Breaking : Hezbollah accepts "EUs peace plan"

[tocqueville]

Hezbollah politicians back peace package By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago
...................................

It starts out with an immediate cease-fire. Following that would come:

• the release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners; Israeli withdrawal behind the border; the return of Lebanese displaced by the fighting.

• moves to resolve the status of Chebaa Farms, a small piece of land held by Israel and claimed by Lebanon. The proposal calls for the U.N. Security Council to commit to putting the area under U.N. control until a final demarcation of the border.

• the provision by Israel of maps of minefields laid during its 18-year occupation of the south.

• "the spreading of Lebanese government authority over the entire country," meaning the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south, with the strengthening and increasing of the small, lightly armed U.N. peacekeeping force currently there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_peace_package_4

[Fridays Child]

1. It sounds like the ball is now in Israel's court.

[Dhalgren]

5. They won't accept it. the first tenet must be all Hezbollah will

be summarily executed, then, maybe...

[Fridays Child]

8. And they probably won't care how it makes them look...

...just as long as the U.S. keeps sending them weapons.

[LiberalPartisan]

18. That's a great plan!!

I LOVE IT!

[DRoseDARs]

20. Yeah, if you like impratical impossibilities and further bloodshed. n/t

[Renew Deal]

48. You have to acknowledge that leaving Hizbollah in tact

will lead to further bloodshed.

[treestar]

46. They make a counteroffer that is unacceptable and when not

accepted, it shifts the blame - Hezbollah had the chance for peace and deliberately chose war will be the argument. That's the standard Israel operating procedure.

[mom cat]

2. What will George and Condi do to try and sabotage it?

I do so hope that it works, but I doubt that Bush will stop trying to totally destabalize the mid east.

[Howardx]

10. thats a good question

and a concern, im sure the eu plan wont lead to a "permanent peace" or whatever that drivel is. i sure hope this works out!

[mom cat]

28. I don't think that we have had a "permanent peace" on this planet

for a long long time. I am glad the EU is stepping up to the plate because the US is not a neutral party, not that it ever was.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

3. and junior is meeting with the American Idols

and condi will look like she's a day late and a dollar short.

[Botany]

11. Yes he is and Condi is getting ready to play the piano

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said the president had never seen it, SURE HE HASN'T


Bush plays host to American Idol contestants
Reuters
Friday, July 28, 2006; 7:55 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top contenders from the hit television show "American Idol" descended on the White House on Friday, giving President George W. Bush a break from talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Middle East crisis.

Bush joined the 10 finalists from the show's latest season for a picture-taking session, then got a harmonica from them as a gift.

Contest winner Taylor Hicks already had a connection at the White House as a former student of Susan Whitson, who had been a high school teacher and is now press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush.

Asked if Bush was a fan of the hit reality show, White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said the president had never seen it, "but like most Americans he is well aware of it.

[laruemtt]

4. uh-oh. who will tell tlhe rapturists

their date with destiny is going to be delayed.....

[Howardx]

6. i would be happy to perform that little chore

sorry suckers!

[Botany]

7. A Good Start

Stop Killing and start talking ......

Israel would be wise to take this offer because I fear millions of Islamics would travel to
Lebanon to take part in a long term meat grinder Jihad w/ Israel.

[Dhalgren]

9. My first thought was that Israel will not accept it, but Israel has

not done as well in this fight as it thought it would. Add to that the very ugly PR garnered from slaughtering so many innocents and children and they may just decide to cut their losses...

[lonestarnot]

19. I am sure hoping you are right.

[Ms. Clio]

23. me, too n/t

[me b zola]

12. Now to get Israel to sign on

Good on the EU for acting as an honest broker in the peace process.

Prayers for peace :grouphug:

[bemildred]

13. LOL. Man, how are we going to wriggle out of this? nt

[Solly Mack]

14. Rice is due back in the region in a few hours

Rice to Return to the Middle East (on Saturday)

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewFlash.asp?Page=/ThisHour/Archive/NTH20060728v.html

[Nutmegger]

15. This is no good.

This is "fake peace".

Edited to add this :sarcasm: and this.

That is all.

[bemildred]

16. Definitely "fake peace".

I can hardly wait to have it explained to me.

[whistle]

17. How so, you mean Hezbollah can not be trusted to maintain the ceasefire

[Jim Warren]

21. He just means "peace through strength"

cough,armsdeals,cough

[oberliner]

22. I really hope they don't demand that Israel release Samir Kuntar

All the other Lebanese prisoners and a large number of Palestinian prisoners, but not Samir Kuntar.

He has admitted to the killing of four Israelis including a 4 year old girl. He shot her father in front of her and then bashed her skull into a rock.

He deserves to stay in jail for the rest of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Kuntar

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A2740-2003May17¬Found=true

[tkmorris]

43. Normally I'd agree with you

But if releasing him was all that stood between peace or the continuation of warfare, I'd say let him go. He deserves to rot of course, but the alternative.......

