INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS

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Why does Israel object to "international observers" in the West Bank and Gaza?

A cursory glance at history shows that the reason for Israel's objection is the same as for Arafat's enthusiasm: International observers will not protect the cease-fire, but will provide cover for Palestinian Arabs to violate it. The long record of international observers in the Arab-Israeli conflict is unblemished by a single sustained example of basic fairness toward Israel, let alone protection from Arab aggression.

Here is a brief history of "international observers" and their role in Israel's concerns for its security and defense:

• On April 13, 1948, a convoy of ambulances and armored buses headed for Hadassah Hospital came under attack from hostile Arabs. British troops "observed", doing nothing to assist or summon help, for seven hours while 78 Jewish doctors, nurses, academics, and students were massacred and their bodies mutilated.
  
  
• After the 1948 War for Israel's Independence, UN observers were assigned to the cease-fire lines. Arab terrorists, the fedayeen, violated the cease fire and staged many hundreds of attacks on Israel between 1949 and the Six Day War in 1967 from Egyptian-held Gaza, from the West Bank held by Jordan, and from Syria. The international force did not stop the attacks and the Arab countries supporting them were not sanctioned. But Israel's reprisals were criticized in the UN or elsewhere.
  
  
• Immediately prior to the Six Day War, Egypt's Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, to withdraw. Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand leaving Israel exposed to Egypt's military build-up on Israel's border.
  
  
• In August 1970, during the War of Attrition with Egypt, Israel detected that Egypt had violated an American-brokered cease-fire agreement by moving advanced Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile batteries up to the Suez Canal. It took three weeks before the US Department of State admitted that violations had occurred, creating an intolerable vulnerability gap for Israel.
  
  
• UNIFIL was established on the Israel-Lebanon border, after Israel's 1978 Litani River Operation to secure Southern Lebanon, based on UN Security Council Resolution 425. In the decades it has been in place, UNIFIL has not interfered with Hezbollah attacks on Israel, but has issued reports for the UN to use to sanction Israel for retaliation. On October 7, 2000 three IDF soldiers were abducted by Hesbollah near a UNIFIL position, an event that was witnessed by UNIFIL personnel who may have even been involved.
  
  
• UNSCOM, the UN monitoring effort in Iraq, failed to detect or stop Saddam Hussein's development of weapons of mass destruction. During the Gulf War in 1991, Scud missiles were launched against Israel right over the heads of the UN observers.
  
  
• The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), in place since the 1994 Hebron Agreement, has not stopped violence against Israelis in the Hebron area under its scrutiny. TIPH has been accused of a clear bias in favor of the Palestinain Arabs.

Yasser Arafat favors international observers, especially if they can be deployed without a firm committment to a Palestinian Arab cease-fire, because they will tend to reward his policy of violence. Israel has been repeatedly attacked and its only defense is to maintain some defensive control over the areas where the attacks originate. As history has shown, the observers will limit Israels defense options without limiting the use of terror against Israel. In Arafat's calculus, observers will freeze the lines and allow him to proceed with diplomatic ploys to extend the gains. If diplomacy fails, he can resort to terror again as he has repeatedly. For Israel, it is a salami game where they lose slice by slice until the whole is gone. Israel may eventually accept observers, either because of intense international pressure, or if and when the observers are introduced along with appropriate guarantees and protections.

Sources and additional reading on this topic:

• Why Israel Rejects 'Observers'
• International Observers in Israel
• Israel deflects international call for observer force