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Rice does not want ceasefire Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2231855Rice has made clear she is not seeking a quick ceasefire and that any solution should address the root causes of the conflict -- for which Washington and Israel blame Hizbollah and its backers in Iran and Syria.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2231855
Rice to meet Israel's Olmert, no sign of ceasefire
Reuters
Jul 25, 2006 — By Sue Pleming
JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holds talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday on the conflict in Lebanon with little sign of a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.
Amid mounting international concern at civilian casualties, Rice met Lebanese leaders in bomb-battered Beirut on Monday. Israeli forces fought Hizbollah in south Lebanon and kept up two weeks of air strikes. Hizbollah fired more rockets into Israel.
An Israeli air strike killed a family of seven, Lebanese security sources said. Hizbollah said five guerrillas died in the past two days. Israel reported two soldiers killed on Monday but said it had inflicted dozens of casualties on Hizbollah.
A total of 390 people in Lebanon and 41 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, ignited by Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12.
In Beirut, Rice unveiled truce proposals similar to Israel's demand for Hizbollah to pull back from the border to allow an international force to deploy, Lebanese politicians said.
"Any peace is going to have to be based on enduring principles and not on temporary solutions," Rice told reporters in Jerusalem before dinner with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
While saying she has no plan for Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Rice's schedule this week resembles just that. She headed to Jerusalem after her trip to Beirut and will also visit Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Rice has made clear she is not seeking a quick ceasefire and that any solution should address the root causes of the conflict -- for which Washington and Israel blame Hizbollah and its backers in Iran and Syria.
Israel's army, which has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28 to recover a soldier seized by Palestinian militants, believed it may have a week to keep pounding Hizbollah before a deal was reached, security sources said.
Among the issues on the table at Rice's meetings are U.S. demands Hizbollah withdraw away from Israel's border, the deployment of an international force alongside the Lebanese army in the area and the return of the Israeli soldiers.
CIVILIANS SUFFERING
Rice and Olmert were also expected to deal with what can be done to ease the suffering for civilians in Lebanon, which estimates almost one-fifth of its population has been displaced by Israeli bombing. Most of the dead are civilians.
The United States backs the idea of a humanitarian corridor to get help to the needy, an idea Israel says it could support.
"We did feel that Lebanon has been dealt a severe blow," said David Welch, Rice's senior aide on the Middle East.
One of the key sticking points for a ceasefire is the sequence of events for a deal.
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hizbollah and close to Syria, told Rice in Beirut a ceasefire should come first, followed by an exchange of prisoners and then discussion of other issues, a Lebanese political source said.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who has pleaded for an immediate ceasefire, was more open to Rice's proposal and discussed ways of developing her ideas, his office said. A U.S. official said Siniora also wanted a prisoner exchange first.
Israel wants Hizbollah to leave the border area immediately and free the captured soldiers without conditions.
Many of the issues will be discussed at an international conference in Rome on Wednesday. Rice is then set to go to Malaysia for talks with Asian leaders before a possible return to the Middle East.
But ground raids and air strikes have failed to stop Hizbollah firing rockets into northern Israeli cities, where they have killed 17 civilians so far. More than 100 rockets fell on Monday, wounding at least 11 people.
Israel says it would accept an international force to dislodge Hizbollah guerrillas from the border and several European Union nations have said they were ready to contribute to a U.N. peace force.
But just as Hizbollah has fought Israeli attempts to drive it from the south, it would likely resist an international effort to do the same.
Israel's Lebanon offensive has coincided with its push into the Gaza Strip to try to recover the soldier captured by Palestinian militants and halt rocket fire. Israeli forces have killed at least 121 Palestinians in the month since then.
Israel launched air strikes in Gaza on Tuesday, wounding eight people, local residents and medics said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted and destroyed buildings used to store rockets and munitions belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. The residents said the eight wounded were all bystanders.
(Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed in Beirut)
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