Germans Debate Participation in International Force for Lebanon

As an international debate on plans to reinforce the United Nations' military presence in southern Lebanon continues, Germany, too, has been forced to consider the implications of sending its soldiers to the region.

The burden of Germany's history with Israel makes Germany's participation in a UN stabilization force a particularly tricky affair. All German military missions require parliamentary approval, but one Social Democrat in the Bundestag is already considering the consequences of an international consensus in favor of such a force.

"How should Germany react, if everyone says yes?" SPD foreign policy expert Gert Weisskirchen asked in the Berliner Zeitung. "Saying no then would really no longer be an option."

SPD parliamentary group deputy Walter Kolbow also refused to rule out the possibility of German participation.

"But it would only work if we're part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said, adding that the situation where a German soldier would have to shoot at an Israeli could not be allowed to arise.

Christian Democrat foreign policy expert Elmar Brok, however, spoke out against Bundeswehr involvement, arguing that a UN force could only be credible if it had a deterrent effect on both sides in the conflict.

"That's what the Bundeswehr can't do," said Brok, a member of the European Parliament.

Considering Holocaust survivors

The head of the German-Israeli parliamentary committee, Jerzy Montag, added that Germany must consider the effect that a German presence in Lebanon would have on survivors of the Holocaust. He said he believed that a German deployment could "be very hurtful to the feelings of Holocaust survivors living in Israel."

However, German Middle East expert Udo Steinbach said an enforced UN mission in Lebanon did deserve consideration as long as the goal was to stabilize the border region with Israel and strengthen the authority of the Lebanese government. In this case, Steinbach said, Germany should not shy away from participating."

"We should shed our old timidity," he told the Mannheimer Morgen.

Meanwhile, the size, mandate, and make-up of a UN stabilization force in the area continues to be the topic of international discussion.

German Defense Minister Josef Jung said Friday that the first priority should be getting Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire.

Additional steps in restoring peace in the area "are necessary with the agreement of the countries involved," Jung said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is due soon to hear a report from UN officials returning from the Middle East on exploring ways to guarantee security until the Lebanese army is equipped to do the task.

One of the problems in trying to set up a force is finding troops from countries which could do the job, as many countries -- Germany included -- have already stretched their military resources with missions elsewhere.

Difficulties agreeing international make-up

Christopher Langton, the head of defense analysis at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, said not only would it be difficult to find competent troops but also to get agreement on the force make-up.

Non-European countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India may be able to contribute troops, Langton said. But neither Israel nor Lebanon might agree to their presence, Langton said.

"The wrangling over what countries' troops are acceptable to both sides cannot be underestimated in terms of how difficult that is to get agreement on," he said.

Led by a French general, the current UN presence in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, currently comprises soldiers from China, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy and Poland.