Hope

Go back a few weeks ago, and Im not sure if many of us could see such a rapid ending to the current hostilities in the Middle East.

I dont know a lot about the workings of the UN, or about the recent conflict, but i just had a read of Resolution 1701 - passed last friday. (How cool is that btw. that the UN has all the Resolutions so easily available to the public). I believe that it has also given more power to UNIFIL - the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, that was created in 1978.

Its got a whole bunch of roles but part of its new mandate includes:
"By this resolution, the Council also authorized UNIFIL to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind;"

Today from BBC News: "The UN has expressed cautious optimism that it can deploy an initial 3,500-strong force within two weeks."
(3,000 of those troops are from Bangladesh and Malaysia - which from what I know is pretty standard for UN forces).

You can read UNIFILs daily press releases that give a pretty good summary of the past few days.

This is a summary of the last week:

Friday 11th - "Heavy exchanges of fire continued in the past 24 hours throughout UNIFIL’s area of operation. Hezbollah fired rockets in somewhat reduced numbers from various locations. The IDF continued shelling and aerial bombardment across the south."

Sat. 12th - "The military situation in the UNIFIL area of operation for the most part has remained unchanged in the past 24 hours. Exchanges of fire continued with same intensity."

Sun. 13th - "Exchanges of fire continued in the past 24 hours with heightened intensity throughout the UNIFIL area of operation."

Mon. 14th - "The cessation of hostilities, in accordance with UNSC resolution 1701, came into effect at 08.00 hours local time today."... "There were no reports of incidents or breaches of the agreement in the UNIFIL area of operations until 1300 hours today."

Tue. 15th - "There were no reports of incidents or breaches of the agreement in the UNIFIL area of operations until 1300 hours today since the agreement on the cessation of hostilities came into effect yesterday morning. The parties have ceased firing into the territory of or at the other side, and there were no attempts to occupy any additional territory."

Wed. 16th - "The cessation of hostilities was generally maintained in the past 24 hours, with three incidents reported:
1. An exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah in Haddathah - with four dead Hezbollah members
2. IDF tank positioned on the Israeli side fired one round across the Blue Line into Lebanese territory .... There was no response from the other side and the situation in the area remains calm.
3. Yesterday afternoon, an Israeli aircraft violated Lebanese airspace in the eastern sector."

Thu. 17th - "In accordance with Resolution 1701, the Israeli Army started yesterday the withdrawal from Lebanese territory..."

For what its worth, I think thats a pretty rapid change following the Security Council Resolution.
Yeah its not perfect, and yeah, lets see how long this lasts, but in a global environment where its often hard to get this kind of hope, its another sign that the UN does, at least on some level, work and it is a pretty good foundation to be working on.