Disequilibrium, international law and Israeli attacks on UNIFIL

In the rational course of human interactions, people ordinarily elect to live in peaceful and harmonious co-existence with fellow species, neighbours, and within societies, underpinned by equality, equity, freedom, justice and the effective application of the rule of law.Whilst the philosophical underpinnings of that hypothesis may well allude to utopianism, the desire of enlightened and progressive democratic societies, is barely dissimilar from that proposition.

Rightly, it is upon such jurisprudential foundations that the preamble to the United States Constitution of 1789 establishes its intention to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, advance the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty forthe American people and posterity.

Those philosophical bedrocks form the basis of Lord Hewart’sexposition of the rule of law in The New Despotism (1929): “the supremacy or dominance of law; as distinguished from mere arbitrariness, or from some alternative mode, which is not law, of determining or disposing of the rights of individuals.”

That’s why the preamble to Japan’s 1947 constitution asserts that its people, “desire peace for all time and are deeply conscious of the high ideals controlling human relationship… to occupy an honoured place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance from the earth…” The preamble to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution (as amended), unambiguously reinforces the will of the people to live in unity and harmony, promoting world peace, international cooperation and understanding.

Furthermore, that jurisprudential anchor establishes the United Nations raison d’être. Hence, the1945 UN Charter’s aspiration to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”; which has inflicted untold sorrow upon mankind, whilst reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person; the equal rights of men and women and of all nations; andseeking to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations emanating from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained; to advance social progress, tolerance and peace with other nations.

That milieu segues to the kernel of this piece, disequilibrium, and the Israeli attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Here, disequilibrium is employed within the purview of hard power, realpolitik, overwhelming military, technological and espionage superiority to project, and enforce, geostrategic, geo-national and geopolitical interests whether within, or outside, the frontiers of international humanitarian law; by country A over B and others; where “B and others” are either real or perceived rivals or threats!

The root cause of the decades long Israeli-Palestinian conflictare competing claims to land in Israeli occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza, the West Bank; and the Golan heights, which have been declared illegal under international law like Article 49 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention IV.

The British Government’s November 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration during World war I (1914 -1918) recognised its backing for “the establishment, in Palestine,a national home for the Jewish people…it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine” UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (11) was adopted on November 29, 1947 and established the creation of independent Arab and Jewish States and a “special international regime” for the city of Jerusalem and its precincts.

That lingering crisis, which has eluded formidable diplomatic initiatives over several decades, was reignited on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas forces attacked Israel killing over 1150 civilians and taking over 200 hostages. The victims included children, women and men.

Exercising its right to self-defence under article 51 of the UN Charter, Israel responded with maximum lethal disequilibrium killing over 40,000 Palestinian children, women and men according to authoritative publicly available reports! The war, which has extended beyond a year, has witnessed Israeli offensive campaigns against the triple axis of Palestinian supporters viz: Hamas fighters in Gaza, Hezbollah fighters in Iran and Lebanon; and Houthi fighters in Yemen. Moreso, Israel’s lethal disequilibrium has also resulted in the deaths of over 100 UN personnel and over 120 journalists in Gaza.

The war lingers on multiple fronts and is now effectively a regional Middle-Eastern war. Nevertheless, the Israeli power disequilibrium is all too obvious, especially relative to its recent attacks on the international peace keeping United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. UNIFILwas originally established pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426 on March 19 1978.

UNSC Resolution 425 was unanimously adopted five days post Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and formally demanded Israeli withdrawal therefrom.UNSC Resolution 426 of the same date established the duration of UNIFIL. That was against the background of Palestinian agitations for independence against Israeli occupationand the Lebanese Civil War (1975 and 1990).

Ongoing conflicts in the region, justified additional UNSC resolutions extending and reviewing UNIFIL’s mandate over the years, aimed at demilitarisation of Hezbollah; enhancing the Lebanese Army’s kinetic capacity against opposing forces; validating Israeli forces’ evacuation from Lebanon and supporting internally displaced persons.

UNSC Resolution 1701 of August 11, 2006, called for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a sustainable solution based, inter alia, on full respect for the Blue Line; a demarcation frontier separating Lebanon from Israel, and Syria’s Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the aftermath of its six-day war with Syria, which remains a warring concourse between Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah.

