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| Defense Minister Amir Peretz addressing a Labor Party faction meeting in the Knesset on Tuesday. (Lior Mizrahi / BauBau) | |||||||||||||||||
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The sides are currently trying to put the finishing touches to the final wording of the resolution. The revised draft calls for a "progressive" Israeli withdrawal, a senior Lebanese political source said on Thursday. "The Americans have moved their position. A deal with the French is very close in the next hours, but most likely on Friday," he told Reuters.
"The breakthrough is based on the inclusion in the call for a cessation of hostilities for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory to go simultaneously with the deployment of the Lebanese army backed by reinforced UN peacekeepers."
The source said the peacekeepers would mainly be reinforced by French soldiers. As part of the deal, Hezbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river.
After 30 days, the source said, there would be a more comprehensive resolution that declares a ceasefire and sets out solutions for the release of captive IDF soldiers, the release of Lebanese prisoners and the disarming of Hezbollah.
Otniel Schneller, an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the UN was at work on a new approach. "A new proposal is being drafted, which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end," Schneller said.
IDF General Staff fiercely opposed to cease-fire terms
One dispute that delayed the agreement was over Shaba Farms. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected a Lebanese-French demand that Israel withdraw from this area and transfer it to an international force until the UN, which had previously ruled Shaba part of Syria, decides how to handle Lebanon's claim. The new draft merely states that the dispute over Lebanon's borders, including around Shaba Farms, must be resolved, and instructs UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to propose a plan for doing to.
Government sources expressed satisfaction with the new draft, saying that it includes two key Israeli demands: an international force with teeth, and the disarmament of south Lebanon below the Litani River. "It's true that the problem of Hezbollah has not been solved," admitted one, "but we are also not in a position to solve it militarily."
However, the Defense Ministry and the IDF General Staff are fiercely opposed to the emerging cease-fire, and senior defense officials accused Olmert of blocking the proposed advance to the Litani, thereby denying Israel a significant military achievement.
The officials charged that the emerging resolution is very problematic for Israel, because it makes no provision for the immediate return of the kidnapped soldiers (it urges their return, but this is not one of the resolution's operative clauses), includes no stringent supervisory mechanism to prevent a renewed flow of arms to Hezbollah, and does not guarantee the organization's disarmament. "[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah will continue to mock us, and in the end there will be another war," said one.
"We understand that the leadership wants to do everything possible to save soldiers' lives, but too much is in the balance here," added another. "We must continue."
The defense officials argued that the cabinet should have allowed the expanded operation approved on Wednesday to start immediately, thereby creating military pressure for a cease-fire more favorable to Israel. By delaying the operation, they said, this opportunity has apparently been missed.
Bolton: there could be a vote by Friday
Both the American and French envoys to the UN briefed Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the progress in talks. At the United Nations, Bolton said there could be a vote Friday on the resolution. "We're making progress and it's entirely possible we could have a vote tomorrow," Bolton said after a meeting with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. "We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French."
The terms of the resolution were agreed upon following talks between the five permanent members of the Security Council - U.K., France, U.S., Russia, and China.
The deal was coordinated with Israel and apparently with the Lebanese government. In his efforts to advance the cease-fire, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch departed Beirut on Thursday and arrived in Israel, where he updated Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on the latest diplomatic developments.
The resolution will stop short of requiring peacekeepers to disarm Hezbollah but will call for an embargo to prevent the group from bringing in arms from Iran and Syria, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the resolution would also call for creation of "an emboldened UNIFIL", the UN force currently in Lebanon and long derided by Israel as ineffective.
But the official said: "The (international) force will not have any mandate to disarm Hezbollah."
The official added that the resolution would also include "an embargo that will prevent the supply of arms to Lebanon that are not for the Lebanese army."
The revised draft calls for a "progressive" Israeli withdrawal, a senior Lebanese political source said on Thursday.
"The Americans have moved their position. A deal with the French is very close in the next hours, but most likely on Friday," he told Reuters.
"The breakthrough is based on the inclusion in the call for a cessation of hostilities for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory to go simultaneously with the deployment of the Lebanese army backed by reinforced UN peacekeepers."
The source said the peacekeepers would mainly be reinforced by French soldiers. As part of the deal, Hezbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river.
Officials in Jerusalem were hopeful the new resolution would be based on Chapter Seven of the UN Charter rather than Chapter Six, which was referenced as the foundation of an earlier U.S.-French cease-fire resolution.
A resolution which invokes Chapter Seven would empower an international contingent of troops in Lebanon to apply force and level sanctions against any party which violates the terms of the cease-fire.
