Posted on 08/10/2003 11:47:23 AM PDT by yonif
Responding to Hezbollah's fourth cross-border attack in the last three days, which killed a 16-year-old boy and injured several other Israelis, Dore Gold, an advisor to the Prime Minister's office stated that Israel holds Lebanon, Syria and Iran directly responsible for Hezbollah's new wave of terror.
"Both Lebanon and Syria are acting in defiance of United Nations resolutions," the former United Nations ambassador, told The Jerusalem Post.
"In May 2000, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425 to a physical line that was recognized by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council as a fulfillment of Israel's obligations," Gold said. "Resolution 425 additionally called for the restoration of international security along the Israeli-Lebanese border, a condition which is continually being undermined by Lebanon, Syria and Iran."
Gold says that Israel finds itself in an "Orwellian paradox" where the current president of the UN Security Council, the body which is supposed to safeguard international peace and security, is a Syrian and yet represents a country which "harbors and sponsors" international terrorism.
Gold stated that Syria as a state does not communicate to Israel, but in its capacity as president of the Security Council, it is now forced to talk to Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman and will be confronted directly over the present Hezbollah terror attacks.
"Mikhail Wehbe, the Syrian ambassador to the UN, who serves as the rotating president of the UN Security Council this month, will have to contend with the inherent contradictions that emanate from Syria's current UN Security Council presidency," said Gold.
Gold believes that future developments on Israel's northern border will be very much effected by the extent to which leading players in the international community such as Russia, EU and Japan pressure Syria to desist from it's extremely risky behavior.
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