Why Israel will never insist on neutral observers.
Neutral observers work only in one case: to observe compliance with a peace treaty between two governments, when both governments wish to comply with the treaty. In this case, the observers keep minor incidents from getting out of hand. They have worked in the Sinai since 1979.
If however, one side wants to keep shooting covertly, observers are worse than useless:
1. It is much easier to observe an army than terrorists or saboteurs. So the terrorist attack will not be observed, only any reprisals.
2. Army officers are more accountable than terrorists, so observers tend to be more scared of the terrorists. Particularly so if there is a history of not holding the leader of the terrorist side accountable for his actions. This tends to make reporting of incidents even more one-sided.
3. When the shooting starts, the observers have three choices: they can leave, they can become combatants, or they can become human shields. Generally speaking, observers do not have the stomach to become combatants, and there are political costs to leaving, so they become human shields.
4. Neutral observers make great human shields for terrorist activities. If the terrorist's opponents should happen to kill any observers during reprisals, it's an added bonus.
5. If one of the parties is Israel, it knows from experience that their actions are judged on a completely different basis from those of their opponents, and they always start with two strikes against them in the UN. |
