Road-mending in Lebanon

ON THE pine-scented slopes along the Lebanese-Israeli border, a platoon of United Nations peacekeepers at last arrives to start the job they were first given 22 years ago. Twenty-five Ghanaian soldiers stake out a patch of soil belonging to Lebanon, but repeatedly encroached upon by the Israeli army. Having helped define the border, they must now prevent incidents along it. But it is a twitchy Israeli foot-patrol that watches the sightseers, and forbids cross-border sales of ice cream, while the Ghanaians look on unconcerned. At the first sign of trouble, an Israeli soldier says, the peacekeepers will turn tail and run.