Efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon have met with success, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams tells Omayma Abdel-Latif Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly from his office in Baabda, Lebanon, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams, appointed to oversee the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, described the resolution as a "great success", adding that "three-and-a-half years since the resolution was issued in August 2006 there has been remarkable stability along the Blue Line with Israel, contrasting with the previous 30 years when there was some incident every year." Sounding optimistic about the situation in Lebanon, Williams said he hoped that this success would be continued in 2010, which he hoped would see further progress. Williams is due to submit his report assessing the implementation of Resolution 1701 to the UN Security Council in March this year, and he hopes that this report will include an Israeli pullout from northern Ghaajar, a village liberated in 2000 when Israel withdrew from Lebanon, but reoccupied by the Israeli army in the 2006 war. Williams has thrown his weight behind such a pullout, crucial, he believes, to the implementation of the UN Resolution. Over the past few months, the UN and UNIFIL have been engaged in painstaking negotiations with the Israelis over a pullout from Ghaajar. "We have made progress, but not enough because the solution is very clear: Israel has to withdraw from the village," Williams said. Discussions have dealt with humanitarian and technical issues, such as the supply of electricity, agreed to come from Israel with water being supplied from Lebanon, and access by ambulances from the occupied Palestinian territories. What Williams would like to see is "an absolute commitment" from the Israelis to a definite date for withdrawal, as well as "a sign of goodwill and real intentions from the Israelis," which, according to Williams, is "not available at the moment". Following the July war in 2006, the UN secretary-general established the post of UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon in February 2007, with Williams being the second person to occupy the post. Since his appointment, Williams's efforts to reach out to the various political forces in Lebanon and his visits to the south of the country have given credibility to the UN's work in Lebanon, which at times has been undermined by the actions of other UN officials, such as the controversial Terry Rod Larsen, overseer of UN Resolution 1559. On 24 January, Williams met with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, but according to press reports the issue of an Israeli pullout was not raised, Ayalon saying in earlier statements that any decision for an Israeli pullout from Ghaajar would need further discussion. However, according to Williams UN and Lebanese patience is running thin on the matter. "I know on the Lebanese side that there is great impatience, and this is across the political spectrum," he said. Although Williams acknowledges that the issue is perhaps not of prime importance, efforts towards a settlement of the Ghaajar village issue also have much higher goals. In Williams's view, were Israel to withdraw unconditionally from the northern parts of the village, this could build confidence in discussing other outstanding issues, such as the Shebaa Farms, the Israeli fly zone and disarmament. One of Williams's goals in 2010 is to move from the current status of a cessation of hostilities to a ceasefire, and he has raised this issue in meetings with Lebanese politicians and Hizbullah. "Hizbullah has made it clear to me that they are not opposed to a ceasefire, but only if this is on the 'correct terms', these being an Israeli withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms and Ghaajar," Williams told the Weekly. He defended the need to move to a ceasefire because a ceasefire would "have force in international law" and "would be a great protection for Lebanon and its people". Yet, despite Williams's optimism some observers have argued that there may be another war on Lebanon's southern borders before there is a ceasefire. Israeli officials have recently been escalating their war of words with Lebanon and Hizbullah, threatening the possibility of war. For its part, Hizbullah has been boasting about its readiness to confront any future Israeli aggression. The civilian population in southern Lebanon is haunted by the ghosts of the previous war, and people make no secret of their fears of another conflict. Williams himself expresses concern about the intelligence war taking place between Hizbullah and Israel, reflected in incidents including the mysterious explosions at an arms depot in the village of Kherbet Selem and the discovery of spying devices planted by the Israeli army in the village of Hola. According to Williams, the UN has conducted its own investigation into the Kherbet Selem incident, which found that the "arms depot belonged to Hizbullah". For the UN, it did not matter whether the arms were from "the French mandate in the 1920s or the modern period; it was still a violation of Resolution 1701 because this does not refer to old weapons, but refers to all weapons," he said. The incident of the Israeli espionage devices is equally worrying, he said, since "I can understand the concerns of people in the south who see these things happening." Such incidents, Williams said, risk taking the situation in the south in the wrong direction, such that "we are seeing more violations of the resolution and 1701 [will] become more fragile." However, despite such gloomy prospects, Williams believes that neither Israel nor Hizbullah want to see a resumption of military activities or another war. Even when there were a number of rocket attacks on northern Palestine "that were clearly violations of the resolution," both Hizbullah and Israel acted to contain the incidents within hours. Asked about the relationship between Hizbullah and the UN, Williams described Hizbullah as being "a very important Lebanese political party", with which he conducts regular meetings on all domestic and regional issues. However, Hizbullah charges the UN with being inherently biased towards Israel, with the resistance movement's officials repeatedly accusing the UN of turning a blind eye to Israeli violations and highlighting any minor violation by Hizbullah. Williams said that he had repeatedly been told by Hizbullah that "the UN has not done enough with the Israelis." One of the issues regularly raised in meetings between Hizbullah and the UN is Israeli air violations, he said. In response to such complaints, Williams said that he rejected the view that the UN was biased towards Israel. In fact, he said, there had been daily violations by Israel of Resolution 1701, including air-space violations, the occupation of northern Ghaajar and the occupation of the Shebaa Farms. All three issues had been reported in UN assessment reports on the implementation of Resolution 1701. "I have said publicly that it is difficult for me to think of another country in the world which is subject to so much intrusion and surveillance as Lebanon. So it is not me being sympathetic with Hizbullah on this issue; it is simply an objective assessment," he said. Williams also dismissed Israeli press reports that the UN had been informed by the Israelis that Israel would continue its espionage activities in Lebanon. "I cannot confirm this myself, but in a way one does not need to confirm this report because the reality is there almost daily when you look at the skies," he said. Williams praised efforts towards national reconciliation in Lebanon, which he believed were "of vital importance and were genuine". Syrian- Lebanese relations had seen a remarkable improvement as a result of the visit of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri to Damascus last December, he said, adding that "the relationship between Syria and Lebanon is now on a very firm, sound and healthy basis." Summing up the UN mandate in Lebanon, Williams said that, "we want to do all we can to support the Lebanese government and people." For a veteran diplomat used to working in conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the task might not prove impossible.
