Rebuffed Rice visits Israel with ceasefire plan

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will lobby Israeli leaders today in an attempt to silence the guns and halt the bloodshed on both sides of the Lebanese border.

But America’s top diplomat was rebuffed sharply on a surprise visit to Beirut yesterday, where she tried to push a blanket plan that would call for a ceasefire and simultaneous deployment of international and Lebanese troops intosouthern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah attacks on Israel.