UNSC 1701 further provided for security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of anyarmed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL.

Fast forward to August 28, 2024, where UNSC Resolution 2749, extended UNIFIL’s mandate until August 31, 2025. For emphasis, UNIFIL comprises 10,000 UN peacekeepers drawn from over 40 countries aimed at protecting the Lebanese Army against “unauthorised armed personnel” with its annual budget circa $500 million approved by the UN General Assembly. UNIFIL is therefore a legitimate emanation of international law with authorised peacekeepers undertaking a UN Security mandate.

Violating UNSC Resolution 1701, the Israeli defence Force (IDF) on October 13, 2024, traversed the Blue Line into Lebanon and forcibly entered a UNIFIL post in Ramyah, destroying the main entrance with two Merkava tanks. TheIDF’s military incursion injured 15 UNIFIL peacekeepers related to toxic smoke, despite wearing gas masks, which may, itself raise serious international prosecutorial questions about the IDF’s deployment of unconventional weapons.

According to Reuters on October 11, 2024, two UNIFIL peacekeepers were injured in an IDF attack near their watch tower, while bomb blasts rocked UNIFIL’s main base repeatedly. Expectedly, the IDF’s attacks on UNIFIL have been rounded condemned globally.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called the IDF’s attacks on UNIFIL a “serious development” and “condemned the fact that there was shooting against the UN premises, wounding two peacekeepers, which is a violation of international humanitarian law”, which“may constitute a war crime.”

The striking strategic context is that over 100 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees have been killed in the Israeli counter attacks against Palestinian/Hamas on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

And relative to the IDF attacks on UNIFIL, all 4o countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, including Israel’s strongest allies, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy and others roundly condemned the attacks on UNIFIL. The Irish Prime Minister, Simon Harris, described IDF attacks on UNIFIL as “really dangerous, despicable attacks on peacekeepers.”

That said, there is fighting going in the region between the IDF and Hezbollah fighters and Bibi Netanyahu’s Israeli government asserts, without publicly providing the evidential basis, that Hezbollah operates within the precincts of UNIFIL peacekeepers.

The Israeli government has demanded UNIFIL’s evacuation from 29 positions in south Lebanon and UNIFIL has refused, asserting the execution of its mandate pursuant to UNSC Resolution 1701 to maintain peace and stability in the region. These dynamics informed the UN Security Council’s statement on October 14, 2024“to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and U.N. premises.”

In the final analysis, a just peacecontinues to elude the Israeli/Palestinian crisis and the powerful, albeit deeply polarised UN Security Council, is no closer to achievingan enduring peaceful settlement, which meets the aspirations of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.

Irrespective of political ideological divides, the United States will continue to staunchly defend, and support, its strategic ally Israel, at the UN Security Council and other fora. According to the Brown University’s Costs of War project, the States has spent over $17.9 billion in military aid and assistance to Israel since the commencement of the Gaza war.

By the same token, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Houthi Yemenis and other actors continue to support the Palestinian cause and rights to occupied territories. U.S. officials assess that Iran supports Hezbollah with approximately $700 million annually.

The real question then becomes: if lasting peace has eluded Israel over several decades, despite its power disequilibrium, manifested in its overwhelming military and technological superiority in the region, has the time not come for genuine imagination, creative thinking, honesty and pragmatic approaches to resolving the crisis? It certainly has! Therefore, boldness, courage, political will and pragmatism will be required by all sides.

Of course, the UN can play a pivotal role, but not if the Security Council remains plagued by ideological warsand puerile self-interests. The world deserves better! That means leadership. Henry Kissinger was therefore correct to assert that “without leadership, institutions drift, and nations court growing irrelevance and, ultimately, disaster.”

Israelis and Palestinians have a right to live peaceably under the rule of law, just like UNIFIL has an obligation to execute its mandate without attacks, threats, provocation and undue interference.

Ojumu is the Principal Partner at Balliol Myers LP, a firm of legal practitioners and strategy consultants in Lagos, Nigeria, and the author of The Dynamic Intersections of Economics, Foreign Relations, Jurisprudence and National Development (2023).