What Value is a U.N. Resolution?

The U.N. is working furiously to put together a resolutionto bring about peace between Hezbollah and Israel now that the result of Hezbollah’s aggression against Israel has resulted in the death of civilians in Qana Lebanon.

[F]or some of the Christians who had made it out in this convoy, it was not just privations they wanted to talk about, but their ordeal at the hands of Hezbollah— a contrast to the Shiites, who make up a vast majority of the population in southern Lebanon and broadly support the militia.
“Hezbollah came to Ain Ebel to shoot its rockets,” said Fayad Hanna Amar, a young Christian man, referring to his village. “They are shooting from between our houses.”
“Please,’’ he added, “write that in your newspaper.”

Many Christians from Ramesh and Ain Ebel considered Hezbollah’s fighting methods as much of an outrage as the Israeli strikes. Mr. Amar said Hezbollah fighters in groups of two and three had come into Ain Ebel, less than a mile from Bint Jbail, where most of the fighting has occurred. They were using it as a base to shoot rockets, he said, and the Israelis fired back.
One woman, who would not give her name because she had a government job and feared retribution, said Hezbollah fighters, had killed a man who was trying to leave Bint Jbail.
“This is what’s happening, but no one wants to say it” for fear of Hezbollah, she said.By SABRINA TAVERNISE,New York Times

But what value is a U.N. resolution when the U.N. will not enforce them? There were 16 or 17 U.N. sanctions against Saddam Hussein which did not prevent Saddam from escalating tensions to the point of war in Iraq. Though the U.N. sanctioned Iraq, it did not actually enforce policy to prevent the Iraqi actions that ultimately caused war.



There is presently a resolution in place, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 mandated in 2004 which called for the disarming, disbanding and disengagement of all militias within Lebanon. This 2004 resolutioncalls for the Secretary General to follow up in 30 days to ensure that the resolution was honored.

Since that resolution Hezbollah has not left Lebanon but has cemented it’s position in the country by infiltrating the Lebanese government and spreading out near the Lebanon Israeli border where it has attacked Israel hundreds of times with missile launches and kidnapping of foreigners.

In Hezbollah’s last kidnapping they used a United Nations vehicle to kidnap two Israeli soldiers.

Aside from this the U.N. is presently working for a resolution to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment. A Iranian state radio commentary said Saturday that Tehran would reject a proposed U.N. resolution that calls for it to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August or face the threat of international sanctions.

If U.N. resolutions have no binding effect on Muslim nation states what value is an U.N. resolution at all?

World opinion is clambering for cease-fire however if Israel agrees to a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire what is the guarantee that Hezbollah or any Islamic nation state will honor a United Nations resolution for peace? Judging from history there is none.