UNIFIL: IDF troops violated UN-drawn border with Lebanon - Haaretz

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Wed., February 25, 2009 Adar 1, 5769

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		An IDF soldier gesturing after French UN peacekeepers with Leclerc tanks blocked IDF vehicles in south Lebanon on Thursday. (AP)

Last update - 00:00 28/09/2006

UNIFIL: IDF troops violated UN-drawn border with Lebanon

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Israel violated the UN-drawn border it shares with Lebanon on Thursday, six weeks after its cease-fire with Hezbollah guerrillas went into effect in the region, the spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said.

Alexander Ivanko, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, would not provide details about the violation, but denied reports that a standoff had occured between IDF and UN troops.

"The French peacekeepers observed an Israeli violation of the Blue Line and reported it to the UNIFIL command," Ivanko said, referring to the UN-demarcated line between Lebanon and Israel.

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An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the incident said an Israeli armored vehicle and two jeeps drove through the border fence and tried to penetrate further into Lebanese territory when UN French peacekeepers blocked their path.

The incident happened near the Lebanese border village of Marwaheen and ended peacefully after a standoff that lasted about half an hour, the photographer said.

An IDF spokesman denied that troops operating in southern Lebanon had been involved in a confrontation with UN peacekeepers.

The IDF confirmed that its troops came close to the French peacekeepers
Thursday but said there was no conflict between the two sides. IDF troops have been operating inside Lebanon in the Marwaheen area since the cease-fire took effect and would continue to operate there until it is transferred over to international peacekeepers, the IDF said.

According to Lebanese reports, four French Leclerc tanks with UN peacekeepers moved to the entrance of the border village of Marwaheen where at least five IDF Merkava tanks were operating in the area for the past two days, preventing civilians and journalists from entering the village.

Standing some 50 meters from each other, the tanks of the two sides were caught in a 20-minute face-off, according to Lebanese security sources.

According to the sources, the French tanks withdrew from the area after twenty minutes and handed their post to observers of the UN Truce Supervision Organization deployed in the area.

The IDF spokesman said "our forces did not prevent them from doing anything and they did not prevent us from doing anything."

He added that "no conflict arose" between the Israeli force and the French peacekeeping force.

The French force is part of UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been sent to boost the force and supervise the fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah

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1.	Denying the facts again,like with Hezbollah	22:54	\|	Absolute Sweden	28/09/06

2.	Hizbullah girl scouts could defeat IDF as could French	23:07	\|	Yossi Cronenberg	28/09/06

3.	To Absolute Sweden	23:38	\|	Marco	28/09/06

4.	to Absolute Sweden	23:39	\|	jeff atkinson	28/09/06

5.	Uhhhhh.....The IDF was supposed to be gone Friday	23:56	\|	Haley	28/09/06

6.	Absolute Sweden	23:57	\|	Sky	28/09/06

7.	When shall we see a Leclerc tank against a Merkava ?	00:00	\|	Yankelowitz	29/09/06

8.	Girl Scout Cookies	00:09	\|	NJ	29/09/06

9.	Oh Israel what have you done	00:18	\|	Mike	29/09/06

10.		00:22	\|	jmoisio	29/09/06

11.	Yossi C, are you low on Prosac?	00:24	\|	Absolute Sweden	29/09/06

12.	ok, so the French withdrew... all is normal :) N/M	00:34	\|	diamond dave	29/09/06

13.	IDF is no longer strong	00:42	\|	Amir	29/09/06

14.	Really? IDF would never do that!	01:00	\|	Armand Vega	29/09/06

15.	Before the two Israe`l`s soldiers are unconditionally returned	01:12	\|	LK	29/09/06

16.	#2 Yossi, You`re Wrong	01:14	\|	Jason Bourne	29/09/06

17.	Cannot they stop their violations?	01:18	\|	Ben Jbeili	29/09/06

18.	to 3 yossi - the leclerc, retr	01:19	\|	mb	29/09/06

19.	to Amir	01:29	\|	jeff atkinson	29/09/06

20.	Wow Amir, give me some!	01:29	\|	Zorro	29/09/06

21.	while Hezbolla rearms...	01:33	\|	Avi	29/09/06

22.	Israel is a living violation, what else is new!	01:33	\|	Joe	29/09/06

23.	French withdrew...	01:36	\|	Gorka	29/09/06

24.	IDF = arrogance	01:54	\|	CC	29/09/06

25.	Israel is a living violation, what else is new!	01:56	\|	Joe	29/09/06

26.	BUSTED	01:57	\|	watcher X	29/09/06

27.	french	02:06	\|	av	29/09/06

28.	To Amir	02:11	\|	John	29/09/06

29.	No mention of the Backstory by Ha`Aretz	02:21	\|	idf_sergeant	29/09/06

30.	This really sucks..	02:26	\|	Dove	29/09/06

31.	LIBERATE LEBANON,DISARM HIZBOLLAH,FREE PRISONERS,SEND UNIFIL HOME	02:30	\|	-VOICE of MOSHIACH))	29/09/06

32.	same old IDF like 20 years ago	02:45	\|	Rasputin	29/09/06

33.	can`t france find weapons for its soldiers?	02:51	\|	Innocent Observer	29/09/06

