US and France fail to reach UN deal over conflict

Diplomatic efforts to reach quick agreement on a UN resolution to try to end the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict faltered tonight over differences between the US and France.

As Israel approved a broader and bigger ground offensive in southern Lebanon, France was backing Lebanon’s call for Israeli troops to pull out once hostilities end, while the US was supporting Israel’s insistence on staying until a robust international force is deployed.

The dispute between the co-sponsors of the draft resolution sparked a flurry of meetings and raised the possibility of rival US and French resolutions – or no resolution at all for the time being.

French President Jacques Chirac said the draft resolution should be revised to take into account Lebanese and Arab demands for changes.

He appealed to the US at a news conference in Toulon to speed up its response to these demands and warned that giving up the push for an immediate end to the fighting would be the “most immoral” response.

If France and the US do not reach agreement on a revised text, Chirac said: “We will have a debate in the Security Council and each will affirm clearly its position, naturally including France, through its own resolution.”

When US Ambassador John Bolton was asked about the possibility of separate US and French resolutions raised by Chirac, he replied: “There are lots of possibilities. We’re still in discussions and we’ll just have to see how it comes out.

“We reached agreement with France and other countries last Saturday and introduced a joint text contrary to expectations. We may yet do it again,” Bolton said.

When asked if it was possible that there would be no resolution, Bolton did not answer directly.

“Just as we had hoped to have the vote on this resolution today – or maybe it was yesterday, I can’t remember – it is obviously a very complicated process,” Bolton replied.

The US-French draft circulated on Saturday calls for “a full cessation of hostilities,” with Hezbollah immediately stopping all attacks and Israel ending offensive military operations.

But Israel would still be allowed to take defensive action and there is no call for the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon, which is Hezbollah’s stronghold.

Lebanon opposed the draft, saying it favoured Israel too strongly. The Lebanese government demanded that the cessation of hostilities must be complete - including all Israeli military activity – and said all Israeli troops must leave, warning that their presence would be viewed as a new occupation and citing Hezbollah’s threat to shoot at any Israeli soldiers in the country.

Lebanon’s Culture Minister Tarek Mitri, sent to the UN as a special envoy by the Council of Ministers, told the council on Tuesday that the government’s decision to send 15,000 soldiers from the Lebanese army to southern Lebanon as soon as Israel withdraws “should be looked at as a viable option.”