UNITED NATIONS, July 19: Israel and Hezbollah must stop fighting before a broader settlement of the conflict can be reached, a top UN official said on Wednesday, clashing with the United States which said a ceasefire made little sense.
The UN call came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country’s military campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas would continue ‘as long as necessary’ to free two captured soldiers and ensure the group was no longer a threat.
“What there needs to be now is a cessation of hostilities,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown told reporters, a day after France suggested the Security Council adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire underpinned by political and security steps.
“The Middle East is littered with the results of people believing there are military solutions to political problems in the region,” Malloch Brown said.
Council members said they were waiting for a briefing by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday before deciding on next steps. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was having a private dinner with Annan on Thursday, UN officials said.
Washington frowns on the idea of a cease-fire now. US Ambassador John Bolton said a ceasefire between a state and a ‘terrorist group’ like Hezbollah made little sense. He said the council should instead focus on disarming Hezbollah and extending Lebanese government control over all its territory.
‘WE’RE NOT COLLUDING’: In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States was not engaged in military strategy sessions with the Israelis, “sitting around at the war map saying, ‘Do this, this and this.’”
“We’re not colluding, we’re not cooperating, we’re not conspiring, we’re not doing any of that,” he told reporters. “The Israelis are doing what they think is necessary to protect their borders.”
Malloch Brown said international action should come in phases, starting with ending the killing of civilians.
Afterward would come negotiation of a longer-term settlement and a possible enhancement of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon since 1978 that has been largely ineffective in stopping cross-border attacks.
The United Nations and some nations have proposed an international force as part of a cease-fire agreement that would be larger and have a more robust mandate than UNIFIL.
Asked about France’s proposal, Bolton told reporters, “It is very hard to understand from the people calling for a cease-fire how you have a cease-fire with a terrorist organization like Hezbollah.”
“I am not sure that conventional thinking about a cease-fire makes any sense when you are dealing with a terrorist group that fires rockets at civilian populations and kidnaps innocent Israelis,” he added.
LEBANESE PM: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora renewed his appeal for an immediate ceasefire on Wednesday, saying more than 300 people had been killed and more than half a million displaced in his country since Israeli began a fierce offensive last week after Hezbollah militants captured the two Israeli soldiers and fired rockets into Israel.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq reiterated in New York that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had consistently said there was ‘an urgent need’ for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
French UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said it was time for the council to act.—Reuters