As such, there would be no need in formulating an additional Security Council resolution which would detail the force's mandate. In recent weeks, a number of countries announced they would agree to contribute soldiers to any multi-national force deployed in Lebanon.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also prepared to come either to vote "or, if need be, to work out any last-minute details," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
France expects that diplomats working on a deal over a United Nations resolution on Lebanon will reach an accord soon, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Thursday. "Things are moving in New York today. I hope they move even more quickly and in the hours to come," he told reporters. "We expect, from one moment to the next, an accord in New York," he said.
Agreement on a UN resolution aimed at ending the conflict in Lebanon has been delayed as the United States and France wrangle over when and how Israel should withdraw from the country. But Douste-Blazy said France could still press ahead with its own resolution if no agreement could be reached. "If we had to accept differences which we cannot overcome, France ... does not rule out the possibility of presenting a text in its own name," he said.
Peretz vows to exhaust all diplomatic options
Defense Minister Amir Peretz stated Thursday that Israel will exhaust diplomatic options before expanding the military operation in Lebanon.
"We are responsible for considering all options," Peretz said while visiting the northern border, accompanied by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and GOC Northern Command Udi Adam.
"The minute troops set out to accomplish a mission, we must look in the eyes of every mother, every father and every child and say: We exhausted all other options," Peretz said.
Peretz said an integrated effort between the diplomatic and military plains was being made.
He presented four conditions set by Israel for an end to the fighting: The demilitarization of southern Lebanon, the deployment of a multi-national force in southern Lebanon, a real commitment to disarm Hezbollah and setting an outline for a plan to return the abducted IDF soldiers and removing the Katyusha rocket threat.
"We plan to free residents of northern Israel from the bomb shelters," Peretz said. His remarks were cut short when a rocket alarm siren went off, and his body guards rushed him to a nearby bomb shelter.
Earlier Thursday, the defense minister also said that if a cease-fire is reached to end the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, it would have been the success of the IDF operation. "We'll see the military operation as having created the diplomatic climate and a new situation," he said.
If diplomacy fails, Peretz said, Israel will "use all of the tools" to win the war against Hezbollah.
The security cabinet Wednesday gave approval in principle to the defense establishment's plan for an expanded ground operation, but delayed its implementation in order to give a chance to the UN Security Council's bid to end the crisis.
The operation, proposed by Peretz, is intended to "significantly reduce" Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel, destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure in south Lebanon and kill as many Hezbollah operatives as possible. It calls for a few Israel Defense Forces divisions to operate throughout the area south of the Litani River. The operation would last a month, the ministers were told. But according to another estimate, it will take double that time.
The cabinet resolved that the plan's implementation would depend on diplomatic developments.
"There is a certain diplomatic process under way," Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog told Army Radio on Thursday morning. "We can allow a little more time to see if there's a possibility for a diplomatic process."
But Herzog made clear Israel would go ahead with its military plans if the talks failed. "If there won't be a diplomatic solution, there will be a need to remove this threat," he added, referring to more than 3,300 rockets Hezbollah has rained on northern Israel since July 12.
Halutz suggested destroying civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, such as the power grid. But Peretz interrupted him - "that's not in the plan I submitted to the cabinet" - and the issue was removed from the agenda.
The cabinet authorized Olmert and Peretz to decide when to launch the operation. Government sources said that no "deadline" had been set, but the diplomatic effort would be given from "a few hours to a few days."
The six-hour cabinet meeting was tense and punctuated with arguments among the ministers. Everyone understood that an extensive ground operation would involve many fatalities and could set Israel at odds with the international community.
A particularly loud argument erupted between Peretz and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz. "If you had brought the plan on Sunday, I'd have supported it," Mofaz said. "But when I asked on Saturday whether we intend to reach the Litani, the defense minister said no. Now it's late. We don't have two months to complete the operation, and I think it will take longer."
Mofaz suggested simply capturing the Litani. "You can get there in 48 hours and say we won, and south Lebanon is surrounded. If you want, clean the area from south to north," he said.
Peretz interrupted: "Why didn't you do anything when you were chief of staff and defense minister? Where were you when Hezbollah created this deployment?"
Most of the ministers supported Mofaz's proposal, including Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Rafi Eitan. Avi Dichter supported Peretz's proposal. But Olmert did not bring Mofaz's proposal to a vote, saying the cabinet should accept the defense establishment's proposal.
Nine ministers supported this proposal: Olmert, Peretz, Livni, Haim Ramon, Abraham Hirschson, Mofaz, Dichter, Ben-Eliezer and Eitan. Three abstained: Shimon Peres, Ophir Pines-Paz and Eli Yishai. Peres said that he did not support the move because it has already forfeited the element of surprise, may involve numerous fatalities and would endanger Israel's relations with Arab and Muslim states.
