15/06/2006
stampa
invia
stampainvia
No decrease in tension: UN extends its mission in the Golan Heights
The United Nations Security Council has extended for six more months the UN peacekeeping
mission in the Golan Heights, an area claimed by both Israel and Syria. UN peacekeepers
currently number a thousand; they have been stationed there since 1974.
“Essential Presence”. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to prolong the mission due to
continuing tension between the contending parties. The decision follows shortly
after the release of a regional report, presented by Secretary General Kofi Annan,
which stated that the presence of the Disengagement Observer Force was “essential”
to maintaining the current ceasefire. Both Damascus and Tel Aviv have accepted
the mission’s extension, which would otherwise have ended within a month. Annan
made note of a budget deficit of 30 million dollars for the force, as member nations
have not been paying their obligations to the international body.
Contested Territory. The Golan Heights is a strip of land between Lake Tiberias and Mount Hermon,
between Syria and Israel. The Heights are important both commercially and militarily,
for their water resources and strategic location. Many cities in Israel could
be struck from the Heights, which are also important as a crossroads between the
two countries. Until the Civil War in Lebanon in 1975, the Trans Arabian Pipeline carried petroleum through the Heights from the Saudi oil fields to the Mediterranean.
Israeli occupied the area during the Six Days War in 1967, forcing over 100,000
civilians to abandon their homes. In 1973, Syria under Hafez Assad attempted to
retake the Heights during the Yom Kippur War, an effort that ended with Israel’s
annexation of the entire region in 1982, at which time tens of thousands of Arab
and Druse residents received Israeli citizenship. Syria still claims the region,
considering it an extension of the small city of Quneitra, which was returned
to Damascus in 1974, and has become a ghostly museum of the Israeli occupation.
“Essential Presence”. The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to prolong the mission due to
continuing tension between the contending parties. The decision follows shortly
after the release of a regional report, presented by Secretary General Kofi Annan,
which stated that the presence of the Disengagement Observer Force was “essential”
to maintaining the current ceasefire. Both Damascus and Tel Aviv have accepted
the mission’s extension, which would otherwise have ended within a month. Annan
made note of a budget deficit of 30 million dollars for the force, as member nations
have not been paying their obligations to the international body.Contested Territory. The Golan Heights is a strip of land between Lake Tiberias and Mount Hermon,
between Syria and Israel. The Heights are important both commercially and militarily,
for their water resources and strategic location. Many cities in Israel could
be struck from the Heights, which are also important as a crossroads between the
two countries. Until the Civil War in Lebanon in 1975, the Trans Arabian Pipeline carried petroleum through the Heights from the Saudi oil fields to the Mediterranean.
Israeli occupied the area during the Six Days War in 1967, forcing over 100,000
civilians to abandon their homes. In 1973, Syria under Hafez Assad attempted to
retake the Heights during the Yom Kippur War, an effort that ended with Israel’s
annexation of the entire region in 1982, at which time tens of thousands of Arab
and Druse residents received Israeli citizenship. Syria still claims the region,
considering it an extension of the small city of Quneitra, which was returned
to Damascus in 1974, and has become a ghostly museum of the Israeli occupation.The Farms of Shebaa. Kofi Annan has recently written the Lebanese premier Fouad Siniora, inviting
Beirut authorities to accept a UN mission in the Shebaa Farms territory, in anticipation
of a border agreement. The Shebaa Farms are situated between the Golan Heights
and Lebanon. Lebanon claims them, but Israel insists that it annexed the farms
also in 1981. The area is currently under the control of the militant organization
Hezbollah, which refuses to lay down its arms and continues to contest the presence
of Israel in an area where Israel has carried out numerous incursions into Lebanese
territory.
Naoki Tomasini
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