Lebanon's pilot zone plan: Can it work?
The Israeli army has handed so-called "pilot zones" back to the Lebanese, The move is meant to facilitate an end to fighting between Hezbollah and
The Israeli army has handed so-called "pilot zones" back to the Lebanese, The move is meant to facilitate an end to fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, and to Israeli occupation. But locals and experts are skeptical. It has been just over a week since the so-called "pilot zone" plan was launched in Lebanon and the gap between the plan's ambitions and the reality on the ground remains stark. According to the June 26 agreement between Lebanon, the US and Israel, the pilot zone plan is meant to see the Israeli military gradually redeploying out of parts of southern Lebanon it currently controls, which then allows the Lebanese army, or LAF, to move in. After the armed wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah group fired rockets at Israel in March this year, Israel invaded Lebanon and now occupies a large swathe of the country’s south. The pilot zones are meant to end that. Once the LAF controls the zone, then Hezbollah can supposedly no longer operate from there. And once one zone has been secured, then the next will be actioned. However there have been a number of troubling incidents already. The Israeli army shot at the vicinity of Lebanese soldiers as they approached one area last week and Israeli demolitions of homes and buildings in Lebanon continue, as do attacks with drones and bombs elsewhere in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army's behavior jeopardizes the agreement from which the pilot zone plan originates, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told the UN's human rights chief Volker Türk this week, when the latter visited Lebanon. UN human rights chief Türk said that Israel's 'overall conduct resulting in large scale displacement and denial of returns could amount to international crimes' Image: Mohamed Azakir/REUTERS Pilot zone residents not impressed Locals that DW spoke to, who live in the pilot zones, were also skeptical. Hussein Kamaleddine, the mayor of Srifa, told DW he didn't understand why his village or the village of Froun had been made a pilot zone because Israeli soldiers had never even been stationed there.
"This is something that was forced upon us," Kamaleddine said. "It still doesn't make sense to us why these villages were considered pilot zones." Other commentators have pointed out that lack of Israeli presence may be exactly why these towns were chosen as the first pilot zones: They don't directly impact northern Israel's security and it's a kind of soft launch for the plan. Kamaleddine said he was happy to be back home in Srifa even though, he noted, he was surrounded by rubble. But he credited that homecoming to his community's resilience, not state support. "Being back in Srifa now feels like a dream," he said. "But it's not thanks to the government. These so-called pilot zones are nothing but a scheme by the US and Israel." Srifa: Lebanese soldiers were already operating here prior to the start of the pilot zone scheme Image: Hassan Ammar/AP Photo/picture alliance Authorities from the village of Froun sent DW a written statement, expressing similar opinions. The town supported the LAF and that soldiers coming there had "preserved security and stability," they said. But at the same time, they also completely rejected the pilot zone plan and described it "as serving the enemy [Israel] by prolonging its presence on Lebanese territory and creating a rift between the army and the people." One of the major concerns about the pilot zone plan is that the LAF will be forced to confront Hezbollah fighters eventually, which could cause unrest, or even civil war. Hezbollah is thought to be as strong, or even stronger than, the Lebanese army. Villages destroyed by Israeli army Locals from another pilot zone village Zawtar al-Gharbieh (or West Zawtar) have been trying to get back home for several days now, mayor Abed Ezzeddine told DW. And Israeli soldiers had definitely been there, Ezzeddine said. Almost all of the village has been destroyed.
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