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Diplomacy Intensifies in Israel Over Lebanon War    [

    Saudis Urge Bush to Push for Cease-Fire in the Mideast
    By Jim Rutenberg
    The New York Times

    Monday 24 July 2006

    Washington - A delegation from Saudi Arabia asked President Bush on Sunday to push for a cease-fire in the conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah - something the United States has refused to do.

    "We requested a cease-fire to allow for the cessation of hostilities," the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, told reporters in English in the White House driveway after meeting in the Oval Office with Mr. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials.

    "That would allow for rebuilding of the forces and of Lebanon," he said, referring to Lebanese forces.

    He said he also delivered a letter from King Abdullah II of Jordan with suggestions for ending the violence.

    American officials were publicly cool to the request. "Our position on an immediate cease-fire is well known," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "Our position has not changed."

    But officials on each side said the meeting was not tense. They said the discussion focused largely on the makeup of a possible international peacekeeping force and on ways for the Lebanese government to assert its sovereignty - a code phrase for disarming Hezbollah.

    American officials had planned to ask the Saudis to press Syria to cut ties to Hezbollah and Iran, something they also planned to ask of other moderate Arab allies, including Egypt and Jordan.

    American officials would not comment on whether the United States had made progress on that score. Saudi officials played down the importance of the subject at the meeting. They have questioned how much leverage they truly have with Syria and are clearly uncomfortable being seen as a proxy for the United States.

    The meeting occurred hours before Ms. Rice was to leave for the Middle East to meet with Israel and moderate Arab allies. Mr. Bush returned from a weekend at his Texas ranch at midday, and she delayed her departure to attend the meeting.

    The Saudis had requested a meeting before Ms. Rice's trip to convey concerns about the public posture of the United States in the region.

    Saudi officials were becoming more concerned that the refusal by the United States to call for a cease-fire, and the administration's support for Israel as it made deeper incursions into Lebanon, were turning public opinion further against the Israelis, and, by extension, the Americans and their Arab allies.

    But a senior Saudi official, given anonymity to speak of private deliberations, said the Saudis were confident after the meeting that Ms. Rice's trip would help change perceptions in the Arab world and that the Americans understood their concerns. "They get it - there's no difference in terms of the object," the official said, describing it as ultimately ending hostilities.

    The Saudis have been increasingly uncomfortable with the shifts in the region. A Sunni power, Saudi Arabia has seen the largely Shiite Iran become more influential and Iraq come under a majority Shiite government. It has expressed discomfort with the influence in Lebanon of Hezbollah, as a proxy for Iran and a Shiite militia.

    Prince Faisal emphasized the need for Lebanon to control its territory. "There is only one problem: it is Lebanon, and the inability of Lebanon to exercise its sovereignty over its territories," he told reporters.

 

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    Diplomacy Intensifies in Israel Over Lebanon War
    Reuters

    Sunday 23 July 2006

    Jerusalem - Envoys from three European countries joined intensifying diplomacy in Israel on Sunday aimed at ending fighting between Israeli forces and Hizbollah that has wrecked swathes of Lebanon and left hundreds dead.

    Ministers from France, Germany and Britain held separate talks with Israeli officials ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's arrival in the Middle East. She was due to leave Washington for the region on Sunday and expected to hold meetings in Israel on Tuesday.

    Among questions up for discussion was a possible beefed up peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, an idea backed by Israel's defense minister as a way to keep Hizbollah from the border.

    European countries have been far more critical of Israel's offensive than its main ally, the United States, which has resisted growing calls for a ceasefire and made clear that it blames Iranian-backed Hizbollah for the crisis.

    Few expect diplomacy to deliver swift results and an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday that Israeli officials believe they have a green light from Washington to continue the onslaught on Hizbollah for at least another week.

    "My question to Jerusalem and Beirut is the same," said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. "How do we reach a ceasefire as quickly as possible?"

    Douste-Blazy was visiting the Israeli city of Haifa when it came under Hizbollah rocket fire that killed two people and took cover in a stairwell when the sirens sounded.

    Israeli attacks aimed at Hizbollah have killed more than 360 Lebanese, most of them civilians, since the guerrilla group captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Israeli troops have edged into southern Lebanon.

    A total of 37 Israelis have died, 17 of them civilians killed by Hizbollah rockets rained on the north of the country.

    Civilian Victims

    Douste-Blazy, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells all had meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

    "There must be efforts that would lead to calming the situation. We have to continue those efforts especially with the increasing number of civilian victims," Steinmeier told a news conference after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

    "There are extremists in the region who should not dictate the Middle East process."

    Howells, who has delivered Britain's strongest criticism of Israel's offensive, stressed his concern at the attacks.

    "I am very disturbed the more I hear about the extent of this military campaign. At some stages there are 60 jets out there over the Mediterranean waiting to hit targets," he told a news briefing in Haifa.

    "We want to see an early cessation of this conflict."

    German and British ministers both said they did not think their countries would send troops for any expanded force in south Lebanon. Israel's Defense Minister Amir Peretz earlier welcomed the idea of an international border force, possibly led by NATO countries, and stronger than the current U.N. mission.

    Rice has said an immediate ceasefire would be a "false promise" that would let Hizbollah re-emerge to attack Israel.

    Foreign ministers from the world's most powerful countries and Arab states are due to hold an emergency meeting in Rome on Wednesday to discuss the crisis. No decision on international action is likely before that.