters in New York.
Lahoud hoped that international efforts would force “Israel” into pulling out of all 14 border violations recorded by the Lebanese team working with the UN.
“Lebanon has fenced these borders with the blood of its martyrs,” Lahoud said, while affirming Lebanon’s readiness to cooperate fully with the UN.
Speaker Nabih Berri said the Security Council’s report “proved that the policy we’ve followed was sound. This also proves that we need to win the political battle not just the war.
Addressing members of the Journalists’ Union in Ain al-Tineh, Berri said that the violations “were in fact many more than the Security Council admitted and we must follow up on this issue closely ... We must maintain the highest level of vigilance and awareness.”
He also reiterated that Lebanon would continue to regard the withdrawal as incomplete as long as the Shebaa Farms remain under “Israeli” occupation. Any settlement with “Israel”, he insisted, must be based on 1923’s internationally recognized border, and include a solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
He called the “Blue Line,” which UN cartographers were using to confirm withdrawal an “imaginary boundary,” which Lebanon would not accept.
Prime Minister Salim Hoss was briefed on the Security Council’s meeting by Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UN, Salim Tadmuri.
Hoss contended that the work of the Lebanese team was not final because “Israel” was still occupying 14 positions inside Lebanon.
The UNIFIL report said that most violations consisted of “Israeli” Army patrols on roads that entered Lebanese territory. One runs for 150 meters inside Lebanon. The UN instructed “Israel” to block off the road and construct a new route for patrols. It made the same request for another patrol road inside Lebanon for a distance of half a kilometer and some 25 meters north of the Blue Line.
A third road runs above the withdrawal line for 420 meters. The “Israelis” had blocked off this road, but at the wrong places, the report found.
UNIFIL also found three “Israeli” machine gun posts and some observation equipment were wrongly situated on the Lebanese side of the withdrawal line.
The fifth violation witnessed some “Israeli” soldiers deployed in trenches on Lebanese territory, with their tent on the “Israeli” side.
The UN rejected one Lebanese complaint, concerning a strip along the border holding an unoccupied “Israeli” observation tower, and it said an alleged 780-meter border infringement by another “Israeli” patrol track needed further investigation.
Meanwhile, the UN’s border verification team resumed inspections along the “Israeli” side of the frontier on Tuesday, checking whether the “Israelis” have carried out the instructions contained in the UNIFIL report.
There was no word on Tuesday night whether the violations had ended.
Lebanon’s withdrawal verification team, headed by General Amin Hoteit, awaits the results of the UN’s inspection on the “Israeli” side of the frontier before carrying out a final confirmation from the Lebanese side.
Tadmuri said on Tuesday that the UN and Secretary-General Kofi Annan are working hard to resolve “Israeli” border violations as soon as possible.
“The secretariat and special bodies are trying to wrap up the violations issue as soon as possible, but “Israel”, as usual, is procrastinating,” he said .
“The mood at the UN suggests that the secretariat, and the secretary-general in particular, want to end the affair as certain steps pertaining to UNIFIL’s mandate and the implementation of Resolution 425 need to be taken,” he added. “But there is hope that the violations will be resolved as the secretariat is making appropriate moves”

“Israeli” soldiers throw stones at Lebanese border demonstrators…(2)

“ A Lebanese man was hurt Tuesday when “Israeli” soldiers threw stones at a group of youths gathered by Fatima gate on the border, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Ali Taleb needed seven stitches for a head wound suffered as he visited the site, which has become a popular assembly point since the “Israeli” withdrawal from southern Lebanon May 24.

Until this incident, stone throwing over the barbed wire fencing on the border was restricted to the Lebanese side, this being the first time “Israeli” soldiers have reacted with stones instead of rubber bullets.

Since the “Israeli” withdrawal, 13 people have been wounded by “Israeli” fire at the Fatima gate, six Palestinians, four Jordanians, and three Lebanese.

1-       The Daily Star, 28-6-2000.

2-       AFP, 27-6-2000.

  June Thursday 29 -2000:

Hizbullah says it is determined to free prisoners in “Israel”

“Hizbullah’s southern commander, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said that “Israel” had yet to deal with the issue of its violations on the border.
“While “Israel” relied in the past on tension between the Lebanese and the UN, it is now creating obstacles in face of the efforts of the UN,” Qaouk said after meeting Goksel.
Asked about the tensions at Fatima Gate, he said: “Neither the Lebanese government nor Hizbullah is ready to act as police like the Palestinian police in the West Bank and Gaza. We refuse to be border guards for the artificial “Israel” and we’re not ready to contribute to reassuring an enemy which occupied our land for more than 20 years” …(1)

Qauq said that Hizbullah is prepared to use force to free Lebanese prisoners held in “Israel”.

