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| By Associated Press August 5, 2006 |
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The United States and France agreed Saturday on a draft Security Council resolution that seeks an immediate halt to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, breaking a three-week diplomatic impasse caused in part by Washington's refusal to press Israel to end its campaign in Lebanon.
After the agreement was announced, the full 15-nation Security Council met in closed session Saturday afternoon to consider the resolution which would chart a path toward a lasting peace with a cease-fire monitored by international troops.
"We're prepared to move as quickly as other members of the council want to move," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said before the meeting.
If passed, it would be the most significant international response to the crisis and give the region its first real hope of ending the violence that has killed more than 600 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people on both sides and left Lebanon in tatters.
Despite the U.S.-French agreement, fighting raged for another day. Israeli naval commandos battled with Hezbollah in the southern port city of Tyre early Saturday, while Israeli air raids killed at least eight people in multiple strikes across Lebanon and a Hezbollah rocket barrage killed three in northern Israel.
Once approved, the resolution must gain the acceptance of both Israel and Hezbollah, which may not be easy. Hezbollah warned it will not abide by the resolution unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon entirely, while one Israeli official called it an "important development" but vowed that Israel would press on with its offensive for now.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the draft resolution as "an important first step in bringing this tragic crisis to an end."
"The priority now is to get the resolution adopted as soon as possible, and then to work for a permanent cease-fire and achieve the conditions in Lebanon and Israel which will prevent a recurrence," Blair said.
Diplomats said the document was likely to be adopted by the Security Council early next week in a meeting that will be attended by the foreign ministers of the 15 council members.
The resolution's first demand is for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
The document then charts a detailed path for the two sides to follow to achieve a lasting peace. It envisions a second resolution in a week or two that would authorize the international force.
Among those steps would be the creation of a large buffer zone in southern Lebanon free of both Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, monitored by the Lebanese army and an international peacekeeping force. The draft calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed and for Lebanon's borders to be solidified, especially in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Mideast war.
Another element is an arms embargo that would block any entity in Lebanon except the Lebanese government from obtaining weapons from abroad. That is aimed at blocking the sale or supply of arms to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria, believed to be the militia's main backers.
The international force would "support the Lebanese armed forces and government in providing a secure environment and contribute to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution." France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, will likely contribute to that force.
The draft resolution calls for the current U.N. force in Lebanon, known by its acronym UNIFIL, to monitor the cessation in fighting for now.
The draft's chief goal is to ensure that south Lebanon does not slip back into the same state it was in before Israel's campaign.
"Who could imagine that such a drama could happen again?" France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said. "It would be irresponsible."
That puts significant pressure on the government of Lebanon, which had ceded de facto control of its south to Hezbollah.
Both the U.S. and France had to compromise to get the draft adopted. The U.S., for example, backed off its demand for a package of immediate steps, including the deployment of an international force; France, meanwhile, yielded on its bid for a blanket halt to violence because the draft gives Israel the right to conduct defensive operations -- a term that the Israelis could interpret broadly.
The resolution also makes no direct demand for the release of two Israeli soldiers, whose abduction on July 12 by Hezbollah sparked the latest violence.
Instead, the draft only emphasizes the need to address the causes "that have given rise to the current crisis, including by the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers." It encourages but does not demand "settling the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel," whom Hezbollah wants exchanged for the captured Israelis.
Israel occupied south Lebanon in 1982 and withdrew in 2000. The Security Council has made similar demands calling for the disarming of Hezbollah and the extension of Lebanese government authority throughout southern Lebanon in earlier resolutions -- most recently with Resolution 1559 in September, 2004 -- but Hezbollah has refused to obey.
"What we're trying to do is lay in the foundation so that you can finally enact the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559," said White House spokesman Tony Snow, speaking from Crawford, Texas, where U.S. President George W. Bush was vacationing on his ranch.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley arrived at Bush's ranch on Saturday. Rice is ready to go to the U.N. for a vote on the resolution, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Bush has signed off on the draft Security Council resolution and is "happy with the progress being made," Snow said.
But he added that Bush knows there could be a long road before violence stops. "I don't think he has any delusions about what lies ahead," said Snow.
Hezbollah has said so far it would refuse to abide by any cease-fire until Israel withdraws from Lebanon, and Israel has said it will not pull its troops out of the south until a major international force deploys in the region. That deployment could take weeks.
"We will abide by it (the resolution) on condition that no Israeli soldier remains inside Lebanese land. If they stay, we will not abide by it," said Mohammed Fneish, one of two Hezbollah Cabinet ministers in the Lebanese government.
In Israel, Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog told Israel TV's Channel One that the Israeli government was studying the details of the draft, but would not halt its war against Hezbollah for the time being.
Still, Herzog appeared to acknowledge that the draft meant that Israel's military operations may have to wind down soon.
"We still have the coming days for many military missions, but we have to know that the timetable is becoming increasingly shorter," he said.
It was not immediately clear whether Herzog was speaking for the government. Officials in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said no formal reaction was expected Saturday.
While meeting fierce resistance in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army claimed progress. Commanders said Israeli troops had knocked out half of Hezbollah's long-range rockets and seized positions in or near 20 towns and villages as part its offensive to carve out a five-mile (eight-kilometer) Hezbollah-free zone.
"We plan to carry out the whole mission," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said. "Hezbollah must not have illusions that we plan to give in."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch met with Lebanese officials in Beirut Saturday trying to pave the way for ending hostilities. He talked with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a prominent Shiite who has been negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah.
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