Zionists using Shebaa Farms as pawn in regional power play

The Lebanese daily Al-Menar recently reported that in a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as U.S. and French officials, Israel announced that if the Lebanese government presses its claims to the Shebaa Farms, Zionist forces would withdraw from the territory within three months.

If this report is true, it could shed light on some hidden objectives of Western political circles.

The Shebaa Farms region, covering an area of 1000 square kilometers, was occupied by Zionist forces in 1967. If control of this territory is transferred to the Lebanese government after 38 years, it would be like retuning only the stone of a borrowed date.

There are reports that the Zionist regime has been transferring the fertile soil of the Shebaa Farms to the Palestinian occupied territories. However, it would still be a promising development if the Israelis are willing to transfer control of this date stone to Lebanon.

So, why has the French government become involved in the Shebaa issue, and why has the Zionist regime announced that it is prepared to withdraw from the Shebaa Farms, even though the wave of criticism about the withdrawal from Gaza has not died down in Israel?

First of all, France has become involved because the French government, Britain, and the United States paved the way for the ratification of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, according to which the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian refugees residing in camps in Lebanon must be disarmed. This demand was meant to further Israeli interests in Lebanon. It is also clear that France is being allowed to play a bigger role in the international arena as a reward for its services to the Zionist regime.

The United States, the Zionist regime, and France are currently preparing for Israel’s withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms, with the aim of realizing certain objectives.

Due to its military might, the Lebanese Hezbollah is one of the greatest security concerns of the Zionist regime, and the elimination of this great concern would increase the level of security in northern Israel.

However, the idea of disarming the Lebanese Hezbollah has never been accepted in any international agreement up until now.

But at the UN summit last September in New York, Annan advised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Shebaa Farms in order to help solve some of the problems in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Hezbollah rejected Resolution 1559 due to the continued occupation of the Shebaa Farms, the frequent attacks on Lebanese territory by Israeli jets, and the lack of reliable security guarantees.

In fact, the Zionist regime proposed the withdrawal plan to pave the way for the UN Security Council to pressure Hezbollah, since many of Hezbollah’s legal arguments against Israel would become null and void if Zionist forces withdrew from the Shebaa Farms.

By withdrawing from the Shebaa Farms, the Zionist regime intends to create a rift between the Lebanese government and Lebanese resistance forces like Hezbollah. Israel would then support the Lebanese government in order to disarm and weaken Hezbollah.

However, if Hezbollah refuses to disarm, Israel will be able to accuse the Lebanese government of being incapable of handling its internal affairs and maintaining regional security, which would provide a pretext for Zionist forces to carry out a military assault against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

SA/HG

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MNA