MIDDLE EAST: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she believes a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon can be forged within a week

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended a peace mission to the Middle East on Monday (July 31), saying she believed a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon could be forged this week. In a statement read out in Jerusalem, Rice said she would call for a U.N. resolution this week on the ceasefire and also the establishment of an international stabilisation force for southern Lebanon. "This morning, as I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week," Rice said. She did not provide details on exactly what both sides agreed on but there are still divisions at the United Nations over what is needed to end the 20-day war between Israel and Lebanon. The Rice announcement came a day after the U.S. Secretary of State won a 48-hour suspension from Israel of its aerial bombardment of south Lebanon. The temporary aerial cease-fire came after an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana that killed at least 54 people, most of them children. The Rice announcement met mixed opinion in the Israeli Knesset, where debate over the war continued on Monday. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz told the Knesset Israel would expand and deepen the offensive targeted against Hizbollah. "As a man of peace I am telling you that we must not agree to a ceasefire that will be implemented immediately, only whoever manages to neutralise terror can bring peace. You know well that It was not us who weakened the Palestinian Authority, the ones who weakened it were the terror forces which proved time and again that Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) cannot enforce responsibility over the territories where he was given the sovereignty," Peretz told the Israeli Knesset. In the Israeli city of Haifa, the largest city targeted by Hizbollah's rockets, some residents welcomed the idea of a cease-fire or settlement. "I appreciate the ceasefire because it ends the suffering of children, mainly, and I don't believe that war is the way to end conflicts," one Haifa resident said. "Well I think the ceasefire is very good, but I hope that it will last for more than 48 hours," another man said. Despite its 48-hour truce, which started early on Monday, Israel said it may still use aerial strikes to target Hizbollah leaders and rocket launchers and to back up ground operations. Israeli jets fired two bombs to support ground troops battling Hizbollah inside Lebanon and artillery shells hit two southern frontier villages. A Lebanese soldier died and three were wounded when another Israeli air strike destroyed their vehicle. Hizbollah fired two shells into the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona on Monday, but nobody was wounded. Artillery and ground units were seen operating on Monday at the Israeli side of the border. Israel launched its onslaught on Lebanon after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. At least 574 people have been killed in Lebanon, although the health minister puts the toll at 750 including bodies still buried under rubble. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed.

ITN Source | July 31, 2006

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