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Suspicion of UN Peacekeepers Increasing in South Lebanon
[Boston Globe] Thanassis Cambanis - The 6,000 international peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon are supposed to provide a buffer between Israel and Hizballah. Instead, the UN forces are increasingly the object of popular suspicion and anger, fueled by the alarmist proclamations of some Hizballah leaders - raising serious obstacles for a mission that depends heavily on Hizballah's cooperation. Units from the beefed-up force of UN peacekeepers from 11 nations now crisscross the hilly terrain each day. But in Beirut mosques, clerics preach that the UN troops are being used as a "tool of Israel and the U.S." to de-fang Hizballah's "resistance." Hizballah supporters liken the peacekeeping troops to the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. "The next war won't be with Israel. It'll be against the UN," said Abdullah, who identified himself as a Hizballah fighter.