Diplomatic flurry in Israel over Lebanon war

[struggle4progress]

By Matthew Tostevin
Reuters
Sunday, July 23, 2006; 1:39 AM

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Envoys from three European countries joined intensifying diplomacy in Israel on Sunday aimed at ending fighting between Israeli forces and Hizbollah that has wrecked swathes of Lebanon and left hundreds dead.

Ministers from France, Germany and Britain are all due to hold separate talks with Israeli officials ahead of the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who heads for the Middle East on Sunday ...

Foreign ministers from the world's most powerful countries and Arab states are due to hold an emergency meeting in Rome on Wednesday to discuss the crisis. No decision on international action is likely before that ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300040.html

French FM condemns both Israel and Hezbollah

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Saturday condemned Israeli aggression on Lebanon as well as Hezbollah's attacks on northern Israel.

He condemned the Israeli attacks on Lebanese infrastructure, bridges, roads, food factories, airports, and innocent civilians.

"We have not seen such things for more than 20 years," Douste- Blazy told a press conference in Amman.

He underlined the necessity of intensifying efforts to avoid further deterioration, calling for a cease-fire and a full implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 1559 under which Hezbollah militia should be disarmed ...

http://english.people.com.cn/200607/23/eng20060723_285801.html

German FM warns of region being dragged into conflict

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Saturday that the international community should not allow "extremist forces" to drag the whole Mideast region into a conflict.

Steinmeier made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit after their meeting in Cairo.

Steinmeier said that top priority now should be given to easing tension and Germany was seeking to create favorable conditions for reaching a ceasefire between Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Israel.

Abul Gheit said that Egypt was seeking a ceasefire as a starting point and the ceasefire would be followed by a series of measures including prisoners' swap.

http://english.people.com.cn/200607/23/eng20060723_285763.html

India must mobilise opinion to end Lebanon crisis: experts

New Delhi - As the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon escalates, threatening to plunge the Middle East region into a crisis, India is watching the situation with concern - with experts suggesting that New Delhi mobilise international opinion to put pressure on Tel Aviv to agree to a ceasefire.

The immediate focus of India’s effort is to ensure the evacuation of around 12,000 Indians - of whom 600 have already been brought home - who are scattered all over Lebanon. But given India’s economic and strategic stakes in the region that is home to a nearly four million-strong diaspora, New Delhi is planning to put diplomatic pressure on Tel Aviv to end the conflict and agree to a ceasefire, official sources and foreign policy experts said.

‘We have fundamental stakes in the region as the Israel-Lebanon escalation is no longer a local conflict and has the potential to affect India,’ A.K. Pasha, a specialist in Middle East affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IANS ...

http://indiaenews.com/2006-07/15849-india-mobilise-opinion-lebanon-crisis-experts.htm

Turkish and Spanish PMs Jointly Call for Peace in ME
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Zapatero - co-chairmen of the United Nations sponsored 'Alliance of Civilizations' project - have jointly called for peace in the face of the worsening crisis in Lebanon.

The joint statement issued by the Turkish and Spanish prime ministers reads; "We, as co-chairmen of the Alliance of Civilizations project, are ready to help in any way appropriate. Weapons must give way to dialogue and talks. There is no time to lose. In order to declare a ceasefire and peace, the time for action is now. Our future is in danger. We cannot remain as spectators in he face of this human tragedy ...

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20060722&hn=34992

Rowan: 'I'll go to Lebanon if it helps achieve peace'

THE Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday urged the Government to back the UN call for an immediate ceasefire in the escalating Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

Rowan Williams said the UK and US governments should "change their minds" and bring their influence to bear in moving towards a cessation of hostilities.

Dr Williams added that he was prepared to visit Lebanon if it would help, and appealed to Jewish and Muslim leaders to help broker peace ...

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=17428266&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=---rowan---i-ll-go-to-lebanon-if-it-helps-achieve-peace--name_page.html

Howells criticises Israel attacks

LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells criticised Israeli attacks in Lebanon on Saturday, suggesting they were indiscriminate, in the strongest condemnation yet of Israeli action by a British official.

Howells said Israeli air strikes on Lebanon in the past 11 days did not always appear to be just hitting Hizbollah targets.

"These have not been surgical strikes. It's very, very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics that have been used," Howells told reporters in Beirut, where he was overseeing the evacuation of British citizens ...