"The breakthrough is based on the inclusion in the call for a cessation of hostilities for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory to go simultaneously with the deployment of the Lebanese army backed by reinforced UN peacekeepers."
The source said the peacekeepers would mainly be reinforced by French soldiers. As part of the deal, Hezbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river.
After 30 days, the source said, there would be a more comprehensive resolution that declares a ceasefire and sets out solutions for the release of captive IDF soldiers, the release of Lebanese prisoners and the disarming of Hezbollah.
Otniel Schneller, an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the UN was at work on a new approach. "A new proposal is being drafted, which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end," Schneller said.
IDF General Staff fiercely opposed to cease-fire terms
One dispute that delayed the agreement was over Shaba Farms. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected a Lebanese-French demand that Israel withdraw from this area and transfer it to an international force until the UN, which had previously ruled Shaba part of Syria, decides how to handle Lebanon's claim. The new draft merely states that the dispute over Lebanon's borders, including around Shaba Farms, must be resolved, and instructs UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to propose a plan for doing to.
Government sources expressed satisfaction with the new draft, saying that it includes two key Israeli demands: an international force with teeth, and the disarmament of south Lebanon below the Litani River. "It's true that the problem of Hezbollah has not been solved," admitted one, "but we are also not in a position to solve it militarily."
However, the Defense Ministry and the IDF General Staff are fiercely opposed to the emerging cease-fire, and senior defense officials accused Olmert of blocking the proposed advance to the Litani, thereby denying Israel a significant military achievement.
The officials charged that the emerging resolution is very problematic for Israel, because it makes no provision for the immediate return of the kidnapped soldiers (it urges their return, but this is not one of the resolution's operative clauses), includes no stringent supervisory mechanism to prevent a renewed flow of arms to Hezbollah, and does not guarantee the organization's disarmament. "[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah will continue to mock us, and in the end there will be another war," said one.
"We understand that the leadership wants to do everything possible to save soldiers' lives, but too much is in the balance here," added another. "We must continue."
The defense officials argued that the cabinet should have allowed the expanded operation approved on Wednesday to start immediately, thereby creating military pressure for a cease-fire more favorable to Israel. By delaying the operation, they said, this opportunity has apparently been missed.
Bolton: there could be a vote by Friday
Both the American and French envoys to the UN briefed Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the progress in talks. At the United Nations, Bolton said there could be a vote Friday on the resolution. "We're making progress and it's entirely possible we could have a vote tomorrow," Bolton said after a meeting with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. "We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French."
The terms of the resolution were agreed upon following talks between the five permanent members of the Security Council - U.K., France, U.S., Russia, and China.
The deal was coordinated with Israel and apparently with the Lebanese government. In his efforts to advance the cease-fire, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch departed Beirut on Thursday and arrived in Israel, where he updated Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on the latest diplomatic developments.
The resolution will stop short of requiring peacekeepers to disarm Hezbollah but will call for an embargo to prevent the group from bringing in arms from Iran and Syria, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the resolution would also call for creation of "an emboldened UNIFIL", the UN force currently in Lebanon and long derided by Israel as ineffective.
But the official said: "The (international) force will not have any mandate to disarm Hezbollah."
The official added that the resolution would also include "an embargo that will prevent the supply of arms to Lebanon that are not for the Lebanese army."
The revised draft calls for a "progressive" Israeli withdrawal, a senior Lebanese political source said on Thursday.
"The Americans have moved their position. A deal with the French is very close in the next hours, but most likely on Friday," he told Reuters.
"The breakthrough is based on the inclusion in the call for a cessation of hostilities for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory to go simultaneously with the deployment of the Lebanese army backed by reinforced UN peacekeepers."
The source said the peacekeepers would mainly be reinforced by French soldiers. As part of the deal, Hezbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river.
Officials in Jerusalem were hopeful the new resolution would be based on Chapter Seven of the UN Charter rather than Chapter Six, which was referenced as the foundation of an earlier U.S.-French cease-fire resolution.
A resolution which invokes Chapter Seven would empower an international contingent of troops in Lebanon to apply force and level sanctions against any party which violates the terms of the cease-fire.
As such, there would be no need in formulating an additional Security Council resolution which would detail the force's mandate. In recent weeks, a number of countries announced they would agree to contribute soldiers to any multi-national force deployed in Lebanon.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also prepared to come either to vote "or, if need be, to work out any last-minute details," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
France expects that diplomats working on a deal over a United Nations resolution on Lebanon will reach an accord soon, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Thursday. "Things are moving in New York today. I hope they move even more quickly and in the hours to come," he told reporters. "We expect, from one moment to the next, an accord in New York," he said.
