Israel's Peres: Ready To Talk Peace With Lebanon. but . . .

[bigtree]

Israel's Peres: Ready To Talk Peace With Lebanon PM -TV

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition" that Hezbollah's offensive "won't break our spirit," noting that Israel has taken measures to limit civilian casualties and is ready to talk peace with Lebanon.

Peres said Israel would be willing to discuss peace with Lebanon. He noted that their conflict isn't with Lebanon, but with Hezbollah, which "declared and started a war against Israel. They're the aggressors."

He said he'd be willing to meet face-to-face with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora "without prior conditions and talk sense."

"But if Mr. Siniora is a prisoner in the hands of Hezbollah, or a prisoner of the impossible situation in Lebanon, well, very little can be done," he said.

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/151394906?-16486

Dow Jones Newswires
07-16-061300ET

[Penndems]

1. Vice Premier Peres is a wise man

We need to get the two sides to the negotiating table ASAP.

[lonestarnot]

5. Yes agree.

[Minnesota Libra]

2. I haven't seen or read one word of Arabs suggesting...........

....peace talks.:shrug:

[WilliamPitt]

3. Then you haven't looked hard enough

The Arab League denounced Hezbollah and demanded talks.

Not just "Arabs"...the League. So...

[blonndee]

4. Do you count Lebanon and Syria among those?

Lebanon seeks ceasefire
UPDATED: 2006-07-16 03:48:12 MST

Tearful prime minister calls on world to help stop violence

By AP AND CP

BEIRUT -- Waves of planes thundering through the darkness bombed Beirut's southern suburbs for hours this morning, a day after Israel stepped up its air strikes and tightened a noose around reeling Lebanon.

Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the UN to broker a ceasefire for his "disaster-stricken nation."

<snip>

The western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls.

<snip>

Trying to defuse the violence, which began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid, Lebanon's prime minister said he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah -- a move that risks civil war.

full story at

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/World/2006/07/16/1687349-sun.html


Syrian envoy asks US to impose restraint on Israel
Thu Jul 13, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syria's ambassador to the United States urged Washington on Thursday to impose restraint on its ally Israel and push for the resumption of peace talks amid escalating violence in the Middle East.

"I think the only solution is for the United States to play the role it used to play in the past and to undertake its responsibilities as a superpower and to impose on its ally Israel, restraint," Ambassador Imad Moustapha said in an interview on CNN.

<snip>

"The typical reaction of this administration is to blame Syria. In the past you know what the U.S. administration would have done? It would send envoys to the Middle East. It would have mediated. It would have calmed down the situation. This administration typically would only blame other parties and they would do nothing," Moustapha said.

Asked in a CNN interview about Rice's call for restraint, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Daniel Ayalon, said his country had exercised enough restraint since its 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon, and believes its
military offensive is now the right way to deal with Hizbollah.

full story at http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-13T225547Z_01_N13195331_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-SYRIA-ENVOY.xml

[Minnesota Libra]

10. It would definitely be nice if there was.............

.......some restraint required of Israel while AT THE SAME TIME some major control was taken over Hezbollah, even if the UN has to do all this.

OMG, in the past the US would have the Sec of Defense in Israel by now along with others pressing for peace on both sides. What is this effing administration doing??? Absolutely noting!!:cry:

[mmonk]

6. Talk peace with Lebanon?

I didn't realize Lebanon was seeking war. They can't even control Hezbollah in their own borders.

[Emit]

8. Your comment gave me pause

"They can't even control Hezbollah in their own borders."

Like, we can't even control Bush & Co. and their supporters in our own borders.

[Malikshah]

7. Wow-- what unmitigated hubris...

Hezbollah's offensive?
Prisoner in the hands of Hezbollah?

Peres has obviously entered the twilight zone... oh.. I forgot. He's a politician who feels that what his country is doing is completely ok. Sort of like the Roman historians who argued that Roman expansion was purely defensive...or Benny XVI who believes that the Crusades were noble....

Peres-- F(&@ you. With all due respect of course. (After all-- we *must* show respect to those who have none for human life.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. Wow

Shimon Peres is a socialist. He's a member of the Socialist International and one of the doves in Israel. If you think he's one of the bad guys there is nothing I can do to disabuse you of that notion.

[Malikshah]

13. You actually hit my point right on the head

Peres as dove-- w/ doves like these...

When one looks over the long history of this conflict since the beginning of the 20th century...the careers of such figures as Ben-Gurion, Sharett, Meir, Peres, Rabin, Barak, etc., this sort of political-speak by Peres fits right in.

The Kadima party-- one of the biggest snake-oil creations to hit the carnival circuit in quite a while...it is a true shame that folks in Israel, the region, and the "Quartet" areas so willingly swallowed the tonic.

Of course-- the same can be said for those who swallowed Hamas' and Hezbollah's tonics.

Peres is no proponent for real peace with justice for all-- his wording proves that.

[Laughing Mirror]

9. Speaking of prisoners, Mr. Peres ...

Tell us now about those (how many is it ... hundreds?) of Lebanese prisoners of war that have been the guests of Israel for years.

[Laotra]

11. Israel governement in disarray

Olmert (Its Lebanon!) and Perez (Its Hezbollah) and others giving very different signals. But so does the Lebanese governement. Only player cool and concise so far is Hezbollah, that is still holding the initiative.

I'm beginning to think there is no anti-Iran plot behind this (well maybe for Bush/Cheney), but incompetence hiding behing foolish grandstanding by Olmert and the Defence minister.