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-22T171724Z_01_L22453428_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-BRITAIN.xml

US churches appeal to Bush as Israel seizes Lebanese village

The National Council of Churches USA and its partner humanitarian ministry, Church World Service, are among 16 religious organizations calling for President Bush to "work with other world leaders to secure an immediate cease-fire in the violent conflict raging now between Hezbollah and Israel." ...

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060723nccusa.shtml

Tel Aviv: Thousands rally against war

Thousands march in Tel Aviv to protest Lebanon fighting, call on soldiers to refuse taking part in war. Clashes with passersby erupt during event, activists called 'traitors' ...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3279792,00.html

UN warns Hizbullah, Israel of 'war crimes' liability
Human rights chief points to 'unjustifiable' numbers of 'innocent civilian' casualties in conflict.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

In a strongly worded warning to the leaders of both the militant group Hizbullah and Israel, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour threatened the "perpetrators of wanton violence against civilians in the current Middle East conflict with liability for war crimes."

Jurist, the legal news website, reports that Ms. Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court Justice and war crimes prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia issued a "pointed" statement aimed directly at the two combatants and their leaders ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0720/dailyUpdate.html

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Thanks -- this is very good news . . . I hope their efforts are successful

[PCIntern]

2. Great news...

so that Hezbollah may return to its position of power in the region as quickly as possible.

:sarcasm:

[ShortnFiery]

10. They're heroes in many Lebanese eyes because they kicked

Israel out. Try to view it from an average Lebanese Civilian's perspective?

[Eugene]

3. Reuters: Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis

Syria wants talks with US over Lebanon crisis

Jul 23, 2006 — DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria is ready to engage in dialogue
with the United States to solve the confrontation between Hizbollah and
Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said on Sunday.

"Syria is ready for dialogue with the United States based on respect and
mutual interest," Mekdad told Reuters in an interview. He said the solution
to the crisis lies in an immediate ceasefire brokered by international powers,
followed by diplomacy.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2225809

[Spazito]

4. Here is a graphic that says it all, imo

(Thanks to xultar for it)

Middle East Crisis:
Who backs an immediate ceasefire?

21 July 2006





http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=699486

[Zodiak]

6. Notice that the argument

at the top of the "No" page is a strawman?

A friggin' strawman in international politics!! And that strawman argument is what held sway.

These are very dark times.

[Spazito]

7. Agreed, dark times indeed n/t

[mom cat]

5. Glad to see this is finally happening.

Allowing the US and Isreal to postpone a ceasefire till Lebanon is thouroghly destroyed whoud be an even worse crime than the delay in speaking up in the first place.

[cliss]

8. There is going to be a backlash from this...

I'm involved in exporting. I export US food products to other countries. I was invited to attend a trade show in Israel called 'Israfood' this year.

It was supposed to be a trade show where we would go over there, introduce US products & bring our products over there. A win-win situation.

You know what? Now I'm not going. I don't want to go. Not if they are acting like this. I doubt my other trading friends will want to go either. I'm scratching this country off my list.

There IS a price to pay for this kind of aggression, without a doubt.

[Eugene]

9. AP: Moderate Arabs Look to Curb Militants

Moderate Arabs Look to Curb Militants

By STEVEN R. HURST and SALAH NASRAWI
The Associated Press
Sunday, July 23, 2006; 3:20 PM

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egypt and Saudi Arabia _ both with strained U.S. ties _ are
working to entice Syria to end support for Hezbollah, a move that is central
to resolving the conflict in Lebanon and unhitching Damascus from its alliance-
of-convenience with Iran, the Shiite Muslim guerrillas' other main backer, Arab
diplomats and analysts said Sunday.

The two Arab heavyweights were prepared to spend heavily from Egypt's political
capital in the region and Saudi Arabia's vast financial reserves to rein in Hezbollah
as well as the Hamas militants now running the Palestinian government. In return,
Washington would ease pressure on its moderate Arab allies for broad democratic
reform, the diplomats and analysts said.

The deal offers hope of stopping the violence on both sides of Israel _ the fight
with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. It is believed that taking Syria
out of the Hezbollah-Iran orbit would blunt Iran's bid to establish itself as a
regional power-broker. Iran's attempts to expand its influence sends shudders
through the moderate Arab world.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300318.html