UN powers frustrated by ME resolution delays

A wounded Lebanese civilian weeps next to the rubble of his house following an Israeli airstrike on the coastal village of Ghaziyeh, 3 km south of the southern Lebanese port city Sidon yesterday. More than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in Israeli attacks on the country since the offensive was launched on July 12. PHOTO: AFP

The council was to hold new consultations on a French-US draft after Lebanon opposed the text because it does not order an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory once hostilities end.

Following the Lebanese objections, the council's five permanent members could not say when a vote on a text would be carried out.

"I don't think that there is a magic wand" to settle problems over the resolution, said Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who urged Lebanon and the Arab world to give the proposed resolution "a serious reading".

"And I think if they do, they'll see that there is much in it which is very much in the interests of Lebanon," he told reporters after discussing the new holdup with envoys from France, the United States, Britain and China.

The impatience has also been hinted at by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and France.

"I just want to say, let's vote the resolution and then there's going to be an obligation by Lebanon and by Israel to obey that resolution," she told ABC television.

"No one wants to see Israel permanently in Lebanon. Nobody wants to do that. The Israelis don't want it, the Lebanese don't want it, so I think there is a basis here for moving forward," Rice said.

French President Jacques Chirac said of the deadlock: "Everyone should accept their responsibilities."

He added in a statement: "Our aim is to arrive as soon as possible at a sustainable ceasefire through a political agreement which takes into account the worries of all the parties."

The current text does not call for an Israeli withdrawal only for "full respect for the Blue Line", the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel.

Lebanon also wants the text to state that within 72 hours of a truce, the UN Interim Force (Unifil) in Lebanon would hand over a buffer zone on the frontier to the Lebanese army.

Lebanon's UN representative Nouhad Mahmoud said the Beirut government wants any international force to play more of a support role to the Lebanese armed forces as they seek to take control of the south of the country where Hezbollah is now dominant.

Rice has also warned that even if the first resolution is passed it will not halt all fighting. More than three weeks of conflict has already left about 1,000 dead in Lebanon and Israel.

"I would hope that you would see, very early on, an end to the kind of large-scale violence, large-scale military operations," Rice said.

"But I can't say that you should rule out that there could be skirmishes of some kind for some time to come."

"We're trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years, and so it's not going to be solved by one resolution in the Security Council," Rice declared.

The United States and France have embarked on intensive contacts with Lebanon and Israel to accept the draft. Israel, which has pursued its military operation, has not publicly stated whether is accepts or rejects the proposed resolution.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, urging Arab foreign ministers to "correct" a UN Security Council draft resolution.

"Today we need a unified Arab stand to correct the Security Council decision for a lasting settlement," Siniora told a crisis meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Beirut, saying the draft fell short of calling for an immediate Israeli pullout from Lebanon.

"Any international resolution concerning this crisis should answer two conditions, (which are) to respect the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, and to establish a ceasefire with an Israeli withdrawal," he said.