ITALIAN Prime Minister Romano Prodi has a "solution" to the Israeli-Hezbollah war. He wants to beef up the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. I bet you didn't know there was a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. It's called UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), and it's been there since 1978. Been doing a crackerjack job, hasn't it?Can you name a single instance in which U.N. peacekeepers actually kept the peace? Mostly - as in Lebanon and Bosnia - they stand idly by as terrorists launch attacks. Sometimes - as in the Congo - they commit atrocities themselves.
The current crisis began July 12 when Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid in which three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told the left-wing British journalist Robert Fisk the raid was five months in the planning. In 2000, Hezbollah had kidnapped three Israeli soldiers, who were later killed. Israel did not respond then with bombs and bullets. It traded 430 prisoners in Israeli jails for the bodies of its soldiers. Hezbollah and its sponsors in Iran and Syria probably expected as timid a response this time. Their surprise must have been unpleasant. Hezbollah has responded by raining rockets on Israel (1,600 as of this writing).