Diplomatic proposals / A mine-filled road map

[spindrifter]

By Zvi Bar'el (Haaretz)

The diplomatic pressure on Israel, the first signs of which will become clear this week, is not detached from the feeling among Arab leaders - particularly Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah - that they must lead the international diplomatic effort.

The upshot is that this weekend Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abd Al-Aziz and Lebanese MP Sa'ad Hariri, son of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, drew up the outlines of a diplomatic agreement together with France's president and foreign minister, and today President George W. Bush can expect the Saudi foreign minister to tell him about the pressure and dissatisfaction in the Arab states regarding America's overly pro-Israeli position.

Two "road maps" are currently on the table. The American proposal calls for a significant draw-down of Hezbollah armories in southern Lebanon prior to a cease-fire offer conditioned on a Lebanese commitment to deploy its army. This would be followed by the creation of an international mechanism to enforce the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hezbollah.

The Lebanese consider this proposal, which was coordinated with Israel, unrealistic. They want an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, followed by the implementation of Res. 1559 subject to negotiations among the Lebanese factions and Israel's willingness to withdraw from Shaba Farms. France currently supports this position

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741414.html