They may do little to stop either Lebanese civilians or terrorists from infiltrating northern Israel, but the UN troops that make up the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon are going out of their way to make sure Israeli cows stop entering Lebanon.

A Lebanese website reported at the weekend that UNIFIL has offered to build a fence around a pond that sits just over the border and which Israeli cows often visit to get a drink while grazing in nearby Israeli fields.

Israelis were somewhat surprised by the story, considering that the same UNIFIL troops did absolutely nothing last week to stop 15 Lebanese civilians from crossing into northern Israel, where they planted Lebanese and Hizballah flags.

UNIFIL has also come under heavy criticism in Israel for failing to prevent the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which began when a Hizballah force entered northern Israel and ambushed an Israeli army patrol, all within view of UNIFIL lookouts.