#undof

Mengatasi Tantangan Operasional UNTSO, UNDOF, dan Misi UNIFIL

Oleh : Brigjen TNI Fulad, S.Sos., M.Si.

Penasehat Militer RI Untuk PBB, Brigjen TNI Fulad, S.Sos., M.Si. menghadiri pertemuan Military Staff Committee Dewan Keamanan PBB yang membahas masalah UNTSO, UNDOF, dan UNIFIL – Lebanon beberapa saat lalu, yang berlangsung di Markas PBB New York, USA.

Dalam pertemuan tersebut dibahas khusus tentang Misi UNIFIL, salah satu permintaan Dewan Keamanan melalui…

Izrael megnyitja határát Szíria felé

A világszervezet, Izrael és Szíria megállapodtak abban, hogy október 15-én újranyitják az egyetlen határátkelőt Szíria és Izrael között a Golán-fennsíkon – jelentette be pénteken Nikki Haley amerikai ENSZ-nagykövet New Yorkban.

Haley szerint az el-Kuneitra határátkelő megnyitása az ENSZ-békefenntartók munkáját is megkönnyíti majd. A kéksisakosok mostantól ismételten fokozottan figyelmet…

By Aron Heller, AP, Sep 18, 2014

CAMP ZIOUANI, Golan Heights (AP)--For four decades, a multinational United Nations mission has quietly monitored the sleepy Golan Heights--providing a symbol of stability between bitter enemies as it enforced a truce between Israel and Syria.

But as Syria has plunged into civil war and the peacekeepers themselves have become targets of al-Qaida-linked rebels, the U.N. observer force has begun to fall apart, leaving its future--and the prospects for ever establishing peace in this rugged area of the Middle East--in doubt.

Since Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war, a withdrawal from the strategic plateau was seen as the key to any peace agreement. But as Syria continues to disintegrate, the odds of Israel giving up the Golan--never a popular prospect among Israelis--appear to be dimming by the day.

The downfall of the international mission known as UNDOF is a vivid illustration of the uncertain situation across the border--and in the eyes of many Israelis, it underscores why they can never relinquish the Golan.

The force suffered its latest blow earlier this month when the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front seized the strategic Quneitra border crossing from UNDOF, sent a contingent of Filipino peacekeepers scrambling for safety in Israel and took 45 Fijian peacekeepers hostage.

Although the Fijians were released unharmed two weeks later, it was the fourth abduction of peacekeepers since March 2013, and several countries have withdrawn their troops from the mission.

The 1,200-strong U.N. force is now mostly huddled inside Camp Ziouani, a drab base just inside the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights. Its patrols along the de facto border have all but ceased, the road to the nearby Syrian town of Quneitra is blocked by barbed wire, and the fields opposite the base are blackened by fires set off from wayward mortar rounds launched from the Syrian side.

With Syria in tatters, UNDOF’s viability is now in question.

“Their mandate is just not relevant anymore,” said Stephane Cohen, a former Israeli military liaison officer with UNDOF. “They are there to oversee an agreement between two countries--Israel and Syria--and in practice there is no Syria anymore.”

Since the aftermath of the 1973 Mideast war, the Golan has been the quietest of Israel’s front lines, a place of hiking trails, bird-watching and winery tours. Constantly looming in the background was the prospect of the Golan eventually returning to Syria as part of a peace accord.

A plateau that looms over northern Israel, the Golan is considered by Israelis to be vital to their security. Lush and verdant for much of the year, it boasts the snow-capped Hermon mountain and the country’s only ski resort. The attachment to the Golan is such that Israelis tend to hardly view it as occupied--and, indeed, the area, unlike the West Bank, has been formally annexed.

Despite this, the sides have been negotiating on and off for much of the past two decades, and even reportedly came close to a deal in 2000. Indirect talks between Israel and Syria took place as recently as six years ago.

Underpinning that ambition was the sense that peace with Syria would yield significant benefits in terms of Israel’s legitimacy in the region--and that President Bashar Assad’s government would be a strong partner capable of enforcing the peace.

A noo artikle has dunben rote ahn WWW.GITERDONENEWS.COM CALT

Here's How Heroic Irish Troops Rescued UN Peacekeepers Hunted By Syrian Rebels

A noo artikle has dunben rote ahn WWW.GITERDONENEWS.COM CALT

Fiji says no word on location of UN peacekeepers seized in Golan Heights

August 29, 2013 - The future of the UN force monitoring the line of separation between Israel and Syria following the end of the 1973 war will be further jeopardized by threatened military intervention.

Ireland currently has troops serving in the region with the UN force in Lebanon (above) and with UNTSO. (photo: courtesy of Irish Dept. of Defence)

Update: The resolution to deploy 114 peacekeepers to UNDOF was approved by the Irish parliament by a vote of 95-17.

July 18, 2013 - The Irish parliament will vote Thursday on a motion to send a contingent of peacekeepers to beef up the depleted UNDOF force monitoring the line of separation between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights that was established following the 1973 Yom Kippur war.