UN awaits Arab peace plan

An Arab delegation will address the United Nations today after Lebanon’s government rejected a ceasefire plan backed by US president George Bush.

The foreign ministers will demand major changes in the draft resolution including a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to UN peacekeepers. Arab states also want the UN to take control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in 1967.

Washington and Paris had been expected to circulate a new draft yesterday, in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the security council, and other members, diplomats said. But they decided to wait to hear from the Arab delegation today.

The timing of the meeting means the council probably would not adopt a resolution until tomorrow at the earliest, but some diplomats believe it will be put off until Thursday.

Yesterday, Lebanon demanded Israel withdraw immediately, even before a peacekeeping force arrives, and promised to send 15,000 troops to take control of the Hezbollah stronghold along the border.

Prime minister Fuad Saniora’s stand, delivered in a tearful speech to Arab League ministers yesterday, came on a day in which 49 Lebanese were killed – one of the deadliest days for Lebanon in nearly four weeks of fighting.

The rejection complicated efforts to find a speedy diplomatic solution to the deadly conflict.

Saniora’s Cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a ceasefire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw south of the border.

The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon had the will and ability to assert control over its south, which is run by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim militia backed by Syria and Iran.

In Texas, Bush said any ceasefire must prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its grip in southern Lebanon, asserting “it’s time to address root causes of problems”. He urged the United Nations to work quickly to approve the US-French draft resolution to stop the hostilities.

Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified sharply in recent days as ceasefire diplomacy gains traction after nearly a month of unproductive talks. The ceasefire plan now under scrutiny at the United Nations has drawn only lukewarm support in Israel and vilification in the Arab world.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has found an incentive to stop fighting and both may be trying to gain advantage on the ground before a ceasefire.

At least 52 people died yesterday on both sides. Hezbollah fired 160 rockets, wounding five Israelis, police and rescue services said. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in south Lebanon, the first in an exchange of fire with Hezbollah fighters and the two others by an anti-tank missile, the Israeli army said.

With Arab League foreign ministers assembled around a horseshoe table, the embattled Lebanese leader repeatedly interrupted his opening address to gather his composure and wipe away tears. The foreign ministers cast their eyes downward in apparent embarrassment.

But Saniora’s impassioned appeal did not change minds in Israel, where hospitals in the war zone were working around the clock and under rocket fire to protect patients from harm – in some cases moving them into a basement. The defence minister threatened an expanded ground operation if diplomacy did not produce results soon.

“I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic process does not reach a conclusion, Israeli forces will carry out the operations necessary to take control of rocket launching sites wherever they are,” Amir Peretz said.

Justice minister Haim Ramon said Israel could not withdraw before the arrival of an international force. “The moment we leave, Hezbollah will return,” he said.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told CNN a Lebanese army deployment in the south “in principle, is something, of course, we embrace and we support”.

But he said Israel wanted to know “the rules of engagement” and whether this meant the Lebanese army was finally going to start disarming Hezbollah.

Lebanon has been unable for nearly two years to implement a previous UN resolution calling for disarmament of the Shiite militants.

The new UN resolution under consideration calls for “a full cessation of hostilities” based on “the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations”.

But it makes no explicit mention of an Israeli withdrawal, and implicitly allows Israeli defensive operations. Instead, it calls in the longer-term for a buffer zone in southern Lebanon – which Hezbollah controls and where Israeli troops are now fighting.

Only Lebanese armed forces and UN-mandated international troops would be allowed in the zone.

France’s UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, promised to take into account Lebanon’s concerns that the resolution did not seek the withdrawal of Israeli troops. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.