November 22, 2008
REPORT FROM LEBANON
A pact for peace?
Quick UN approval seen for resolution to end Hezbollah-Israel war, as terms include Israeli withdrawal
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The United States and France have agreed on the framework of a new United Nations resolution to end a month of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to sources in the Lebanese prime minister's office.
The measure, which could be approved by the UN Security Council as early as today, would deal with the Lebanese government's main demand: requiring Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon as part of a cease-fire.
Lebanese officials had rejected a draft resolution unveiled Saturday by the United States and France, saying it was doomed to fail because it did not require an Israeli pullout.
Israeli leaders were optimistic last night.
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"A new proposal is being drafted, which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end," Israeli member of parliament Otniel Schneller quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying. Israeli officials said they are delaying a cabinet decision approved Wednesday that allowed Olmert to dramatically expand the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. But, Schneller warned, "If the [UN] draft is not accepted, there is the cabinet decision."
Despite movement toward a diplomatic solution, Israel renewed its bombing of Beirut's suburbs this morning and fighting continued in the south.
After marathon meetings among the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council yesterday, U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said, "We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French."
There were other signs that a vote is imminent today: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett were both heading to New York.
The compromise resolution calls for a new United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon of up to 20,000 troops, said a senior Lebanese official. It calls for Israeli forces to begin withdrawing from the south as the Lebanese army and UN troops deploy in the area. Initially, the official said, the UN force would include several thousand troops and would be expanded over several months. Israeli television reported that France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Australia were among the countries that would contribute troops.
Since war broke out on July 12, thousands of Israeli troops and hundreds of tanks have invaded Lebanon in an effort to prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets into northern Israel. If Israeli troops remain in the south, Lebanese officials say, Hezbollah guerrillas would continue to fight them and any cease-fire would collapse.
Lebanon's government on Monday offered to dispatch 15,000 troops to the south once Israeli forces pull out. The Lebanese army has not been deployed in south Lebanon since Israeli troops withdrew in May 2000 after an 18-year occupation.
The UN measure calls for eventually disarming Hezbollah; creating a buffer zone from the border up to 18 miles inside Lebanon, where only the Lebanese army and UN troops would be allowed to carry weapons; and imposing an arms embargo that would allow only the Lebanese government to bring weapons into the country. That ban is meant to cut off the supply of missiles to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria. The resolution postpones resolving a land dispute between Israel and Lebanon over an area called Shebaa Farms.
The resolution also calls for the current 2,000-member UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, to monitor the cease-fire and eventually be absorbed into a larger and better-armed force.
According to the Lebanese official, the resolution does not address an exchange of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli custody for two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah on July 12. The earlier draft called for the pair's "unconditional release," and the official said that wording was still being negotiated last night.
Meanwhile, Russia circulated a separate resolution last night calling for a 72-hour cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid to reach Lebanon. Russian officials said the war was too urgent to wait for negotiations over the U.S.-French measure.
Update on the Mideast crisis
TAKING OVER Israel takes control of the strategic southern hub of Marjayoun. One soldier is killed and two wounded in fierce fighting with Hezbollah south of the mainly Christian town.
HOLDING BACK Israeli leaders decide to hold off on a major new ground offensive going deeper into Lebanon to give international negotiators more time.
LIGHTHOUSE HIT Missiles from Israeli helicopter gunships blasted the top of a historic lighthouse in central Beirut in an apparent attempt to knock out a broadcast antenna for Lebanese state television.
HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS Guerrillas fired 110 rockets into northern Israel by midafternoon, including one that hit Haifa. A rocket killed an Arab-Israeli mother and her young daughter in the village of Deir al-Assad. Lebanese officials reported at least four civilian deaths.
ROAD TARGETED AGAIN Israeli aircraft pounded a coastal highway junction connecting three major southern cities - Sidon, Tyre and Nabatiyeh. The junction already had been nearly cut off in strikes July 12, the first day of fighting.
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