VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #5675 3140050
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 100044Z NOV 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0000
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 0000
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0000

UNCLAS STATE 115675 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
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