VZCZCXRO9819
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #1557/01 3050834
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 310834Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3412
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3106
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3315
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001557 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA 
ALSO FOR IO A/S HOOK, PDAS WARLICK 
P FOR DRUSSELL AND RRANGASWAMY 
USUN FOR KHALILZAD/WOLFF/SCHEDLBAUER/GERMAIN 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/YERGER/MCDERMOTT 
DOD FOR OSD A/S MBLONG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR UNSC MARR MOPPS LE SY IS
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNSCOL ENCOURAGES A/S HOOK TO URGE GOL TO 
TAKE CONTROL OF ITS TERRITORY 
 
REF: A. BEIRUT 1515 
     ¶B. BEIRUT 1498 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
 SUMMARY 
--------- 
 
¶1. (C) New UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) 
Michael Williams told visiting Assistant Secretary Brian Hook 
and the Ambassador October 30 that the GOL needs to take 
control of all of its territory.  Williams said that in the 
south, Hizballah is the dominant force; and absent a real GOL 
presence would remain under Hizballah control.  On Ghajar, 
Williams threatened that the Israelis should show significant 
progress on withdrawal from the territory or face "stronger 
language" against it in Williams' next report to the UN. 
Ghajar, he said, is not as complicated as Shebaa Farms. 
Furthermore, the GOL must take ownership of its 
responsibility under UNSCR 1701 to prevent continued 
smuggling along its porous northern border with Syria. 
Despite the formation of a GOL coordinating committee to 
address the issue, Williams was not convinced that the GOL 
was ready to seriously address the challenge.  Williams 
welcomed U.S. support to rebuild the Nahr al-Barid refugee 
camp and U.S. commitments to provide assistance, from the 
most basic to the most advanced, to the Lebanese Armed 
Forces.  However, Williams remained concerned about the 
increase in violence in the Palestinian refugee camps and the 
possibility that the camps are a conduit for weapons 
smuggling.  End summary. 
 
NO OPTION OTHER THAN 
HIZBALLAH IN THE SOUTH 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) The new UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) 
Michael Williams told visiting Assistant Secretary for 
International Organization Affairs Brian Hook on October 30 
that Hizballah was the "dominant force" in south Lebanon. 
Meeting at UNSCOL headquarters in downtown Beirut, Williams 
continued that Hizballah was an "extraordinarily methodical 
organization" and that absent a Lebanese government presence 
in the south, Hizballah would continue to fill the void. 
Williams informed A/S Hook, accompanied by the Ambassador, IO 
Special Assistant, and Poloffs that the UN Interim Force in 
Lebanon's (UNIFIL) mandate only applies to a very small area, 
approximately 20 km of land between the Litani River and the 
"Blue Line."  According to Williams, everything south of the 
Litani is in Hizballah territory, although he noted that a 
few small Christian villages live in peace with Hizballah 
there.  Williams said he doubted that Hizballah maintained 
significant weapons caches south of the Litani, but suspected 
that most of the weapons were located in areas north of the 
river, where UNIFIL cannot operate. 
 
¶3. (C) Williams called the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) 
deployment to areas in south Lebanon a positive development 
that came out of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701. 
 However, he said an immediate problem is that the LAF is 
stretched thin; one of its units in the south has been 
redirected to address problems in the north (Ref B). 
Williams said that despite 1701's positive attributes, the 
"Lebanese government has not deployed to the south" or in 
areas along the northern border in any significant way.  In 
fact, he said, Prime Minister Siniora outright refused an 
offer by then-UN SYG Kofi Annan to go to the south after the 
passage of 1701. Ambassador Sison added that she learned 
after her own June visit to Nabatiyeh that no cabinet 
ministers have gone to the south either.  Williams encouraged 
A/S Hook, and the international community writ large, to urge 
the GOL to take control of its territory.  "For such a small 
country, it is surprising this has not occurred yet," he said. 
 
"NOT RESOLVING GHAJAR IS A 
POLITICAL GIFT TO HIZBALLAH" 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Williams and UNSCOL Political Officer Salvatore 
 
BEIRUT 00001557  002 OF 003 
 
 
Pedulla said that contrary to Israeli logic, not resolving 
the issue of Ghajar would be a "political gift" to Hizballah. 
 Williams said that Ghajar, an area that the United Nations 
believes is being illegally occupied by Israeli settlers, 
could be easily solved, if Israel withdrew from the territory 
and honored a previous decision taken by then-Israeli Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon's government in 2000.  Williams 
reported that UNIFIL Commander Claudio Graziano had recently 
met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to reiterate the 
message that Israel should take steps to withdraw from the 
area.  Barak reportedly gave no indication as to what next 
steps the Israelis were considering in Ghajar.  Without 
significant progress on Ghajar, Williams said, he will be 
forced to use "stronger language" against Israel in his next 
report to the UN (Ref A). 
 
