I thank the Minister for coming in to take this motion on the Adjournment. There is a need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to give a commitment to ensure that the Irish battalion of UNIFIL remain on duty in the Lebanon and to exert pressure at home and abroad on the United Nations to pay to Ireland any moneys due for services rendered with UNIFIL.
It is appropriate that we should discuss this motion at a time when there seems to be confusion as to what is going to happen and equally there is, on the part of the Lebanese people, worry that the UNIFIL mandate might not be continued. We had a delegation from the Lebanon here some weeks ago. It was made up of people from the Sunni, the Shi-ite, the Maronite Catholics and Roman Catholics. The only thread running through the delegation was their interest in seeing that the UNIFIL mandate would be renewed and to thank the Irish troops in particular for the role they have played in the Lebanon.
In the Lebanon at present there is a fear that the mandate might not be renewed. The United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon was created by Security Council Resolution 425 of March, 1978, for the purpose of confirming the withdrawal of Israeli forces, restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of their effective authority in the area, the force to be composed of personnel drawn from member states of the United Nations.
Since 1978 the UNIFIL forces have operated in South Lebanon but unfortunately, because of a number of factors, the effective carrying out of their mandate has been very difficult. The main problem in South Lebanon is, of course, the continuing presence of Israeli personnel and equipment in the area and the presence of Israeli armed, paid and uniformed de facto forces in the area. In the early days the DFF were led by Major Haddad and latterly by General Lahad. Under their command there has been consistent harrassment of UNIFIL troops.
The hope of the Israeli defence forces and of the DFF is that, because of the harrassment and seeing lack of progress in fulfilling the United Nations mandate, the United Nations will pull her troops from the area. Israel wants to keep a presence in South Lebanon and, effectively, because she has not abided by resolutions 425 and 426 she has created a cordon sanitaire to the south of the UNIFIL area of operation.
What I have said here is not my opinion alone. It is equally the opinion of the Lebanese Government, the Lebanese people and it was expressed no later than 5 June by Major el Haj, the Lebanese Ambassador to Ireland, speaking to the British Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House. He said:
There is no need to enumerate in detail the long list of aggressive acts committed by Israel against Lebanon, the repeated attacks to undermine the authority of the Lebanese state and to weaken public institutions; destroy the economy; sow the seeds of dissension among communities that have lived in peace and harmony through the centuries; provoke hostilities with resulting mass exodus of the population; and impose a reign of terror through an "iron-fist" policy directed against innocent people. When all is said and done, the principles that must concern us all are those of sovereignty and independence, against which Israel has acted with tragic results in terms of lives lost and impaired.
If anyone is under the false illusion that the Israelis have withdrawn to within their own borders a quick check of the Irish battalion area would show the actual situation on the ground. There are five Israeli backed militia posts inside the Irish area of operations. These posts inside the UNIFIL area, form a zig-zag line which the Israelis intend to have as their northern border. The number of incidents involving DFF and IDF in the UNIFIL area is increasing at an alarming rate and these incidents are becoming more and more dangerous. Houses are being blown up, people are being murdered and kidnapped and at night the DFF have adopted a surveillance-by-fire method of deterring movement, by random spraying of the wadis or hollows with automatic fire.
The escalation of incidents against the local population again is an attempt to force the locals from the area and so make it easier for Israeli occupation. The majority of the population in the area are the Shia Muslims and there is a significant Christian community there also. The Shia Muslims and Christian communities have, in the main, lived in peace and harmony with each other and this is very noticeable in the villages in that both commerce and social contact are carried on in a normal manner and that at night the local population come out and promenade up and down the village and everything looks as normal as any promenade at a European seaside resrt. The local population have a very good relationship built up with the UNIFIL forces and they readily acknowledge that the presence of UNIFIL in the area has brought a stability that is quite noticeable. The UNIFIL presence also brings an influence for peace and decency in the area.
