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Backgrounder: Multilateral Intervention in the Middle East: An Uninspiring Legacy

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Michael Moran, Executive Editor
July 24, 2006

Introduction

Negotiations over a possible multilateral military buffer force in southern Lebanon to separate Hezbollah fighters from the northern Israeli frontier take place against a backdrop of numerous failed international missions. Since the United Nations voted to grant independence to separate Jewish and Arab states on the territory of the expiring British Mandate of Palestine in 1947, a variety of international military forces, assembled by the UN itself and by ad hoc coalitions, have sought to intervene, patrol, quell, or otherwise pacify what came to be known simply as “the Middle East conflict.” Some of them briefly stabilized or changed the situation, but all ultimately failed in their primary aim, succumbing either to the violence of factions opposed to their presence, or to irrelevance as events and their lack of authority overtook their mandates.

What kind of force is being discussed?

Reversing decades of Israeli opposition to the subject, Israel’s current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he might be willing to consider proposals floated in recent days for a strong European-led peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon along with a contingent of soldiers from moderate Arab states. The United States, too, appears to be warming to the idea. But experts point out U.S. commitments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere and Washington’s poor standing in the Arab world likely mean no American troops would be involved. Though the composition of such a force is not clear, German, French, and Italian officials who have been meeting Israeli and Lebanese government leaders say a UN-sanctioned force that separated the warring parties would be a minimum requirement. The force might also seek to help Lebanon’s fragile national army extend its writ in the region. A more aggressive mandate would also include enforcement of UN resolution 1559, calling for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.