"Hizbullah is determined to obtain, even by force, the freedom of all Lebanese detained in “Israel” and especially two holy warriors, Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustapha Dirani," Qauq told AFP in a statement.

"It is out of the question for Hizbullah to accept making compromises or bending its position on the question of prisoners," he said.

Twenty Lebanese are still held in “Israeli” prisons despite “Israel’s” retreat from south Lebanon on May 24, including some who have already served their prison sentences.

The leaders Obeid and Dirani were captured in 1986 and 1994 respectively by “Israeli” commandos, although neither has been tried. They are kept as bargaining chips to be exchanged for four members of the “Israeli” armed forces who disappeared over Lebanon.

“Israel’s” Supreme Court has ruled that such detentions are illegal but a bill that has received preliminary approval in parliament would legalize the detention by invoking security concerns.

The US-based group Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized the bill, calling the keeping of hostages a war crime…(2)

Goksel said it was the first time that he and Qaouk had met since the end of the occupation. The veteran UNIFIL spokesman said that, other than discussing security and social developments in the south, he and the resistance commander “exchanged memories”…(3)

“Israel’s” Army continued its aggressions on Lebanon…(4)

Assaf Abu Rahal, a photographer with the newspaper Al-Mustaqbal claimed that “Israeli” soldiers fired warning shots at him and two other reporters as he photographed the frontier at a border crossing southeast of Kfar Shouba.
He said eight “Israeli” soldiers then piled into a truck, drove through a gate in the fence, seized his camera and film and warned him to never return to the area.
Witnesses said that unmanned “Israeli” reconnaissance planes, known as drones, were flying over Lebanese territory at the time, in violation of Lebanese airspace. The incident occurred as “Israeli” soldiers erected earthen barricades along a road between two outposts located just inside “Israeli”-occupied Syria. It was unclear whether the roadworks were part of the process of ending the border violations.
The United Nations has reported six cross-border violations by “Israel”. The UN withdrawal inspection team, headed by UNIFIL deputy commander Brigadier General Jim Sreenan, continued inspecting the border from the “Israeli” side on Wednesday. No progress in remedying the violations has been reported so far.

1-     The Daily Star, 29-6-2000.

2-     AFP, 28-6-2000.

3-     The Daily Star, 29-6-2000.

4-     Same source.

  June Friday 30 -2000:

Landmines endanger lives in southern Lebanon

“With an estimated 130,000 land mines scattered in the former occupied zone in the south, victims of the deadly devices seem likely to increase. Reuters reported that United Nations soldiers from the Ukraine have been assigned to start cleaning them as soon as possible, alongside the Lebanese Army. 

“ The funeral of another landmine victim. Twenty-five-year-old Mohammad Hassoun died last week after he stepped on a land mine in south Lebanon. He was the fourth victim since “Israeli” forces withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 24. Mohammad was visiting a demolished “Israeli” position when he stepped on a mine. His father, Mahmoud Mohammad Hassoun, says Lebanon needs international assistance to clear the mines, adding his son was not the first to die. Twelve-year-old Amar Sarhan is one of eleven people to sustain serious injuries. Amar, along with his younger brother and a cousin were exploring an abandoned “Israeli” outpost at Ali Altaher when the mine exploded. He had no idea of the danger that existed. The casualty toll is expected to rise even further and it will be a long time before it is safe to visit all areas in the south. The former “Israeli”-occupied zone is one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. It is littered with mines planted by “Israel” and its now-defunct proxy militia, which have killed and maimed around twenty civilians so far. Unexploded shells still litter the ground. Drivers have to be cautious because roads are lined with minefields. Two girls were killed when the car they were traveling in was blown apart after it ran over a landmine. The Lebanese army says, approximately 130,000 mines and other explosives are scattered over 850 square kilometers in the south. The army has removed mines from a few roads in the area but experts say a wide scale mine sweeping operation needs to be launched before winter. Earlier this week an advanced party of Ukrainian soldiers, mainly mine clearing specialists, arrived in Lebanon as part of 1,000 extra UN peacekeepers. Timor Goksel, spokesman and senior advisor to the UNIFIL says the peacekeepers and the Lebanese army will need to work together and support each other's mine clearing operations. [Timor Goksel, spokesman and senior advisor for UNIFIL, saying: "The first one would be done by UNIFIL and of course if we can get any help from the Lebanese army it will be appreciated. The Lebanese Army will have their hands full trying to deal with mines more inland that endangers civilian population. So we will try not to be a burden on them and do our own mining for military purposes and if we have excess capacity and expertise we will go and help them.] The UN is trying to restrain civilians from moving freely in some areas, where thousands of landmines were planted indiscriminately by occupation troops, especially along former front-line regions. 

1-   Future TV, 29-6-2000.