Agriculture is the main support of the economy of the south as three quarters of the population rely on it for their livelihood, especially on the growth of tobacco and citrus fruit. This vital sector of the south's economy today suffers gravely from the impact of the occupation mainly at the level of employment displacement and forced migrations, in addition to a slump in the marketing of agricultural products. This has in turn led to a serious deterioration of the region's economic life and a stagnation in the agricultural area. Production has dropped and unemployment has increased in the area but in the UNIFIL area agriculture is being carried on. It is very noticeable that people are returning to the area and are building houses and engaging in commerce. The presence of the UNIFIL forces in the area is not only military in nature but there is also practical day-to-day aid being given to the locals on a humanitarian and medical basis and, indeed, the battalions have often been called in to serve as mediators in many a local dispute.
I have no doubt that there is a grave need to ensure the continuing presence of UNIFIL in Lebanon. The Ambassador said, and I agree with him totally:
No one questions the right of any country to guarantee its own security, but this must be done within its own internationally recognised borders. Equally, it is an inalienable right for the people of any sovereign country to resist the occupation of their national territory, as the Lebanese have been doing. Neutral foreign observers and reporters have agreed that the Lebanese national resistance is always attacking only military targets, and thus we must forcibly condemn, as would any civilised people, the retaliation carried out against innocent people. This retaliation has taken the ugliest of forms — killing innocent women, children and elderly people, placing villages under siege, imposing curfews, mass arrests, mass forced expulsion, mass interrogation, beatings, demolition of houses, damage to property and violation of places of worship and hospitals.
Moreover, local inhabitants are not the only victims of Israeli aggression. Members of the UNIFIL contingents have been frequent targets and victims of Israel's "military" activity in the area. UNIFIL has been subjected to a systematic campaign of aggression and harrassment to force its withdrawal and allow for Israeli control of the area. Such a campaign reflects Israel's avowed policy of refusing to implement UN resolutions concerning the situation in South Lebanon.
There is a growing resistance movement in the South of Lebanon. The Shia Amal movement there has been the predominant influence in the current mandate area but there is a definite growth of support for Hizbullah or Party of God movement which is led by Sheik Fadballah and which is more radical in its approach to resistance. Israel should herself realise that it is in her best interests to have a UNIFIL presence in Lebanon. I feel that, and this feeling is confirmed by many observers of the scene, the proper deployment area for UNIFIL is on the border between Israel and Lebanon and that the presence should continue as long as the sovereignty of Lebanon is threatened by the Israelis. The State of Israel has never been threatened by the Lebanese even though there have been attacks made on Israel from the Lebanon, but these attacks were as nothing by comparison with the murderous air, sea and land attacks by Israel on mainly innocent people and on highly populated cities, towns and refugee camps. The most responsible way for the Israelis to act would be to withdraw to within her own international borders and to stop supporting the undisciplined and murderous DFF. I appeal to the Minister to use all his influence to ensure an extension of the United Nations mandate in Lebanon.
On a recent visit to the Lebanon it was easy to see the value to the country that comes from a peaceful environment and equally wasy to see the result of breakdown in effective Government. In the UNIFIL area one could see that their presence instils confidence and pride and hope for the future. Outside the area one can see the results of outside interference in the nation's affairs — stagnation of agriculture, demise of business, lack of confidence in the future, a galloping inflation rate, sinking currency value and the growth of anarchy. I fully agree that it is not the mandate of UNIFIL to regulate the atmosphere in which people live — nor to set up a mini statelet in which people can live in relative peace and security oblivious of what is happening in the other areas of Lebanon. The United Nations should grasp the nettle which is Lebanon. Too many people have written off Lebanon because of the situation which pertains in West Beirut, and it has to be realised that the situation in Beirut is in the main a reactive one and not a causative one. The cause of conflict in the Lebanon is exacerbated by continued Israeli presence and aggression.
