Diplomatic efforts accompany IDF operation
UN delegation to Middle East schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Livni Tuesday in attempt to end fighting in north; Blair, Annan call for deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel, but US opposed to deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon; Bush: Syria should press Hizbullah to stop doing this s***
A Prime Minister’s Office official told Ynet late Monday that “there is no deadline for the military operation in Lebanon, and it will carry on until the objectives as determined by Ehud Olmert are reached,” but diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are already underway.
On Tuesday a three-person UN delegation to the Middle East is schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem. The team is led by Vijay Nambiar, Annan's special political adviser. It also includes UN Mideast envoy Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen, Anna's special envoy who has overseen implementation of UN Resolution 1559 demanding Syria end its sway over Lebanon.
The three will arrive from Beirut, where they met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
“We will hear what they have to say, but we have nothing to say to them,” one official said.
It is estimated that the mediators will attempt to bring about a ceasefire to examine ways for Lebanon to implement at least part of Resolution 1559, more specifically the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Israel.
Sources in the Foreign Ministry said that at this stage Israel does not intend to negotiate with Lebanon - not even through a third party – as Beirut does not have the capability to fully implement Resolution 1559, including the disarmament of Hizbullah, or see to it that the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers are returned home safely.
“Today is the first day of diplomacy, which is accompanying the military operation against Hizbullah in Lebanon,” a government official said. “We come to this day with an advantage, not only because Israel is demanding that the UN resolution be implemented, but also due to the wide international support we received in the G-8 summit and from several European Union countries.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Monday for the deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel.
"The blunt reality is that this violence is not going to stop unless we create the conditions for the cessation of violence," Blair said after talks with Annan on the margins of the G-8 summit.
'Things cannot go on like this'
"The only way we're going to get a cessation of hostilities is if we have the deployment of an international force into that area that can stop the bombardment over into Israel and therefore gives Israel a reason to stop its attacks on Hezbollah," he said.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised that his country would make a "significant contribution" to the proposed peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
Prodi told a news conference that he, Blair, and Annan “are holding numerous discussions” on the proposal and that "Italy confirms that it is ready to make a significant contribution to the implementation of this idea."
French President Jacques Chirac said at the close of a G8 summit that returning stability to Lebanon may require "means of coercion."
"Some kind of buffer zone is needed; the idea is to have an international force and a line of surveillance in southern Lebanon,” Chirac said at a news conference.
Asked about implementation Resolution 1559 that calls for disarmament of militias in Lebanon, the French president stated that "this will probably demand some means of coercion".
"Things cannot go on like this," Chirac said. "A means for repression, when needed, and in any event for surveillance, is required. We have a situation that requires outside intervention, in such a way as to assure borders and to avoid cross-border aggression by one side against the other."
Chirac called the explosion of violence "aberrant" and dispatched Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to "express the support of France and the solidarity of the French people in this trial."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also backed the initiative, but added that is was too soon to discuss the possibility of German troops joining the peacekeeping efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would consider sending troops to the region, and a similar statement was issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Blair, however, pointed out that British forces are "stretched'' in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US is opposed to the deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon, with Ambassador to the UN John Bolton questioning such a force’s ability to dismantle Hizbullah or stop Syria and Iran’s support of the terror group.
'Get Hizbullah to stop doing this s***'
Bolton said steps must be taken to strengthen the Lebanese government and army instead of creating a “new international body.”
A microphone picked up an unaware President George Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hizbullah to "stop doing this shit" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.
Bush was talking privately to Blair during a lunch at the G-8 summit in St Petersburg.
Neither immediately realized a microphone was transmitting their candid thoughts on that and other issues.
"I think Condi (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon," Bush said.
Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together." Rice said on Sunday she was thinking of going to the region if it would help.
However, Rice headed back to the United States after the G8 summit closed on Monday, a State Department spokeswoman said.
Blair added: "See, if she (Rice) goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk."
Bush replied: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbullah to stop doing this s*** and it's over."
While his language was salty, the message from Bush was what it had been throughout the summit - that Syria is supporting Hizbullah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and should force them to stop shelling Israel and return abducted Israeli soldiers.
