Rice Seeks UN Help on Middle East While Resisting Cease-Fire

By Bill Varner

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will try to reconcile demands for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah with the U.S. priority to disarm the Islamic militia when she meets United Nations officials today in New York.

The U.S. hasn't endorsed the outline of a cease-fire plan presented to the Security Council yesterday by Secretary-General Kofi Annan following the return of his three envoys from the Middle East. U.S. officials insist that Annan's plea for an immediate end to hostilities won't produce a sustainable peace unless the threat posed by Hezbollah is eliminated.

``No one has explained how you conduct the cease-fire with a group of terrorists,'' U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after Annan's address to the council, in which he criticized both Israel and Hezbollah. ``We're obviously looking here for a solution that will fundamentally change the reality in the region and spare the peoples of Israel and Lebanon, in particular, from the threat of terrorism.''

U.S. and Israeli officials have repeatedly pointed to Security Council Resolution 1559, passed on Sept. 2, 2004, as the basis for action. The measure says all militias in Lebanon should be disbanded and disarmed and the Lebanese government should extend its control throughout the country.

The split over conditions for a truce, which has delayed Security Council agreement on a resolution to end the conflict, comes as Rice prepares for her own mission to the Middle East. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters yesterday in Washington that Rice wants to achieve a ``durable political solution'' to the conflict.

U.S. Allies

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, all U.S. allies, will play ``an important role'' in trying to end the conflict, in part by talking to the Syrian government ``about the choices that they're going to make,'' McCormack said. Syria, which formerly occupied Lebanon, is a patron of Hezbollah.

Rice had a working dinner last night with Annan and will meet with his Middle East envoys early today, before returning to Washington. Annan yesterday described ``elements'' for a proposed truce, including turning over two abducted Israeli soldiers to Lebanese authorities.

Annan said there were ``serious obstacles'' to a cease-fire in a speech in which he condemned both Hezbollah's ``reckless disregard'' for the Lebanese people and Israel's ``excessive use of force.'' He said the Israeli government told his envoys they were ``not yet approaching'' an end to the hostilities.

`Broad' Accord Sought

Terje Roed-Larsen, one member of the UN team that traveled to Cairo, Beirut and Tel Aviv, told reporters it was ``highly unlikely a cease-fire can take hold without a broad political agreement.''

Israel rejected Annan's plea for a halt to the fighting, with Ambassador Dan Gillerman saying the military offensive would go on until Hezbollah is ``incapacitated.'' Gillerman, the Israeli envoy to the UN, said a truce was undesirable as long as the Hezbollah militia that controls southern Lebanon is capable of threatening Israel with rocket attacks.

Gillerman faulted Annan's speech to the Security Council for not criticizing the roles of Syria and Iran in supporting Hezbollah, an Islamic movement that also sits in Lebanon's legislature.

``It will take as long as it will take,'' Gillerman told reporters at the UN, when asked about the military operation involving Israeli warplanes, ships, artillery and ground troops. ``We have no timeline.''

Nouhad Mahmoud, Lebanon's envoy to the UN, backed Annan's package, which also included expanding the UN peacekeeping force on the Israeli-Lebanese border and an international conference to implement Resolution 1559.

Air Raids

Israel carried out nighttime air raids and Israeli soldiers clashed with Hezbollah fighters inside Lebanese territory yesterday. Explosions could be heard in southern Beirut's Hezbollah stronghold at about 9:20 p.m.

Annan said the number of people displaced by the violence may soon double to 1 million. The UN and other humanitarian groups weren't able to make any assessment of the needs of people in southern Lebanon, he said. About a third of the 900 casualties in the conflict are children, according to Annan.

Envoys to the Security Council expressed a range of frustration and impatience with their inability to agree on any measure to end the conflict.

Ambassador Margrethe Loj of Denmark, one of 15 countries on the Security Council, said Rice's visit with Annan would be crucial.

``We will probably have a resolution, but if we do something that cannot be implemented, then the Security Council is not credible,'' Loj said. ``We have made a lot of political resolutions in the past that were disregarded.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: July 21, 2006 00:03 EDT

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