Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called on Lebanon to implement UN Resolution 1701, which effectively calls for replacing Hezbollah’s presence in southern Lebanon with the deployment of the Lebanese army, according to the text of the resolution that followed the escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, and within the framework of international efforts to ensure stability in southern Lebanon, during the 2006 war.
But what is surprising today is that Netanyahu’s appetite for this resolution has become open, and Lebanon and the world are now demanding that it be implemented, even though he (Netanyahu) has not shown, throughout his years in power, any commitment to implementing any of the United Nations resolutions, neither in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, nor even in other areas related to the conflicts in our Arab surroundings.
Since taking office, Netanyahu and his various governments have adopted policies characterized by rejection and contempt for UN resolutions,
and Israel often sees these resolutions as biased against its security interests. Netanyahu’s team itself adopts a skeptical view of the UN as an international body, accusing it of bias in favor of the Palestinians, to the point that his representative to the UN has gone beyond the pale of speech on several occasions, by insisting on insulting it and accusing it of corruption, collusion, and being carried away by what he called the dreams of the Palestinians. Therefore, the contradiction between Netanyahu’s call to implement Resolution 1701 and his failure to commit himself to implementing any of the resolutions of international legitimacy raises questions about the extent of his seriousness in achieving this goal, as Netanyahu only views UN resolutions when they are in line with his political and security interests.
Since its establishment, the United Nations has adopted many resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, in addition to halting its settlement
policies. However, Israel has not implemented these resolutions, but rather continued to strengthen its presence in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and impose its siege on the Gaza Strip. Therefore, Netanyahu’s demand that Lebanon abide by an international resolution while he and his government ignore more than 1,701 resolutions issued by Arab, regional and international institutions related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, makes this call ambiguous, and even increases doubts about his true intentions.
On another note, Netanyahu recently called on the residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate to safe areas, as part of preparations for a possible military operation in the region. This call came after the escalation of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, and mutual threats to launch attacks. But here lies the great irony: when Israel called on the residents of the Gaza Strip on more than one occasion to evacuate to areas that were allegedly safe, during the repeated military operations in the Strip,
those areas were directly bombed, which led to a large number of civilian casualties. The tragedy was not limited to the bombing only, but the displaced residents were unable to return to their lands and homes in most cases, due to the massive destruction and the ongoing siege.
Today, Netanyahu is talking about ‘returning the population to their lands’ after the end of the military operation in southern Lebanon, but this was not the scenario that occurred in Gaza, as I mentioned earlier. The people of Gaza who were displaced to areas declared safe became fuel for Netanyahu’s war, and were unable to return to their normal lives, and may not return after the end of the military operations. This recurring pattern only confirms Israel’s lack of seriousness in protecting civilians and ensuring their return to their homes after the wars. The Gazan experience remains fresh in people’s minds, as the Strip has been living under a stifling siege for years, and the areas destroyed by military operations are suffering f
rom the continuous erasure of their landmarks.
Therefore, the repeated calls made by Israel for the residents of Gaza to move to safe areas were nothing more than a cover to justify the large-scale military operations that destroyed the infrastructure and caused severe harm to civilians. Therefore, Netanyahu’s call for the residents of southern Lebanon to move appears to be a repetition of the same scenario that the people of Gaza experienced.
In light of these experiences, it can be said that Netanyahu’s call to the residents of southern Lebanon carries within it the same contradictions and duality that characterized his policies towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The call for displacement under the pretext of providing security comes in the context of the use of military force that left no room for diplomatic or political solutions. Moreover, promises to return residents to their lands after military operations do not in fact carry any guarantees, especially in light of the previous experiences of
the Palestinians in Gaza, where they are still suffering from the effects of destruction and displacement after years of wars.
The bottom line is that Netanyahu’s policies toward Lebanon and Gaza are essentially identical: they rely on the use of military force as the primary tool to achieve political and security goals, while ignoring the basic human rights of the civilian population. This contradiction between the call to adhere to UN resolutions in Lebanon, especially Resolution 1701, and the blatant disregard for its resolutions on Palestine, makes it difficult to see these calls as part of a comprehensive strategy to achieve peace and stability.
Netanyahu the fox cannot believe in international legitimacy or human rights. He has been killing the components of human life in order to please his instincts and crush the rights of Palestinians and Arabs. Do we see a radical change in the way the United Nations is dealing with the occupation, as these words are being written? Or is humanity as a whole experi
encing a new round of past and present failures? Expectations are not high, of course, but we have to wait and see!
Note: The article is supported by artificial intelligence techniques.
Source: Maan News Agency