And once again the UN has failed ‘we the people’

Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering a NATO-led multilateral force constituting of European Union members to eradicate Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and to contain threats to Israel’s own peace and security.

By conceding to Germany and France’s request for a multilateral presence in Lebanon, Israel gives the appearance of welcoming international intervention.

But in co-operating with NATO rather than UN forces, Israel sidelines the interests of UN-member nations like Syria or Iran, while appeasing Germany, France, the United States and the United Kingdom, four major NATO powers and three being permanent members of the UN Security Council.

And in negotiating this solution to the Israel-Lebanon crisis, Israel and the United States have exploited a slow eight-day response by the Secretary-General and inadequacies within the Security Council structure.

The result is that the UN has failed to contain the violence in Lebanon and it continues not to contain peace and security in the region. By way of missed opportunities, the United Nations has failed “we the people”, including the neighbours of Lebanon, to secure an escalating international humanitarian and political crisis.