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Despite agreement on a draft U.N. resolution for ending the fighting in Lebanon, Israel will continue to attack Hezbollah militants. (File)
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| By Associated Press August 6, 2006 |
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Despite agreement on a draft U.N. resolution for ending the fighting in Lebanon, Israel will continue to attack Hezbollah militants in the south of that country, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Sunday.
The U.S. and France agreed Saturday on the framework for a Security Council resolution that seeks a full halt to the fighting. The document charts a path toward a lasting peace along the Lebanon-Israel border, with a cease-fire monitored by international troops, but ignores Lebanese demands for a timetable for Israel's withdrawal from the south and for Israel to lift a blockade of the country.
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who is closed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Sunday that the draft resolution was good for Israel, but the country still had military goals to meet in Lebanon.
"Even if it is passed, it is doubtful that Hezbollah will honor the resolution and halt its fire," Ramon told Israel's Army Radio. "Therefore we have to continue fighting, continue hitting anyone we can hit in Hezbollah, and I assume that as long as that goes on, Israel's position, diplomatically and militarily, will improve."
The fighting in Lebanon began July 12, when Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the border and attacked an Israeli army patrol, killing three soldiers and capturing two others. In response, Israel launched a widescale offensive of airstrikes and ground attacks. Hezbollah also has fired thousands of rockets into Israel. At least 660 people have been reported killed in the violence.
Israel said it's offensive is aimed at weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militia away from the border so an international force and the Lebanese army can take its place.
Ramon said that even if the U.N. passed a cease-fire resolution, Israel would not withdraw from a buffer zone several miles deep in south Lebanon until the international force arrived.
"There is no doubt that until a multinational force arrives ... Israel will remain in the security zone it is in now, and no one can act against Israel," he said. "A cease-fire, if it comes, will be one that leaves Israel in a zone of six, seven, eight kilometers (four to five miles)."
The draft U.N. resolution emphasized that Israel retained the right to defend itself, and Ramon said that would allow it to take pre-emptive action against guerrillas preparing to attack.
"If we see there are launchers who are going to fire Katyusha (rockets) at Israel, we have the right to respond," he said.
Mohammed Fneish, a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese government, said the guerrillas would not stop fighting until all Israeli soldiers left Lebanon.
Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah was holding the Lebanese government hostage.
"Hezbollah wants Lebanon to be part of Iran's periphery like they are," he told Israel Radio. "It appears that the Lebanese government is screwed up, afraid, and anxious. They didn't start the war, I am sure they would be happy to end it."
Peres added that he felt it would take "weeks, not days" to end the fighting.
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