Humanitarian solution in Lebanon a priority

A Lebanese fireman extinguishes fire caused by an Israeli air strike close to Beirut's international airport Monday. PHOTO: AFP

"We really need humanitarian access," Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said, echoing calls by other Western leaders for Israel to open safe corridors in Lebanon to allow aid to flow into the war-torn country.

"At the same time, there must be a political solution. Rome can be the beginning of a solution package," she said.

World powers converged yesterday for a Middle East crisis conference in Rome today, struggling to halt the bloodshed in Lebanon and Israel but split over ceasefire calls.

US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice, who was expected in Rome later in the day, has resisted calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying the priority is carving out a lasting resolution.

"It is time for a new Middle East," Rice said in Jerusalem before the start of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, part of a regional tour that included a surprise visit to bomb-battered Beirut.

"A durable solution will be one that strengthens the forces of peace and democracy in the region," she said.

Rice was set to arrive Tuesday evening in Rome, after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who landed earlier in the day for the heavily guarded, three-hour conference.

Ferrero-Waldner said the European Union would support UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposals for a solution but that the priority was to help "those who are dying of hunger and thirst over there."

She also called for a ceasefire and end to the conflict, saying these were the conditions on which an international peacekeeping force might be sent to Lebanon. Such a deployment would be discussed in Rome, she added.

The commissioner urged the United States, which has up to now baulked at international calls for an immediate ceasefire, to exert pressure on Israel but said all the participants in the conflict needed to take steps towards de-escalating the crisis.

"We hope for a certain readiness (on the part of the United States) towards a ceasefire," she said, adding "just as important is that Lebanon exercise sovereignty over its entire territory."