¶5. (C) Progress on Ghajar, Williams and Pedulla assessed, 
could give a big boost to the Lebanese government, especially 
the March 14 coalition, in the upcoming 2009 parliamentary 
elections.  Williams suggested that the Israelis should 
consider Ghajar in the context of a larger Lebanese strategy 
that will be important to Israel and noted that Ghajar is 
less complicated than the issue of Shebaa Farms.  Williams 
told A/S Hook that although UNSCOL could not be certain of 
the outcome of the 2009 elections, he said the Israelis 
should not discount the possibility that Hizballah and its 
allies will make additional political gains, just as it did 
after the signing of the May 2008 Doha agreement.  Williams 
asked for continued U.S. support on the issue of Ghajar, 
saying, "We need (U.S.) support, for our Lebanese friends and 
for the sake of 1701." 
 
¶6. (C) On Shebaa Farms, Williams warned A/S Hook that PM 
Siniora is stubborn and refuses to entertain the possibility 
of indirect talks with Israel.  While Williams believed 
progress on Shebaa would also be significant, he said it was 
hard to gauge who in the Lebanese government would work for 
this in the electoral period.  He advised that working 
through the Syrians on Shebaa may be the best solution, as 
Syrian President Asad had already stated that Shebaa is a 
three-way problem between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. 
 
¶7. (C) A/S Hook said that in his conversations with 
representatives of the Israeli government in recent days, the 
Israelis were concerned that the UN reports inflated the 
numbers of Israeli overflights over Lebanese territory and 
reflected unbalanced reporting.  Williams said he understood 
Israel's security concerns as the reason behind the 
overflights.  However, he reminded A/S Hook that according to 
1701 any overflight was considered a "gross violation" of the 
resolution.  Williams informed A/S Hook and the Ambassador 
that he planned to travel to Israel for a series of meetings 
from November 2-4.  He hoped to continue to Syria following 
those meetings, but the Syrians had not yet confirmed. 
 
GOL NEEDS TO TAKE OWNERSHIP 
OF ITS NORTHERN BORDER 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Williams said that PM Siniora told him ten days 
earlier that the GOL had formed a coordinating committee to 
develop a strategy to deal with Lebanon's porous northern 
border with Syria.  The coordinating committee, consists of 
the Prime Minister, LAF Commander Jean Kahwagi and Minister 
of Interior Ziad Baroud, Williams said.  The formation of the 
committee was a welcome start, but Williams remained 
concerned that there was not enough political will on the 
part of the GOL to begin implementing recommendations from 
the August 2008 report by Lebanon's Independent Border 
Assessment Team (LIBAT).  Pedulla added that in the northern 
border region, smuggling of all kinds was occurring, such as 
weapons, fuel, appliances, etc.  The Prime Minister and other 
government figures were reluctant to take on this project, 
partially out of fear of violence between the LAF and 
residents of the border communities who benefit from the flow 
of goods, Pedulla analyzed. 
 
¶9. (C) If the GOL was serious about taking ownership to 
implement LIBAT's recommendations, Williams believed that the 
 
BEIRUT 00001557  003 OF 003 
 
 
European Union or other countries could then be encouraged to 
take a role in assisting the GOL with its objectives. 
However, Williams insisted that the first step must come from 
the GOL.  A/S Hook asked whether it would be helpful for the 
U.S. to encourage its EU interlocutors to offer this kind of 
assistance to Lebanon, and Williams responded, "absolutely." 
Williams said that frankly, there was not much more the UN 
could do in its approach to the GOL.  In addition, Pedulla 
believed that new opportunities could be on the horizon due 
to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lebanon 
and Syria that would make GOL action on the northern border 
politically easier than before. 
 
PALESTINIAN CAMPS ARE A CONCERN 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) Williams thanked the Ambassador and A/S Hook for the 
U.S. commitment to rebuilding the Nahr al-Barid (NAB) 
Palestinian refugee camp.  He said he attended the October 29 
rubble removal ceremony and reminded "Arab friends" that they 
had not been supportive enough with their financial pledges 
and assistance to NAB.  The Ambassador reaffirmed the U.S. 
commitment to rebuild NAB and to bolster the LAF.  The U.S. 
she said received a lot of criticism for providing things 
that were perceived as "less important," such as bullet proof 
vests, to the LAF.  However, she said, many did not realize 
that the LAF needs a great deal of assistance, from the most 
basic (bullet proof vests) to the most advanced 
(helicopters).  Williams agreed and said he welcomed the U.S. 
approach to the LAF. The LAF is one of the few state 
institutions, but under Syrian rule, the LAF was little more 
than a gendarmerie, he explained. 
 
¶11. (C) The Ambassador said that reports on Beddawi camp, 
also in the north, were of concern.  Beddawi, Williams said, 
was not the only concern, but Ain el Hilweh and the other 
refugee camps were also.  He pointed out that many of the 
camps and other Palestinian areas in the north are located in 
the space between Lebanon and Syria.  Williams suspected that 
much of the weapons smuggling in Lebanon is transiting 
through the Palestinian camps.  The added complication, 
Williams informed Hook, was that the LAF was prohibited from 
entering the camps. 
 
¶12. (U) A/S Hook has cleared this message. 
SISON