Egyptians Should Monitor Border with Syria

Weekend blogging: I use this time to present far-fetched ideas.

European Union leaders are discussing the Italian proposal that unarmed EU troops should monitor the Lebanese/Syrian border. Syria and Hezbollah have responded truculently using violent language.

"“We will consider the U.N. soldiers as occupying troops, and we will have the right to resist them,” said Abdul Nasser Asahili, a mukhtar, or local leader, in Hermil, the district’s capital. “We advise them to stay south of the Litani River,’’" which was quoted in the New York Times.

Hezbollah loves the terms "occupation" and "resistance," and they've managed to convince the Arab world and Europe that they have a "right" to resist both. However, they had and have no problem with what some define as Syria's "occupation" of Lebanon, and they appear to have a slight problem with the right of 14 March politicians to "resist" through words with the expectation that they won't be assassinated.

Hezbollah and Syrian leaders justify their belligerance by invoking pan-Arabism and anti-Israeli language.

But what if Egyptian soldiers monitored the border?

Sure, they can be slandered as supporters of Israel, but they also remain the bastion of pan-Arabism. Amr Moussa and Shaaban Abdel Raheem easily restore Egypt's pan-Arabist and anti-Israel image.

Sure, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made anti-Shia statements earlier this year. But the Egyptians wouldn't be in Lebanon as Sunnis. They'd be there as proud Arabs guaranteeing peace and love between two Arab countries. In fact, the Egyptians were the ones trying to calm down the 14 March rhetoric against Syria, thus they can be seen as a neutral arbiter.

And, they could always claim that the troops are there to guarantee that Israel does not wage a war against a peaceful Arab country again.

Of course, the Syrians hate the Egyptians and know that Egyptian intelligence cooperates with Israel and counters Syrian intelligence throughout the region. The Egyptians and Saudis are working closely together on Lebanon, and they are very close with the United States. Placing Egyptian troops on the Lebanese border with Syria would engrave an Arab demarcation around Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian response, once boxed in, would most likely to continue what they did in 2005: stir civil war, and assassinate Lebanese. Would they dare directly attack Egyptian troops?

Before this proposal could go anywhere, Hezbollah would try to stop it. This would put them in an even more awkward position because it would prove they don't want a border with Syria, they intend on keeping their weapons forever, and that they were weak when they allowed UN troops into Lebanon, but that they allowed in the UN because it can be easily manipulated or forced out.

That doesn't mean it shouldn't be suggested and worked toward.