Official Calls For Ceasefire Begin (Dieu bénissent les Français!)

[Totally Committed]

France Appeals for Cease-Fire, Rice Meets with UN Envoys in New York

(1)France has issued a new call for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Speaking in Paris, French President Jacques Chirac urged the European Union to send its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, back to the Middle East to press all sides for a ceasefire. As France made a new appeal, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting in New York with three United Nations envoys who recently returned from a Middle East mission to assess conditions there.

The State Department says Rice will visit the region as early as next week. (2)But the U.S. says it is too early for a cease-fire. In Jerusalem Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Rick Jones said that as long as Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel, Israel has to continue what he called its "side of it."

(3) Speaking on American television Friday, White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected criticism of the U.S. stance, saying no one is working harder to end the violence than the United States.

(4) On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting. Mr. Annan blamed Hezbollah for abducting two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid that sparked the violence. He also condemned Israel's military response as collective punishment on the Lebanese people.

(5) U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said afterwards that it is difficult to reach a ceasefire with a terror group like Hezbollah.

(6)In Beirut, visiting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called Friday for a "safe humanitarian corridor" to get urgent aid to the Lebanese people. The French minister said his country is dispatching aid by air and sea.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-07-21-voa29.cfm

So, in short:

(1) France asks for a cease-fire

(2) U.S. says no ... "too early"

(3) Tony Snow, for the U.S. administration, no. "No one working harder for peace tha we are."

(4) Kofi Annan calls for cease-fire.

(5) Bolton, for the U.S., says no. "Too hard to negotiate a cease-fire with a terrorist group."

(6) French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy calls for a "safe humanitarian corridor" to get urgent aid to the Lebanese people.

Any bets as to what the answer to #6 will be????

TC

[fearthem]

1. The usual arrogance, going it alone, against the entire world!

[babylonsister]

2. Add Great Britian to the mix, at least the clear-thinking people:

Tony Blair will face fresh pressure over the Middle East crisis today when he arrives in Washington to meet President George Bush. Senior Downing Street aides said the two leaders intended to show the world they were seeking an urgent end to the hostilities in Lebanon, despite the failure of the much vaunted Rome summit on Wednesday to deliver a unified call for a truce.

Israel's Justice Minister, Haim Ramon, added to the pressure yesterday, when he interpreted that indecision as a green light to continue the bloody assault on Lebanon.

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," he told reporters.

The Prime Minister's visit takes place as 42 leading figures in politics, diplomacy, academia and the media put their names to a declaration urging Mr Blair to tell the President that Britain "can no longer support the American position on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle-East". Their declaration, printed on the front page of today's Independent, calls on the Prime Minister to "make urgent representations to Israel to end its disproportionate and counter-productive response to Hizbollah's aggression".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article120...

[Totally Committed]

3. "Israel's Justice Minister,

".... Haim Ramon, added to the pressure yesterday, when he interpreted that indecision as a green light to continue the bloody assault on Lebanon." :nuke:

U N B E L I E V E A B L E .

TC

[babylonsister]

4. FWIW, he was soundly criticized by the EU Union:

EU denies giving Israel green light

Staff and agencies
Thursday July 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The European Union rebuked the Israeli government today after its justice minister claimed "permission from the world" to press on with its Lebanon campaign.

Haim Ramon, who is a close ally of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said failure at yesterday's Rome conference to agree on an immediate ceasefire in the 16-day-old crisis amounted to a green light for Israel to continue its offensive.

As both sides stepped up their rocket and missile attacks and Israel called up more reserves, the Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the interpretation "totally wrong" and said the fighting should stop immediately. "Most of the countries, including the European Union, <...> specifically want an immediate halt to the hostilities," he said.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called Mr Ramon's words "a gross misinterpretation".

<more>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1831570,00.ht...

[Totally Committed]

5. I wasn't questioning whether or not it had...

I was aghast at Israel's ARROGANCE (or DELUSION) in saying it had.

TC