Cablegate: Guidance: 1701 Consultations, Nov. 10

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TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0000
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UNCLAS STATE 115675

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER KNNP IS SY LE IR
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: 1701 CONSULTATIONS, NOV. 10

1. (U) This is an action message. Please see Paragraph 3.

2. (U) Mission may draw on the building blocks at paragraph
three for the November 10 Security Council consultation on
the eleventh semi-annual report of the Secretary General on
the implementation of UNSC resolution 1701 (2006).

3. (SBU) Begin Building Blocks:

-- Thank you (Special Coordinator Williams and Assistant
Secretary-General Mulet) for your briefing(s).

-- Mr. President, reading this 11th report and its detailed
account of mounting violations of resolution 1701 leaves the
clear impression that progress on the implementation of
resolution 1701 has stalled, and the lack of a strong
response from the Lebanese government or this Council to the
recent rocket attacks and other security incidents in the
south sends a message to armed groups in Lebanon that they
may engage in violent acts with impunity. We have returned
to the sort of tit-for-tat exchanges across the Blue Line
that led inexorably to the devastating 2006 war between
Israel and Hizballah. We should not think that simply
because we have expanded the ranks of peacekeepers in the
south that these events cannot repeat themselves. I worry
that we will relive history unless we take strong, swift
action and, via the continued efforts of the UN Special
Coordinator for Lebanon and UNIFIL, assist the Lebanese
government in doing the same.

-- Mr. President, we are bearing witness to a worrying
pattern of inaction and obfuscation. For example, the
Secretary-General's most recent report does not directly
refute Hizballah's claim that the group "continues to abide
by the requirements of resolution 1701" because it is not
transferring new weaponry into south Lebanon. This claim is
patently untrue. Resolution 1701 makes no such distinction,
but rather calls clearly and simply for the maintenance of a
zone free of all unauthorized weapons. The explosion of a
Hizballah weapons depot in Khirbat Selim and the group's
subsequent interference with UNIFIL's investigation
demonstrates Hizballah,s open defiance of the resolutions of
this Council. We should not pretend otherwise. At the same
time, Hizballah,s refusal to begin a process of disarmament
and to submit decisions of war and peace to the elected
government of Lebanon, emboldens other militias, hinders the
Lebanese government's authority, and risks another round of
conflict.

-- South Lebanon has again become a launching pad for rocket
attacks on northern Israel. Despite the efforts of the
Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL we have witnessed five
launches already this year. We urge Lebanon's next
government to take concrete steps to implement the decision
of the country's national dialogue, taken twice, to disarm
Palestinian groups outside Lebanon's refugee camps as a first
step toward the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon. I
would also suggest that this Council and UNIFIL troop
contributors consider whether UNIFIL's current mandate is
sufficient, in light of recent events, to implement its
charge under resolution 1701. We also urge UNIFIL and the
Lebanese Armed Forces to further step up their patrolling
tempo in south Lebanon and to request any assistance that
they deem necessary to fulfill their mission. Neither this
Council nor Lebanon can afford further inaction.

-- We also call upon Syria and Iran to end their material
support to Hizballah and other militias in Lebanon, which is
a clear violation of a legally binding provision of 1701. I
cannot underscore this point enough. The November 4
discovery of a concealed arms shipment in commercial shipping
containers, clearly manifested from Iran to Syria, in
violation of resolution 1747, provides unambiguous evidence
of the destabilizing proliferation of arms in the region.
The fact that these arms were concealed behind bags of
polyethylene, declared as civilian cargo, and hidden among
other shipping containers strongly implies that both Iran and
the shipment's intended recipient understood that they were
violating resolution 1747.

-- We also remain deeply concerned by the presence of PFLP-GC
and Fatah al-Intifada along the Lebanese-Syrian border and
near Beirut. We are in full agreement with the
Secretary-General when he notes that "the presence of these
military bases continues to compromise Lebanese sovereignty
and governmental authority." While the Secretary-General's
report calls upon the Lebanese government to close these
bases, I note that the Syrian government bears special
responsibility to assist in their dismantlement, as these
militias receive material support from Syria and are
headquartered in Damascus.

-- At the same time, despite multiple pledges, Syria has
taken no steps toward the delineation of its border with
Lebanon. In its letter of July 7, 2009 to this Council,
Syria reiterated that it was prepared to begin delineating
the border, starting from the north, and we call on Syria to
fulfill its pledges, so that Lebanon can secure its border
against weapons smuggling.

-- We also urge the international community to assist
Lebanon's efforts to implement resolution 1701 by providing
support to Lebanese security services; the United States has
to date provided over half a billion dollars. We understand
that the Lebanese government will shortly submit a request
for donor funding to support to rollout of a new force to
secure its eastern border with Syria. This will provide an
excellent opportunity for new donors to step forward, and for
existing donors to increase their assistance.

-- In order to maintain international support, it will be
important for Lebanon's new government, in cooperation with
President Michel Sleiman, to take bold steps on the
implementation of resolution 1701, continuing the tireless
efforts of outgoing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. We look
forward to the incoming Lebanese government clearly stating
its intent to pursue the full implementation of resolution
1701 while encouraging and empowering the Lebanese Armed
Forces to perform its mission in support of that resolution.
We also look forward to the continuation of Lebanon's
national dialogue process, with the objective disbanding all
militias, most notably Hizballah, and enshrining the Lebanese
government as the sole arbiter of matters of war and peace
for the people of Lebanon.

-- Mr. President, we welcome Israel's commitment to the full
implementation of resolution 1701 and, in that regard, urge
Israel to withdraw immediately from the northern part of
Ghajar village, to curtail its overflights of Lebanese
territory, and to fully respect the Blue Line and Lebanon's
sovereignty.

-- We also welcome the report's observation that the monthly
tripartite meetings are "an essential mechanism to identify
and address security and military operational issues with the
parties and to reinforce the cessation of hostilities." As
the implementation of 1701 proceeds in the direction of a
permanent cease-fire, we hope the parties will give serious
consideration to updating and reinstituting the
Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement. The
implementation of 1701, leading to a permanent cease-fire
between the parties enshrined in a renewed and updated
armistice is, in our view, the foundation for eventual peace
between Lebanon and Israel

-- Mr. President, the Secretary-General has noted Lebanon and
Israel's oft-stated commitment to the full implementation of
resolution 1701. Such statements are welcome, but should be
matched with clear action by these states, this Council, and
UNIFIL. We applaud the work of the Secretary General, his
representatives in Lebanon, and UNIFIL, and pledge our
continued support to their efforts to fully implement
resolution 1701. However, without a firm response to ongoing
violations of this resolution, what progress Lebanon and this
Council have realized since 2006 could be lost, and another
round of hostilities, with devastating consequences for
Lebanon and the region, is likely to ensue. The United
States urges Lebanon and this Council not to stand idly by
and allow history to repeat itself.

End Building Blocks.
CLINTON

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