On a visit prior to the recent one to the Lebanon about 11 months ago, I met all of the leaders in the Lebanese political and religious scene. The one thread that was going through all their arguments from President Gemayel to Prime Minister Karami to Hussein el Husseini, to Nabli Berri, to Sheikh Chemseidin, to Sheikh Fadballah, to the Mufti of Beirut, was that they want to see the Lebanon come together again as a sovereign state. They equally agree that the problems in the Beirut area are problems which have been created by the destabilisation of the state of Lebanon by outside influences. They equally feel that the Israelis are the only outside influence who were not invited in. The UNIFIL troops had been invited in and the Syrians were invited in. The only people who were not invited to the Lebanon were the Israelis. I am not suggesting that if the Israelis went overnight out of Lebanon everything in the garden would be rosy. One would have to be very naive to think that in a country which is so badly broken up at present, so factionalised and in which law and order has broken down to a large degree, that immediately the Israelis moved out peace would ensue. Peace can ensue to the Lebanon but it will be a long hard job.
Israel was created by a vote of the United Nations but has never abided by United Nations resolutions. It is strange to think that a country which was set up, the only country which was actually set up by the United Nations will not agree to abide by any resolution and has not fulfilled the wishes of the United Nations. There would appear to have been put forward a viewpoint that Irish troops should be withdrawn from Lebanon due to non-payment of funds from the United Nations. I fully realise that a large sum of money is due to Ireland and that under our own current financial difficulties it is extremely difficult to justify a continuing drain on the public purse. When one looks at the amount of money that is owed and one divides it up into the number of years over which it is owed it is a very significant amount in terms of an annual subvention to a peacekeeping force in such a tragic area as the Lebanon.
The United Nations must realise that Ireland plays a very major part in its peace-keeping work and the large nations must pay what is requested of them. The United States as a very large contributor must accept its responsibilities to the world community and not reduce its contribution. There is talk of an East European involvement in the Lebanon and there has been talk of Warsaw troops being placed in the South of Lebanon in the cordon sanitaire. I would sincerely hope that any involvement from East Europe would be a two-fold involvement, on the one hand, an involvement of troops within UNIFIL and a cash involvement by those countries not involved on the ground in the Lebanon. The United Nations responsibility for what happens is enormous and the Irish Government as a whole must pressurise with every possible speed and influence the United Nations to ensure the future of Lebanon as a sovereign country. To ensure the future of Lebanon as a sovereign country should be one of the major jobs that the United Nations should get involved in in the near future. There is every danger that what will happen in the Lebanon is that one will see an extension of the Israeli border on the one hand and a fragmentation of the rest of Lebanon into mini statelets ruled over by factions without a central authority. From the point of view of democracy this would be very bad.
As the Ambassador said recently:
The crucial points to remember are that an act of aggression has been committed against Lebanon, a sovereign and independent state which is one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945 and that the principability of inviobility of sovereign territory guaranteed by the United Nations Charter has been breached by Israeli actions. It must not be forgotten that in the world today there are border problems; and we may well ask what the state of international affairs would be if every country were to usurp territory beyond its own borders in order to create a ‘security zone'. Naturally we should face chaos in the international community and the whole edifice of international law would be destroyed. Lebanon has received repeated assurances from the international community that here sovereignty, integrity and unity are of primary concern. It is now more urgent than ever to have a concomitant initiative on the part of the friends of Lebanon to fulfil this goal. Pressure must be brought to bear on Israel to comply fully with the decision of the international community that she should withdraw completely from Lebanon by removing every vestige of Israeli occupation, in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions on Lebanon, especially 425. I feel certain that all of you this evening share Lebanon's ideals of justice, freedom and democracy and will continue to provide much needed support that Lebanon needs from her friends,
On a personal basis I have seen the operations of UNIFIL in the Lebanon and have marvelled at the expertise, professionalism and compassion of the Irish troops in particular. Six months in the Lebanon is no holiday and there is no doubt in my mind that the training the Irish troops get here in Ireland has enabled them to conduct themselves under pressure, in an exemplary manner while serving in a peace maintaining role abroad. Ireland can be very proud of her troops abroad. They fulfil a vital role in their area of operation and this is recognised by the local inhabitants and by the other contingents of soldiers who make up UNIFIL.
My final plea to the Minister this evening is that the desperate plight of the Lebanese people is realised and acted upon not only from a military viewpoint but more importantly from a humanitarian one.
