UNIFIL Finally Speaks Up (Updated)

Just Journalism spoke directly with the UNIFIL spokesperson:

Andrea Tenenti, deputy spokesperson for UNIFIL, told Just Journalism that while 'all activities' that take place along the Blue Line have to be coordinated with UNIFIL, he could not at this stage confirm whether this particular maintenance work had been.

'What we are trying to do is ascertain the circumstances of the incident and why it occurred. We have a lot of activities that we coordinate with both parties along the Blue Line. Concerning this specific activity [Israel's maintenance operation], we have to check if that's the case.'

However, Tenenti did agree that along the Blue Line there are gaps between Israel's border fence and the actual, UN-mandated border:

'It's a particular area where sometimes the Blue Line and the technical fence meet, and sometimes where there are metres in between. We are trying to demarcate the Blue Line with blue barrels to try to make sure we don't have any crossings.'

Read the whole thing.

So on the one hand, UNIFIL admits that the policy is for each side to coordinate with UNIFIL any activities along the Blue Line--but hesitates to state for the record that Israel did exactly that.

Also, UNIFIL confirms that the fence does not always align exactly with the actual border--which agrees with what Israel has been saying.

Slowly, slowly we are getting to the truth.

A pity that the media did not bother to contact UNIFIL to get the facts first.

UPDATE: According to YNetNews, UNIFIL admits that Lebanon did not have the right to fire:

UNIFIL forces who toured the site of Tuesday's deadly exchanges of fire on the northern border said the IDF's activity did not warrant the attack launched by Lebanese Army soldiers, Israeli army officials who spoke to UNIFIL representatives said.

Technorati Tag: Lebanon and UNIFIL.