LONDON, July 23: A British government minister called on Israel on Sunday to consider the political consequences of its military offensive against Lebanon.
Foreign Office minister Kim Howells, who was meeting Israeli officials in Haifa, said public recognition was needed of the scale of destruction in Lebanon.
His comments were a departure from the message of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has urged Israel only to be proportionate in its actions.
Blair and US President George W. Bush have so far declined to back a call for an immediate cease-fire made by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
“I very much hope that the Americans understand what’s happening to Lebanon,” Howells said in Haifa on Sunday, following a visit to locations in Lebanon on Saturday.
“The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes.”
Howells said that to secure continuing support from the international community, Israel needed to demonstrate it is committed to in future living peacefully with neighbouring Lebanon.
“What’s going on won’t be won simply by a military exercise, it has got to be a political victory as well. That means the forces of sanity have got to win out,” Howells told Britain’s Sky News.
“It’s time the whole of the international community woke up to just what a threat this conflict is ... to all of us,” he said.
In Britain, meanwhile, Zvi Heifetz, Israel’s ambassador to Britain, addressed a pro-Israeli rally at a school in north London.
He told the gathering of British Jews that recent meetings such as the G8 summit in Russia had shown that Israel was not alone, and his country had the backing of the international community in its confrontation with Hezbollah.
“The leaders of the civilised world are not blind to the facts. Their message was clear — Hezbollah is responsible. And Israel has the right to defend its people,” he said.
Elsewhere in London, a second protest took place to condemn the violence and denounce Blair’s support for Israel’s military action.
The turnout was much smaller than the estimated 7,000 who joined a rally on Saturday.
Opposition politicians also called for Britain to distance itself from the stance of the United States and publicly call on Israeli authorities to show restraint.
“In some instances ... Israeli actions have been disproportionate. Our Foreign Office should not be afraid to say so,” said William Hague, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition Conservatives.
“Our position in international affairs may often be linked to that of the United States but it does not have to be identical to it.”
RIFT DENIED: British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s deputy John Prescott expressed understanding on Sunday for the ‘concern’ shown by the junior foreign office minister about Israeli tactics in Lebanon, while denying there was any rift in the government.
The criticism by Kim Howells, during a visit to Beirut on Saturday, fuelled debate about whether the Blair government had split over the conflict or if London was distancing itself from its US ally, which supports the Israeli offensive.
“There isn’t a division between the foreign office and the government,” Prescott told BBC television.
“But Kim was reflecting his concerns as he saw them and one can understand that if you’ve got thousands of rockets being sent one way, attacks in another, that has meant war. War can’t solve the situation,” the deputy prime minister said.
When Blair’s Downing Street office was asked if it supported all of Howells’s remarks, a spokesman replied: “There’s no difference between ourselves and the Foreign Office on this issue.
“We’ve said along that Israel should act with restraint and in a proportionate way. As Kim Howells has said: What we’re all focused on is securing a meaningful ceasefire,” the spokesman told AFP.
Asked if there were now differences between US and British policy toward Israel, the spokesman replied: “We’re all working toward the same end.”
Blair is expected to hold talks next week with US President George W. Bush on the Middle East crisis and other world troublespots. It will be Blair’s second visit to the White House in less than two months.
Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said he welcomed Howells’s comments.
“There’s been a clear impression, in the House of Commons certainly, that the Foreign Office view as reflected by Kim Howells and the Number 10 (Downing Street) view were quite different,” Campbell told BBC television.
“And poor Margaret Beckett has found herself trying to straddle these and not always found it particularly easy to do so,” he said.—AP/AFP
