UNDOF, 1974-2014

Update Below

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force – UNDOF, as of today, is no more.

U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights are being relocated from four positions and one camp on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Israeli border, a diplomatic source said on Monday after recent clashes with al-Qaeda-linked militants.

“Staff in U.N. positions 10, 16, 31 and 37, as well as Camp Faouar on the (Syrian) side are being relocated,” the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

There was no suggestion that the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, known as UNDOF, was shutting down. Last month 45 UNDOF peacekeepers were kidnapped by Islamist militants fighting the Syrian army. They were released last week.

The Fijian withdrawal, along with all remaining UNDOF personnel on the Syrian side, are now safe and sound in Israel, far from the reach of Jabhat al-Nusra and other Syrian groups.

This shameful end befits the UN peacekeeping mission.

UNDOF, and the UN which oversees its mission, have had almost 4 years to adapt to the changing reality on the ground. By superficially extending the mandate every 6 months, and due to a complete lack of awareness of anything going on around them in the Syrian civil war, UNDOF became its own undoing.

Just how much of a sham UNDOF was, one can see by their own maps

undof-page-001 Notice anything strange about the Israeli localities on the Golan?

Look closer.

.

.

.

There aren’t any.

Instead, UNDOF listed farms and villages that haven’t existed for half a century.

Notice also how the map doesn’t actually show Israel west of Line Alpha.

If UNDOF doesn’t recognize Israel’s legitimacy on the Golan, even as all UNDOF personnel are currently sheltering in the Israeli Golan under the safety and protection of Israel soldiers, there really isn’t any need for UNDOF.

Good riddance, and may your memory be a warning to United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon – UNIFIL, and those suggesting Israel let UN peacekeepers man the Jordan valley after an Israeli withdrawal from that area.

Update:

UN peacekeeping operations department has issued a statement to Business Insider:

The situation in UN Disengagement Force on the Syrian side and the area of separation, has deteriorated severely over the last several days. Armed groups have made advances in the area of UNDOF positions, posing a direct threat to the safety and security of the UN Peacekeepers along the “Bravo” line and in Camp Faouar. All of UN personnel in these positions have thus been relocated to the Alpha side. UNDOF continues to use all available assets to carry out its mandated tasks in this exceptionally challenging period and environment.

Alpha line is lingo for Israel.

 

5 thoughts on “UNDOF, 1974-2014”

  1. Norman_In_New_York

    This means that Israel can move across the disengagement lines if it feels threatened by ISIS or any other hostile armed force. I’m sure that the IDF command has made contingencies.

  2. But aren’t peacekeepers supposed to keep peace by confronting and engaging anyone who tries to break it? What kind of soldiers are they? These clowns must be ashamed!

  3. The problem with many of these UN sponsored peacekeepers is that many are from countries that have little military experience, poorly equipped and are poorly led and follow very narrow acts of engagement policies. But future UN peacekeeping activities must be encouraged as North American/Western European/Australasian military axis can’t be expected to do it all. But these guys must be properly funded and equipped and let the commanders on the ground decide acts of engagement in order to protect themselves and the civilian populations….

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