34.	# 5 OVER OPTIMESTIC AMIR	03:06	\|	THE REALISTIC	29/09/06

35.	Always looking for Conflict	03:07	\|	Abe	29/09/06

36.	to #2Yossi Cronenberg	03:13	\|	Motale	29/09/06

37.	# 2 Yossi , # 5 Amir ,	03:14	\|	Joseph E .	29/09/06

38.	Why didn`t the french do anything	03:35	\|	Dove	29/09/06

39.	The World Needs To Teach Israel a Lesson	03:44	\|	Mr. Knowitall	29/09/06

40.	French Peacekeepers	03:45	\|	Geoff	29/09/06

41.	how about hez???	03:54	\|	vik	29/09/06

42.	Israel dont give a wooden nickle about the U.N Resolution	03:57	\|	Robert	29/09/06

43.	Israeli tried all tricks and failed	03:57	\|	Watcher	29/09/06

44.	IDF, HEZBOLAAH, SYRIA	04:03	\|	OBSERVER	29/09/06

45.	#11: Israel is a living covenant	04:04	\|	Paul Freedman	29/09/06

46.	To the Realistic #19	04:20	\|	André	29/09/06

47.	UNIFIL protecting thiefs	06:14	\|	raul	29/09/06

48.	#15 idf_sergeant - very interesting info	06:15	\|	Johnboy	29/09/06

49.	#28 Paul Freeman says....	06:22	\|	Johnboy	29/09/06

50.	#25 Robert, I`m curious	06:23	\|	Johnboy	29/09/06

51.	all the "Yossis" and "Amirs" you`re being watched	06:43	\|	mossad	29/09/06

52.	an Israeli border kibbutz Shomer-Ra supplying Hizb with arms ?	07:02	\|	nimrod	29/09/06

53.	The UN is such a waste of time	08:05	\|	The Warrior	29/09/06

54.	well sergeant	08:34	\|	john of Jordan	29/09/06

55.	Dear Zorro	08:36	\|	Bill	29/09/06

56.	To John from Jamestown the Nuke guy	08:45	\|	Bill	29/09/06

57.	How about the illegal IDF`s W.M.D	09:10	\|	Tereza	29/09/06

58.	WAR WAR and more WAR	10:05	\|	WAR Monger	29/09/06

59.	What a relief it was UNIFIL and not Hezbollah	10:10	\|	Clickfool	29/09/06

60.	Israel Never Respected the UN, Why Should It Now ?	10:24	\|	Karim	29/09/06

61.	So what are you going to do, War Monger?	10:34	\|	Clickfool	29/09/06

62.	unifil	10:43	\|	jean marie	29/09/06

63.	2 prisoners	10:51	\|	Serge	29/09/06

64.	unifil	10:54	\|	jean marie	29/09/06

65.	Vive la France!	11:03	\|	Francois	29/09/06

66.	UN Resolutions & Israel	11:04	\|	Lebanese Communist	29/09/06

67.	TYPICAL ISRAEL .... IT CANNOT BE TRUSTED!	11:10	\|	Messaoud	29/09/06

68.	# To IDF Sergent	11:13	\|	Leb	29/09/06

69.	#63 Serge and Resolition 1701	11:15	\|	Johnboy	29/09/06

70.	About the info from #29 "IDFSergeant"	11:16	\|	Francois	29/09/06

71.	BREAKING NEWS: Israel`s new tank, for dealing with Hezbollah	11:31	\|	Clickfool	29/09/06

72.	#62: french would be spoken in s.lebanon schools....not farsi...	11:34	\|	haman	29/09/06

73.	To mb #18	11:34	\|	boule	29/09/06

74.	UN versus Israel soon	11:40	\|	UN Peace Keeper	29/09/06

75.	To Innocent Observer #33	11:41	\|	Boule	29/09/06

76.	To raul #47 and idf_sergeant #29	11:49	\|	Boule	29/09/06

77.	Let me guess	11:52	\|	Jess	29/09/06

78.	#22True-Sad.Israel is a living violation, what else is new!	11:53	\|	Moses	29/09/06

79.	Clickfool - you live in cookoo land. This is the Middle East	11:54	\|	Joe	29/09/06

80.	To # 31 Voice of Moshiach	11:56	\|	JEss	29/09/06

81.	Note to the israelis	12:07	\|	bad leb	29/09/06

82.	To Haman # 72	12:07	\|	Jess	29/09/06

83.	and what was the answer of unifil	12:12	\|	talkback observer	29/09/06

84.	To Jean Marie	12:17	\|	Freddy Maier	29/09/06

85.	UN will support Lebanon	12:18	\|	Lebanese Supporter	29/09/06

86.	Defending ?	12:28	\|	Lena	29/09/06

87.	To WAR Monger	12:28	\|	Tereza	29/09/06

88.	Lucky IDF	13:16	\|	Rob	29/09/06

89.	Kadima birthed UN presence in North!!!	13:17	\|	Yoni	29/09/06

90.	The picture on frontpage says it all	13:23	\|	Jonathan S	29/09/06

91.	stop	13:35	\|	talkback observer	29/09/06

92.	to 71 and more	13:41	\|	talkback observer	29/09/06

93.	Unfortunate people	14:21	\|	Dodo	29/09/06

94.	Should be IAF not IDF	14:53	\|	Marie	29/09/06

95.	to mb	17:49	\|	lc	29/09/06

96.	to french # 27	17:52	\|	lc	29/09/06

97.	#90 Jonathan S - the role of UNIFIL....	14:41	\|	Johnboy	30/09/06

98.	60: Karim`s a funny man	16:15	\|	David Teich	30/09/06

99.	89: Yoni, ignorance is what you get with a religious education	17:52	\|	David Teich	30/09/06

100.	new force	12:14	\|	van krom	25/02/09

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