Jezzine and UN Resolution 520
By: Elias Bejjani

On September 17, 1982 the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution Number 520 condemning the assassination of Bachier Gemayel, Lebanon’s constitutionally elected President-elect, and every effort to disrupt by violence the restoration of a strong, stable government in Lebanon. For those who did not see the resolution, it reads as follows:
The Security Council having listened to the statement by the Permanent Representatives of Lebanon and taking note of Lebanon’s determination to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon agreed on:
Reaffirms its resolutions 508 (1982), 509 (1982) and 516 (1982) in all their components;
1-Condemns the recent Israeli incursions into Beirut in violation of the cease-fire agreements and the Security Council resolutions;
2-Demands an immediate return to the positions occupied by Israel before 15 September 1982, as a first step towards the full implementation of Security Council resolutions;
3-Calls again for the strict respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence under the sole and exclusive authority of the Lebanese Government through the Lebanese Army throughout Lebanon;
4-Reaffirms its resolutions 512 (1982) and 513 (1982) which call for respect for the rights of the civilian populations without any discrimination and repudiates all acts of violence against those populations;
5-Supports the efforts of the Secretary-General to implement Security Council resolution 516 (1982) concerning the deployment of United Nations observers to monitor the situation in and around Beirut and requests all the parties concerned to co-operate fully in the application of that resolution;
6- Decides to remain sized of the question and asks the Secretary-General to keep the Council informed on developments as soon as possible and not later than twenty-four hours.

As we can see, the resolution is self-explanatory, it calls for the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon and for the respect of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It does not differentiate between Syrian, Israeli or Palestinian troops, they all have to leave. For this simple reason Syria is terrorizing the Lebanese people and the Arab Countries not to even mention resolution 520.

Syria, after it ousted in 1990 Lebanon’s legitimate government of General Michel Aoun by military bloody means, forced its Lebanese installed puppet regime to focus on UN resolution 425. In its clause # two, resolution 425 calls upon Israel immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory. It does not mention the Syrians by name, which in fact suits the Syrian scheme.

The Syrians, whose ultimate scheme is to annex Lebanon, refuse to give Israel any chance or justification to withdraw from South Lebanon and keep on blocking any venues in this track. They want the status quo in the area to remain as is. They want Israel to maintain its occupation to South Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights, so they can justify their barbaric ongoing occupation to 90 % of Lebanon and their full hegemony on its regime. They are not hiding their vicious plans for the annexation of Lebanon any more; on the contrary they are making this issue look through Lebanon’s controlled mercenary media as a norm and as a fate that has already been decided.

In this treacherous context the Syrians and their Lebanese installed regime are aborting all efforts to bring Jezzine back to the sovereignty of Lebanon. Israel has already proposed and more then once withdrawn from Jezzine and its suburbs if the Lebanese government guarantees certain security measures. The last offer came from General Antoine Lahed leader for the South Lebanon Army.

On Saturday September 19/1998. Lahed said, " My army is prepared to pull out from Jezzine if the Lebanese State takes over and commits to banning access to armed groups and preventing the region from being used as a base for operations against us". Lebanese officials rejected the offer instantly as they have rejected before other similar initiatives taken by General Lehad and Israel.

The Jezzine inhabitants in particular and the Lebanese Southerns in general are the actual victims in this merciless, bloody, endless game of the regional expansionism struggle between Israel and Syria. The Israelis and the Syrians rhetorically appear to be enemies, but when it comes to the Lebanese issue they are in reality more than allies and seem to co-ordinate intimately all their vicious efforts to keep Lebanon under their mutual occupation. The Jazzine civilian inhabitants have been exposed to ongoing massacres for the last ten years. Many of them including children and elderly have been murdered by detonated side road bombs. The killings are executed according to a well-orchestrated vicious plan in which Israel, Syria, Lebanon’s regime and the Lebanese guerrillas are all involved. It seems that the evacuation of Jezzine from its original inhabitants is the mutual scheme among all these parties. Currently less than five thousand Lebanese citizens remain in Jezzine and its suburbs, while the actual number is more than fifty thousand.

It is worth mentioning that Jezzine is not included in the UN resolution 425 and there are no Israeli troops in the city. Some 300 Lebanese security men are still in Jezzine and they continue to practice their routine duties (representing the Beirut Government) as in any other Lebanese city under the Lebanese flag. Security wise Jezzine is under the control of South Lebanon Army lead by General Lahed. Lahed is offering to withdraw, but all his proposals have been rejected.

The Jezzine dilemma as well the South crisis must be entrusted immediately and completely to the United Nations and the International Community. South Lebanon deserves freedom from the Syrian- Iranian-Israeli war on its soil. The Lebanese people need full UN help in the implementation of Resolution 520 without any Syrian role or Israeli obstacles. Let the Syrians handle their own problems, fight their own wars on the Syrian soil, liberate their own occupied Golan Heights through guerrillas or other means they chose, and let the Israelis solve their conflicts with Syria away from the Lebanese and the Lebanese people We ask the UN and the free countries in the world and the Arab countries to protect us from Israel, as well as from the Syrians and their Installed Lebanese regime.

All the efforts of those who believe in democracy, free choice, free will and in Human Rights should consolidate and focus on the implementation of the Resolution 520 to reclaim back the holy land of Lebanon... the land that was blessed by the son of God, Jesus and by his mother the Virgin Mary, the Lebanon that was mentioned in the Bible 75 times and whose great Phoenician people gave the world its first Alphabet. God Bless Lebanon and save it, and bless all those who work hard to help it reclaim its freedom and independence.

Long Live Free Lebanon
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