June 1, 2000
The United Nations and Syria have openly clashed over the status of the Shebaa farms, fueling alarm about the U.N. peacekeeping role in the wake of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon, analysts in Lebanon said Thursday.
The Syria-U.N. row erupted after a statement made by United Nations envoy Terje Roed Larsen after a meeting he held in Damascus on Wednesday with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk al Sharaa.
Larsen said Syria had agreed to the exclusion of the Shebaa plateau from the Israeli withdrawal, which took place last week. But the Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in Damascus, denying that it had endorsed Israeli occupation of the farms.
"We clarified to him (Larsen) that ... the Shebaa farms should not remain under Israeli occupation," the statement said.
It added that the farms must be returned to Lebanon and that Israel withdraw from them in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 242.
"It is impossible that differences arise between Syria and Lebanon over the Lebanese ownership of the farms," the statement quoted Sharaa as saying.
Larsen had said Sharaa "informed me that Syria fully approves U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's report of May 22 to the U.N. Security Council." Larsen added: " The withdrawal line as spelled out in this report does not, as you know, include the Shebaa farms."
The leftist daily As Safir accused Larsen of distorting "Syria's position on the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa Farms." It said Sharaa hurriedly called Lebanese Prime Minister Selim Hoss by telephone to assure him that Syria's position on the Shebaa farms remained unchanged as far as Lebanon's sovereignty over the plateau was concerned.
Lebanon has been insisting that Shebaa is Lebanese territory while Israel said it had captured Shebaa in 1967, and that its fate should be discussed in future talks with Damascus.
Mohammed Raad, head of the Hezbollah politburo, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the resistance would continue until Israel withdraws from the Shebaa farmlands.
"Even if the U.N. declares that Shebaa is not Lebanese territory, this will not concern us," Raad affirmed. "We will comply with the position of the Lebanese government concerning the land."
Lebanon, meanwhile, accused a team of U.N. cartographers of showing bias in Israel's favour on the border line upon which the totality of the Israel withdrawal would be measured in connection with U.N. resolution 425.
A Lebanese government source described as "tense" the meeting on Wednesday between U.N. experts and Lebanese teams because of what the Lebanese side termed as an encroachment on the letter and spirit of the U.N. Secertary General's report as well as resolution 425."
The official accused the U.N. of turning a blind eye on the territories still occupied in several locations abutting the international frontier, particularly the area stretching from the outskirts of Odeisseh to the eastern flank of the River Wazzani.
A source close to the U.N. team said the U.N. expressed dismay over the bias charge and asserted that even-handed efforts were underway to determine that Israel had actually withdrawn to the internationally recognized border.
As Safir quoted one U.N. source as saying that "the outstanding problem is the lack of an accurate demarcation of these borders."
