LEBANON: Lebanon's displaced say Arab leaders should take a 'firm stand' to end the fighting.

Arab foreign ministers were due to hold meetings in Lebanon's capital on Monday (August 7) to seek a solution to end four weeks of fighting which has claimed hundreds of lives. Their meeting comes as violence in the country escalates with more fighting between Israeli forces and Hizbollah guerillas. The U.N. Security Council failed to agree on a draft resolution on Monday, seeking to end 27 days of fighting. Opposition from Lebanon caused the United States and France to delay a vote on the resolution also aimed at setting terms to settle the Israel-Hizbollah conflict. The Security Council was scheduled to hold consultations on Monday and the United States and France could present a revised text at that time. Families seeking shelter in one of Beirut's school expressed scepticism that the Arab leaders meeting will bring an end to conflict. Having fled his village in the south and now living in an overcrowded shelter, Mohammed Saleh said that the leaders should take firm decisions. "Being homeless and the situation we are in right now is unacceptable. I hope that the Arab foreign ministers will take a firm decision and stand as loyal leaders for the sake of the nation. They should not just hold meetings and then go," he said. "Arabs have always just watched us suffer. They give oil to America and they are fighting us with it," said Mohammed Ibrahim, another refugee. Lebanon's government has demanded the draft Security Council resolution drawn up by France and the United States include a call for a rapid withdrawal of Israeli troops from its soil. China and Russia argued the text should be made more attractive to Lebanon. That prevented Paris and Washington putting the draft into final form which could have cleared the way for a Security Council vote on the resolution on Monday. Israel expects the Security Council to pass a resolution this week ending offensive operations by the Jewish state but leaving the door open for more air strikes on Hizbollah arms convoys and rocket launching crews, government officials said.

ITN Source | August 7, 2006

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