Lebanese prime minister rejects Bush's ceasefire plan

The Lebanese prime minister rejected a UN ceasefire plan backed by President George Bush, demanding that Israel immediately pull out from southern Lebanon even before a peacekeeping force arrives to act as a buffer between Hezbollah and the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, fighting continued today between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces in south Lebanon near the border with Israel. One Israeli soldier was killed and five others wounded in clashes in Bint Jbail, the Israeli army said.

Fighting in Bint Jbail, in the southeast corner of Lebanon, also killed fifteen guerrillas, the military said. Hezbollah was not immediately available for comment, but has rarely announced casualties in the fighting that erupted nearly a month ago.

Hezbollah TV, Al-Manar, claimed the guerillas had inflicted casualties on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean city Naqoura some two-and-a-half miles north of the border. The Israeli army confirmed that clashes occurred in the western sector and that there were casualties, but did not say which side had suffered the losses or give the location of the incidents.

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

His 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 has 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 a US-French draft resolution to stop the hostilities.

Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have sharply intensified 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 does 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,” Israeli Defence Minister 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.”

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

The UN resolution 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 yesterday to take into account Lebanon’s concerns that the resolution does not seek the withdrawal of Israeli troops. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.

Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft later yesterday, in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the Security Council, and other members, diplomats said.

The proposed changes include 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.

“We need today pressure on the international community for a Security Council resolution that imposes a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire that provides simultaneously for a complete Israeli withdrawal,” Saniora said at the hastily arranged Arab League gathering in Beirut.

The Arab foreign ministers announced they would send a delegation to the UN to represent Lebanon’s interests at a meeting with the Security Council today. The timing of the meeting means the council probably would not adopt a resolution until tomorrow at the earliest.

Saniora said Lebanon was “stunned” by the devastation of the Israeli offensive, which had taken “our country back decades. We are still in the middle of the shock".