USA: Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni comment on Lebanon situation

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Wednesday (August 16) that Arab nations were given permission to fly over Israel during the war in order to provide civilian aid to Lebanon. Speaking at a United Jewish Communities meeting in Washington D.C. to call for aid for Israel, Peres told media that several unnamed airlines were allowed to fly over Israel, a right revoked in the wake of other conflicts and the attacks on September 11. In New York, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the war with Hizbollah would not be over until the U.N. resolution to end the conflict is fully implemented. Livni, who will meet U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York later on Wednesday, said there was a need for robust and effective foreign forces to be deployed with Lebanese troops in the Hizbollah stronghold of southern Lebanon. "The war is not over yet," Livni told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. "At first there was the military battle and then there was the diplomatic battle and now it is crucial that the international community and the Lebanese government will implement fully the resolution 1701." The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire last week. It authorized up to 13,000 troops to augment the 2,000-strong UNIFIL force now in Lebanon and wants up to 3,500 new soldiers deployed in south Lebanon within two weeks. Israel said on Wednesday it would stop withdrawing from southern Lebanon unless Lebanese troops moved there within days. At least 1,110 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the conflict that erupted after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Livni said it was also crucial that the international community and Lebanese government stop Hizbollah, which has roamed Lebanon's south for 20 years, from re-arming by closing Lebanon's border with Syria. She said this would stop Iran and Syria from supplying money and weapons to Hizbollah. "It is crucial that the international community, that the Lebanese government will prevent its rearmament. Because the next day, the next week, the Iranians can send money plus arms and in a week they can come back to the situation that they were and gain the strength and power and forces and this is what the Iranians are doing through Syria and with Syria," she said. Livni reiterated the need for immediate and unconditional release of Israeli soldiers. She added that the fact that the soldiers are being kept by Hizbollah is in violation of the Security Council resolution. The foreign minister ended by calling on Lebanon and the international community to ensure a long-lasting peace in the region. "I truly hope and believe, as I said before, that maybe, maybe, this is a new road that can lead to stability and maybe even peace in the future between Israel and Lebanon. But it depends, not only on Israel -- and Israel will cooperate with the international community -- but it depends firstly on the Lebanese government and on the international community," Livni sad.

ITN Source | August 17, 2006

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