The head of the department told AFP that the world cannot expect on UN forces to end hostilities, whether in Gaza or other areas of active conflict, noting the infamous Blue Helmets’ inherent limits.
For instance, a mission in the occupied Palestinian territories is merely “very, very, very hypothetical,” according to Jean-Pierre Lacroix, under secretary-general for peace operations.
Such a deployment has been demanded by the Arab League.
However, according to Lacroix, all the necessary prerequisites are absent: a ceasefire, consent from the opposing forces to receive UN forces, and approval from the sharply divided UN Security Council.
Members of the UN Security Council France and Russia are among those who are debating the possibility of sending UN soldiers to Gaza once Israel concludes its military campaign to eradicate the Hamas terrorist organization.
The plan is to send soldiers via UNTSO, an established UN peacekeeping force for the Middle East that was established in 1948 and now maintains a tiny, unarmed unit stationed in Lebanon.
This also appears to be very speculative, in part because UNTSO is unarmed.
“Peacekeeping has its limits,” Lacroix said. And “imposing peace” is not part of the UN troops’ mandate.
UN peacekeeping missions have faced criticism, particularly in African deployments, of failing to do enough to protect against armed extremists.
Lacroix said the world body, which will celebrate its annual International Day of Blue Helmets on May 29, “of course needs to keep adapting.”
But turning the UN troops trained soldiers who differentiate themselves from warring forces by wearing the UN’s pale blue helmets into a war-fighting body is “not realistic or desirable.”
“Imposing peace is… a synonym for waging war. Many states in the Security Council would be opposed to that,” Lacroix said.”Waging war is synonymous with imposing peace. That would not sit well with many Security Council states, according to Lacroix.