Agreement on a UN resolution aimed at ending the conflict in Lebanon has been delayed as the United States and France wrangle over when and how Israel should withdraw from the country. But Douste-Blazy said France could still press ahead with its own resolution if no agreement could be reached. "If we had to accept differences which we cannot overcome, France ... does not rule out the possibility of presenting a text in its own name," he said.
Peretz vows to exhaust all diplomatic options
Defense Minister Amir Peretz stated Thursday that Israel will exhaust diplomatic options before expanding the military operation in Lebanon.
"We are responsible for considering all options," Peretz said while visiting the northern border, accompanied by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and GOC Northern Command Udi Adam.
"The minute troops set out to accomplish a mission, we must look in the eyes of every mother, every father and every child and say: We exhausted all other options," Peretz said.
Peretz said an integrated effort between the diplomatic and military plains was being made.
He presented four conditions set by Israel for an end to the fighting: The demilitarization of southern Lebanon, the deployment of a multi-national force in southern Lebanon, a real commitment to disarm Hezbollah and setting an outline for a plan to return the abducted IDF soldiers and removing the Katyusha rocket threat.
"We plan to free residents of northern Israel from the bomb shelters," Peretz said. His remarks were cut short when a rocket alarm siren went off, and his body guards rushed him to a nearby bomb shelter.
Earlier Thursday, the defense minister also said that if a cease-fire is reached to end the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, it would have been the success of the IDF operation. "We'll see the military operation as having created the diplomatic climate and a new situation," he said.
If diplomacy fails, Peretz said, Israel will "use all of the tools" to win the war against Hezbollah.
The security cabinet Wednesday gave approval in principle to the defense establishment's plan for an expanded ground operation, but delayed its implementation in order to give a chance to the UN Security Council's bid to end the crisis.
The operation, proposed by Peretz, is intended to "significantly reduce" Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel, destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure in south Lebanon and kill as many Hezbollah operatives as possible. It calls for a few Israel Defense Forces divisions to operate throughout the area south of the Litani River. The operation would last a month, the ministers were told. But according to another estimate, it will take double that time.
The cabinet resolved that the plan's implementation would depend on diplomatic developments.
"There is a certain diplomatic process under way," Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog told Army Radio on Thursday morning. "We can allow a little more time to see if there's a possibility for a diplomatic process."
But Herzog made clear Israel would go ahead with its military plans if the talks failed. "If there won't be a diplomatic solution, there will be a need to remove this threat," he added, referring to more than 3,300 rockets Hezbollah has rained on northern Israel since July 12.
Halutz suggested destroying civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, such as the power grid. But Peretz interrupted him - "that's not in the plan I submitted to the cabinet" - and the issue was removed from the agenda.
The cabinet authorized Olmert and Peretz to decide when to launch the operation. Government sources said that no "deadline" had been set, but the diplomatic effort would be given from "a few hours to a few days."
The six-hour cabinet meeting was tense and punctuated with arguments among the ministers. Everyone understood that an extensive ground operation would involve many fatalities and could set Israel at odds with the international community.
A particularly loud argument erupted between Peretz and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz. "If you had brought the plan on Sunday, I'd have supported it," Mofaz said. "But when I asked on Saturday whether we intend to reach the Litani, the defense minister said no. Now it's late. We don't have two months to complete the operation, and I think it will take longer."
Mofaz suggested simply capturing the Litani. "You can get there in 48 hours and say we won, and south Lebanon is surrounded. If you want, clean the area from south to north," he said.
Peretz interrupted: "Why didn't you do anything when you were chief of staff and defense minister? Where were you when Hezbollah created this deployment?"
Most of the ministers supported Mofaz's proposal, including Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Rafi Eitan. Avi Dichter supported Peretz's proposal. But Olmert did not bring Mofaz's proposal to a vote, saying the cabinet should accept the defense establishment's proposal.
Nine ministers supported this proposal: Olmert, Peretz, Livni, Haim Ramon, Abraham Hirschson, Mofaz, Dichter, Ben-Eliezer and Eitan. Three abstained: Shimon Peres, Ophir Pines-Paz and Eli Yishai. Peres said that he did not support the move because it has already forfeited the element of surprise, may involve numerous fatalities and would endanger Israel's relations with Arab and Muslim states.
--
Magal
Acesse: http://hebreu.blogspot.com
