A drive for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah has been emerging this week, and we were encouraged to see Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice join the chorus. Three weeks of violence that have left Israeli and Lebanese civilians hostage to deadly Hezbollah rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday the U.S. plans to help train and equip the Lebanese army so it can take control of all of its territory when the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah eases. Building a viable Lebanese army is a crucial step if the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is to regain its authority and to disarm the Hezbollah militias now destabilizing that war-torn land. For now, it is up to Israel to safeguard its people from the threat initiated by Hezbollah.
Last weekend France, which now chairs the U.N. Security Council, proposed an international force in southern Lebanon to enforce a cease-fire.The French plan would establish a demilitarized buffer zone from the Israeli border to the Litani River, roughly 18 miles north of that border. But the plan has stalled because the French insist a cease-fire should precede deployment of a peacekeeping force, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel won’t stop fighting until a U.N. peacekeeping force strong enough to contain Hezbollah is deployed in southern Lebanon.
Thursday Rice expressed support for an immmediate cease-fire, bringing the U.S. closer to the position that France and other European countries are taking. Rice predicted that a U.N. Security Council resolution would be approved within days that would include a cease-fire and describe principles for a lasting peace.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz Thursday ordered the Israeli army to advance into southern Lebanon up to the Litani after almost 500 rockets fell on Israel in two days, killing nine civilians. Israel occupied that territory from 1982 to 2000 but certainly doesn’t want to return.
In one complication, The Washington Post reported Thursday Lebanon’s foreign minister, Tareq Mitri, said he doubts his government would agree to invite a European-led peacekeeping force because of opposition from Hezbollah. Of course Hezbollah must be a party to any cease-fire and so his pragmatic timidity will surely give way.
The dithering over which comes first, the peace-keeping force or the cease-fire, ignores the frightful loss of lives on both sides of the border. We’re anxious to see progress toward a cease-fire that will be speedily backed by a multinational force to keep the peace.
