The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, visits Lebanon, Israel and Gaza this week in a welcome initiative which brings him to a region of active concern for Irish foreign policy. It is his first such international trip since he came to power in June 1997. The region's politics are closely interconnected and face a number of crucial choices in coming months, with significant consequences for European states, including Ireland. This is a good time to make an assessment of their prospects. In Lebanon, Mr Ahern, who is accompanied by the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, will meet the president and government leaders and visit Irish troops serving with UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Ireland has been involved for 20 years, in an operation which has become an intrinsic part of the Army's deployments and training. The number of soldiers who have served runs into the tens of thousands over this period. It has brought a knowledge of Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian affairs into most Irish towns and villages in an unprecedented exposure to international affairs in that part of the world.
UNIFIL is still required as a buffer force in Lebanon and the Irish troops have played a valuable and much appreciated role there. But were agreement reached to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 providing for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon with security guarantees satisfactory to all sides, the force would have a short remaining span of life. It is recognised that there is a certain fatigue about service there, which is on a voluntary basis. Mr Ahern also sees the need to participate in European peacekeeping exercises, realistically under the aegis of the Partnership for Peace, if this State is to keep up to date with relevant techniques.
The timing of any such breakthrough in Lebanon would depend very much on developments in the Middle East peace process between Israel, the Palestinians and Syria. The Syrians insist on connecting Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights to that from south Lebanon, a linkage Israel resists but finds difficult to reject outright. From the Syrian point of view, it would be unrealistic to contemplate a settlement with Israel that could undermine their presence in Lebanon - unless there was concrete and firm progress towards resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The forthcoming Israeli election on May 17th will determine to a great extent whether that can be done. Progress on implementing the recent Wye River accords will be slow until then.
Mr Ahern will be briefed by his Israeli hosts on the prospects for peace - and also on the potential for more high technology co-operation between Ireland and Israel. There are several historical similarities between the two states, a point recognised by Eamon de Valera, who visited Israel privately in 1957. Since then, Irish nationalist sympathies have identified more with the Palestinian struggle for state and nationhood, which have been supported by Irish governments for twenty years. In Gaza, Mr Ahern will meet Mr Yasser Arafat to hear what those prospects look like now, after the tortuously slow implementation of the Oslo accords. Mr Arafat never ceases to insist on a greater European role in the Middle East peace process and is expected to underline it with Mr Ahern. It is very much in Ireland's interests to encourage whatever momentum exists towards a peace settlement.