JERUSALEM: As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to middle east, Israel's bombing of Lebanese village of Qana will make it more difficult for U.S. to justify its refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire

Israel's bombing of a Lebanese village on Sunday (July 30) will make it more difficult for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to continue to justify Washington's refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire. The Israeli air strike killed at least 54 Lebanese civilians, including 37 children, in the southern village of Qana in the bloodiest single attack of the war. Rice cancelled a trip to Beirut and will return to Washington on Monday (July 31). In Jerusalem Rice met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz. She returned to the region on Saturday (July 29) in a new push to bring the warring sides together and said she was "deeply saddened" by the Israeli bombing of the village of Qana in southern Lebanon. "In the wake of the tragedy that the people and the government of Lebanon are dealing with today, I have decided to postpone my discussions in Beirut. In any case, my work is here today," Rice told reporters, adding that she had cancelled the trip and not the other way around. She spoke after Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said, after the latest Israeli bombing, he could not hold any talks on resolving the Middle East crisis before an immediate ceasefire. Rice stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire, but said she would work very hard to try and end hostilities between Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces that have killed more than 500 Lebanese and 51 Israelis. "We want a ceasefire as soon as possible. I would have wanted to have had a ceasefire yesterday, if possible. But the parties, have to agree to a ceasefire and there have to be certain conditions in place," Rice said. She later met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who expressed "deep sorrow" at the bombing, but vowed the war against Hizbollah would go on. Israel's YNet web site quoted him as telling Rice the army needed another 10 to 14 days to press its offensive. The United States has been accused of taking sides with the Israelis by not calling for an immediate ceasefire but Rice said she had pressed the case that "extraordinary care" needed to be taken to avoid civilian casualties. Rice strongly rejected any suggestion that the United States was somehow responsible for the violence and said it had been working very hard to deal with the current crisis and find a way to address humanitarian concerns.

ITN Source | July 31, 2006

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