Washington - US President Bush is pressing for a United Nations resolution
linking a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with a
broader plan for peace in the Middle East, despite rising international pressure
for a simple no-strings-attached halt to the fighting.
![US President George W. Bush pauses as he remarks on the Israel-Lebanon conflict dockside in Miami, Florida. Bush said in an interview that the United States would "probably not" contribute troops to a multinational force for Lebanon.[AFP]](xin_290803011607806240905.jpg)
US President George W. Bush
pauses as he remarks on the Israel-Lebanon conflict dockside in Miami,
Florida. Bush said in an interview that the United States would "probably
not" contribute troops to a multinational force for
Lebanon.[AFP] |
Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the president's national
security adviser, Stephen Hadley, discussed the next steps over dinner at the
White House on Monday.
Bush "reviewed the diplomatic efforts that the United States is pursuing in
our effort to end the current conflict in Lebanon," National Security Council
spokesman Frederick Jones said afterward. "The next step is to pursue a United
Nations Security Council resolution that will establish a sustainable cease-fire
on an urgent basis. This process began in New York today."
Israel's attack that killed 65 civilians in Qana on Sunday, the deadliest
single incident in the Israeli onslaught against Hezbollah militants, prompted
Rice to cut short her trip to the region.
Earlier, Bush stood fast by his insistence that any cease-fire be accompanied
by the disarming of Hezbollah militia, a return of two kidnapped Israel soldiers
and a cessation of support for Hezbollah by the governments of Iran and Syria.
"We want there to be a long-lasting peace, one that is sustainable," Bush
said in a speech in Miami.
And, in an interview with Fox News Channel, Bush acknowledged that the Qana
deaths had added pressure on Israel to stop bombing. But, he said, "Stopping for
the sake of stopping can be OK, except it won't address the root cause of the
problem."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the "center of gravity in
terms of diplomatic activity is, I think, shifting to New York now."
He said he hoped for a resolution later in the week.
"As for any more durable action, I think that is
something that, again, we're trying to negotiate with our international
partners, with the Israeli government, with the Lebanese government and others,
so that you have a durable cease-fire that takes place within a political
context that a cease-fire supports," McCormack said.
