Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would not accept the presence of peacekeepers in Lebanon from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with the state, officials said on Sunday. The decision complicated efforts by the United Nations to form a 15,000-strong peacekeeping force to help enforce a truce that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbullah. The decision was made at a meeting of Olmert's inner Security Cabinet, meeting participants said. "We will not agree that countries which do not have relations with Israel will participate in the multinational force," Olmert was quoted as saying by one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh - Muslim countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel - are among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force. Europe, which had been expected to lead the force, has been slow to make any firm troop commitments. UN officials have called on Europe to offer more troops to balance commitments from Muslim countries.
The UN cease-fire resolution does not explicitly give Israel authority to block countries from joining the peacekeeping mission, but it does say the force should "coordinate its activities ... with the government of Lebanon and government of Israel."