Conor Cruise O Brien - With the Irish Troops in Lebanon

"Somebody was pulling leg. We don't know who was behind it. We forgot all about it. We wish the Irish would. We are Catholics. The Irish are Catholics. We wish good relations."

The speaker was one Abu Iskander, liaison man with Unifil (United Nations Force in the Lebanon) for Major Sa'ad Haddad's Israeli-backed Christian militia. The militia - known in U.N.-ese as the de facto forces - occupying an enclave between the Uniful zone and the Israeli border, The Irish and the Ghanaians, on the Southern side of the Unifil zone, have the mission of preventing all armed encroachhment and infJ.1tration but especially those of the "de facto forces". On the Northern side of the Unifil zone, other U.N. forces - Fijians, Senegalese, Dutch - have a similar mission in relation to the Palestinian commandos and their allies - collectively, in U.N.-ese, "armed personnel". The general idea is to provide a sort of neutralized cushion between the Palestinians and the Israelis, lessening the likelihood of the kind of small clash on the ground that can escalate into regional conflict, or worse. Given the magniitude of the stakes, UnifJ.1's task is of crucial importance  though little understood - and the Irish part in it is diffiicult, delicate and sometimes dangerous.

The incident Major Haddad's man referred to was one in which, first, a member of the Christian militia was killed in the course of an exchange of fire with an Irish unit, and subsequently two unarmed Irish soldiers were kidnapped and murdered. At the time it was feared that this might have been an act of policy, perhaps even encouraged by Israel. In retrospect, it is accepted that it was most probbably a vendetta killing carried out by relatives of the slain militiaman in accordance with their traditional view of what the honour of the family and the clan requires.

The Irish in Unifil being thoroughly professional, don't harbour vengeful feelings about this episode, but Mr Iskannder is right in supposing that they have not forgotten it. They don't forget it because they know that something like it, or worse, may happen at any time. They deal with the militia carefully, firmly and tactfully, but they want to have no more to do with them than strictly required by their task.

The Irish battalion headquarter is at Tibnin, high up in the mountains, beside a Crusader castle. The terrain is craggy and stony, cut across by deep valleys - wadis - which have to be watched for infJ.1trators. The weather, hot and dry in September when I was there, will not be turning cold and wet. The people in the Irish area - and throughout the whole Unifil zone - are Shi'i Muslims. Because of their exposed position near Lebanon's border with Israel these people suffered extremely, both as a result of the Civil War of 1975-6 and - especially - the terribly destrucctive Israeli advance to the Litani river in 1978 - the incurrsion which caused Unifil to be set up.

This Shi'i Muslim people well understand what Unifil is there to do, and they support it positively. They don't want anything to happen that will start more trouble. Nor are they disposed to put all the blame for their sufferings on the Israelis. They dislike the Palestinians and their left-wing nationalist allies for having provoked the Israeli intervenntion which drove many of them from their homes in Southern Lebanon. To these homes they have been steadily returning, with growing confidence in Unifil, with which accordingly they co-operate, reporting all brands of armed infiltrator.

Lt. Col. Sean Mac Niocaill, the able, thoughtful and humane commanding officer of the Irish battalion, sees good relations with the local people as the central requireement for the discharge of Unifil's task. By their common interest in peace, the people are well disposed, but tactless behaviour - on the part of what is, after all, however alltruistic its motives, a foreign armed force - could easily alienate them. Having travelled throughout the Unifil area, I would say that - though relations are generally good the Irish are particularly successful - despite language and other barriers in maintaining a cheerful and informal relation with the villagers.

Under such conditions of course, the maintenance of good relations precludes very close relations. Officers warn their men about Arab customs and taboos and conventions. In doing so, one officer found a memorable image, and, I should think an effective one. "If any of you," said he, "so much as look at an Arab girl, you'll be bring your balls home in your suitcase."

A chastening reflection, and stimulating to vigorous outtdoor recreation, of which there is plenty available: volleyyball, basket-ball, soccer. No Gaelic football; the terrain is too rocky, I was told. (Further North, off towards Tyre, the Fijians manage to play rugby all right; maybe there are fewer rocks, or maybe Fijians bounce better.) Rather more to the point is the inter-contingent shooting competition. The Irish were the winners this year (in May) but then they are expected to win. The standard of marksmanship in the Irish Army is high. In basket-ball the Irish were runners-up to the Senegalese: no bad showing either.

Unifil's entire zone of operation was a wreck - followwing the israeli incursion - when UnifJ.1 began. Civil adminisstration, medical and sanitary personnel, had all fled, and only a few of the people concerned have even now come back. Unifil had willy-nilly to assume their tasks, and the Irish play an important part in this. The co-ordination of all this "humanitarian effort" - as it is officially described - is in the capable hands of an Irish officer at Unifil Headdquarters, Lt. ceil. Jack MacGreil (a brother of Father Micheal MacGreil, author of that instructive work,Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland). The Irish battalion - with two doctors and a dentist - find themselves in practice running the hospital at Tibnin, the equivalent of a county hespital at home.

They don't regard their onerous medical and humaniitarian tasks as distracting from their main mission othepping the peace. On the contrary this work lays the solid foundation of confidence, in relating with the local people, without which the force could not discharge its mission effectively.

That it is discharging its mission effectively I have ne doubt. In Jerusalen, a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces acknowledged that Unifil had been "partly successsful" in checking (palestinian terrorist) infiltration. From that quarter, that is the equivalent of a rave review. A P.L.O. spokesman, in Tyol, gave a similar grudging acknowwledgement: the best that an impartial force can ever hope to receive.

Much of the credit for Unifil's current success is due to the present Force Commander - since February of this year - Ireland's Lieutenant General William Callaghan. General Callaghan, with his predecessor the Ghanaian General Erskine - successfully negotiated the last ceaseefire, which has held since July. General Callaghan talked to the P.L.O., General Elliott to the Israelis, so that parties who cannot talk to one another could talk all the same. It is a good illustration of what the U.N. is about.

General Callaghan is a tough, leathery soldier, and a wily diplomat to boot, with a lot of Middle East experience behind him. The U.N. has now been involved in Middle East peace-keeping for more than thirty years, and Irishmen have been prominently involved in that U.N. effort over twenty-three years.

People sneer of course. "Peace-keeping! With three major wars, and God-knows how many small and medium ones in that region in that period!" -

"Peace-keeping" is indeed an unfortunately grandiose word for the reality. "War-dodging" would be a bit better: - meaning improvised - but increasingly sophisticated - local operations aimed at preventing local hostilities from lengthening and spreading. This is an essential part of humanity's precarious effort at staving off a Third World War. No more vital task exists on earth and we ought to be prouder than we are of the part that Irish people have played in it.

All the same, it is to the little things that one's mind and heart go back. To the "Glen of Imaal", the hot and stony wadi where the Irish gunners managed to provide a most memorable lunch. To the "Gresham Hotel", the Irish Battalion's rather Spartan headquarters, where the steak was tough, but the conversation cheerful. To those small boys whom Irish private soldiers had taught to utter the warning cry: Ta na Hoifigi ag Teacht!

And fmally to another small boy, well equipped with our usage of the second official language. A visitor to the Irish area of operations, finding himself importuned by a band of urchins, used the imperative which all visitors to Arab lands must learn: Imshi meaning Go Away! To which this lad replied, quick as a flash: Imshi me bollucks!

If you think about it, you will see that there could be no better accolade to the success of the Irish in the Lebanon .•