OMEN
07-29-2006, 01:22 PM
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ANGER: Protesters chant anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans during a demonstration against attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have sped up diplomacy for a UN resolution aimed at halting the violence.
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, pressured for a Lebanon cease-fire, sped up diplomacy on Friday for a UN resolution aimed at halting the violence and establishing a multinational force.
Bush announced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would return to the Middle East on Saturday to work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable UN Security Council resolution that could be introduced next week.
They also said a multinational force for Lebanon should be formed quickly to help speed delivery of humanitarian assistance to thousands of Lebanese displaced by the fighting between Hizbollah and Israel.
Bush and Blair, at a joint news conference, resisted international calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying a settlement must address Hizbollah's influence in Lebanon.
"It would be a big mistake not to solve the underlying problems," said Bush.
Blair agreed but said it was possible to halt the violence soon if the conditions were met in a prospective UN Security Council resolution that will be a topic for discussion on Monday at the United Nations.
"If we can get the UN resolution agreed next week and acted upon, then it can happen, and it can happen then. We want to see it happen as quickly as possible, but the conditions have got to be in place to allow it to happen," Blair said. After the meeting, Blair's spokesman said, "We are determined to do everything we can to get a resolution agreed early in the week" and that Bush was equally determined.
Bush has solidly backed Israel in the crisis, a policy Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, appeared to question in a speech.
He said the United States had a special relationship with Israel "but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships."
"The United States and Israel must understand that it is not in their long-term interests to allow themselves to become isolated in the Middle East and the world," he added.
THREE MEETINGS IN TWO MONTHS
Bush and Blair spoke after their third meeting in two months and first since their private conversation about the Middle East was aired when a microphone was left on at a Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg, Russia.
In that conversation, Bush complained UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should get Syria to persuade Hizbollah to stop its attacks on Israel, and Blair said it would help to get an international force in Lebanon, a subject he came to Washington to push.
At the news conference, Blair said the international force could only work if Hizbollah allowed it to do so and if the governments of Israel and Lebanon agreed as well. "There's not going to be an opportunity to fight their way in," Blair said.
Bush said the force would be discussed at the United Nations on Monday and "must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly to augment the Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country."
Blair was already in hot water with many Britons for backing Bush on Iraq and is facing similar criticism for not taking a more independent stance on Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which some European leaders say have been disproportionate retaliation for Hizbollah rocket attacks and the abduction of Israeli soldiers.
Blair said a sense of shock and frustration was understandable at the violence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories but "it is not a reason for walking away."
"It's a reason for staying the course and staying it no matter how tough it is: because the alternative is actually letting this ideology grip larger and larger numbers of people," he said
Reuters
ANGER: Protesters chant anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans during a demonstration against attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have sped up diplomacy for a UN resolution aimed at halting the violence.
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, pressured for a Lebanon cease-fire, sped up diplomacy on Friday for a UN resolution aimed at halting the violence and establishing a multinational force.
Bush announced Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would return to the Middle East on Saturday to work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable UN Security Council resolution that could be introduced next week.
They also said a multinational force for Lebanon should be formed quickly to help speed delivery of humanitarian assistance to thousands of Lebanese displaced by the fighting between Hizbollah and Israel.
Bush and Blair, at a joint news conference, resisted international calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying a settlement must address Hizbollah's influence in Lebanon.
"It would be a big mistake not to solve the underlying problems," said Bush.
Blair agreed but said it was possible to halt the violence soon if the conditions were met in a prospective UN Security Council resolution that will be a topic for discussion on Monday at the United Nations.
"If we can get the UN resolution agreed next week and acted upon, then it can happen, and it can happen then. We want to see it happen as quickly as possible, but the conditions have got to be in place to allow it to happen," Blair said. After the meeting, Blair's spokesman said, "We are determined to do everything we can to get a resolution agreed early in the week" and that Bush was equally determined.
Bush has solidly backed Israel in the crisis, a policy Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, appeared to question in a speech.
He said the United States had a special relationship with Israel "but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships."
"The United States and Israel must understand that it is not in their long-term interests to allow themselves to become isolated in the Middle East and the world," he added.
THREE MEETINGS IN TWO MONTHS
Bush and Blair spoke after their third meeting in two months and first since their private conversation about the Middle East was aired when a microphone was left on at a Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg, Russia.
In that conversation, Bush complained UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should get Syria to persuade Hizbollah to stop its attacks on Israel, and Blair said it would help to get an international force in Lebanon, a subject he came to Washington to push.
At the news conference, Blair said the international force could only work if Hizbollah allowed it to do so and if the governments of Israel and Lebanon agreed as well. "There's not going to be an opportunity to fight their way in," Blair said.
Bush said the force would be discussed at the United Nations on Monday and "must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly to augment the Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country."
Blair was already in hot water with many Britons for backing Bush on Iraq and is facing similar criticism for not taking a more independent stance on Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which some European leaders say have been disproportionate retaliation for Hizbollah rocket attacks and the abduction of Israeli soldiers.
Blair said a sense of shock and frustration was understandable at the violence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories but "it is not a reason for walking away."
"It's a reason for staying the course and staying it no matter how tough it is: because the alternative is actually letting this ideology grip larger and larger numbers of people," he said
Reuters