[femrap]

24. Great news....

I hope Israel will accept. The killing and destruction must stop.

[Generator]

25. EU peace plan

The US has no diplomacy does it? We are a joke. That's what stands out at me. Bush. Condi. Ineptness that never ENDS. CAN we ever be rid of them? But hopefully this will work. Thank GOD for Europe and world opinion.

[Ms. Clio]

26. that's just what I was thinking

So much for "moral authority" and global leadership.

[Connie_Corleone]

27. The EU doing what the U.S. should've done.

Heckuva job, Bush and Condi.

[sandnsea]

29. This is a joke, Israel will never accept this

Any agreement from Israel will start with Hezbollah disarming and an international force in the southern region. There's no way they are going to let anybody go back in or drag Sheba Farms into this and everybody knows it. This is why there's no peace, nobody will put forward a serious peace agreement and I'd bet Israel doesn't either.

[w4rma]

30. That's because Israel's leadership isn't serious about peace. (nt)

[sandnsea]

31. Neither are the people who proposed this n/t

[w4rma]

32. Why because they didn't give the farm to the nuts leading Israel, now?

Because they actually tried to give a few things to the other side?

Hezbollah will go away if the warmongerers leading Israel will quit poking the hornet's nest with a stick.

[sandnsea]

33. That's putrid - bye n/t

[nashville_brook]

38. why would that be considered "putrid" -- ??

sure... it's a little clunky... took me sec to catch the drift... but, the poster if basically saying ... in a negotiation, you don't give away the farm.

israel's got the bad karma right now. they need to step up to the plate.

Israel "right or wrong" is just as ugly as "US love it or leave it."

lets see the hegemon sit down at the table in a way that would make anyone proud. if they're so great and so innocent and so worthy of poo-flinging -- lets see them act like a MODERN WORLD CITIZEN and not bush's and cheney's creepy friend from college.

[w4rma]

41. Thanks. Agreed. (nt)

[allemand]

42. Hezbollah will not disarm unless you "drag Shebaa Farms into this".

Why is this so difficult to understand? And what is wrong about the formula of "land for peace"?

[magellan]

34. Two real sticking points

Chebaa Farms: the Yahoo article linked to in the OP says "U.N. experts have previously determined that the territory is part of Syria's Golan Heights, now held by Israel. But Syria has said the patch of land is Lebanon's."

If the UN has determined this land was Syria's and Syria says it's Lebanon's...then GIVE IT TO LEBANON. Israel loses this one.

Prisoners: why can't they agree to release the two Israeli soldiers in return for two of the three Lebanese prisoners? (If the third is Samir Kuntar, then all the more reason to make it two for two.) Hezbollah loses this one. They just can't expect the release of thousands in return for two. The UN should focus hard on Israel to see that the Palestinian prisoners in question are finally given due process.

Anyway, there's got to be compromise.

[SoCalDem]

35. Ummmm. Who rebuilds Lebanon and cleans up the mess?

It took them more than a decade to restore what was destroyed before..

"Returning" people home to bombed out rubble so they can live like rats in a trash dump is not a workable "peace"..

Who will come to their aid? Hezbollah (just like before), and we.....

wait a decade and start all over again?

[nashville_brook]

36. no 'nords here either... gee... these PEACE threads aren't

attracting my 'nord list at all... wonder why.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. 'nord? fnord!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fnord

[nashville_brook]

39. i've been slacked!

[Yupster]

40. Hezbullah keeps its missiles and arms

or gives them up?

If they keep the missiles I don't see it as much of a plan.

[NuttyFluffers]

44. in my happy, delusional world i'd like it if...

1. both sides have to visit the funerals of the other -- at least some sort of memorial where the victims' families have an opportunity to cry on each other's shoulder. possibly pick a chunk of the border by the beach to toss flowers into the sea and release doves or something.

2. mutually work together to reconstruct what was destroyed. israelis work in lebanon to rebuild, and lebanese work in israel to rebuild. it could help economies, build friendships, and start to breakdown walls and replace them with bridges, in reality and in the heart.

the rest of the details they can hammer out. but these steps i believe could really work on humanizing the other and build healthier relationships. but then i'm a pie-in-the-sky, dreamer peacenik.
O8)

[Karmadillo]

45. Kick

nt

[Igel]

47. If Israel's savvy, it won't take it.

Peace is good.

If warfare is to achieve goals, and victory is defined as achieving the goals, the first point--exchange of prisoners--is the first and primary (short term) victory condition for Hezbollah.

Nasrallah's said that another part of victory is to kill Israelis and drive them back over the border. Return of the displaced is a natural consequence of any ceasefire or armistice.

The second point, driving Israel out of the Shebaa Farms (although why do people sometimes insist on transliterating the Arabic into French orthography?) is a long-term victory condition for Hezbollah. Want a more legitimate Hezbollah that's the pride of Lebanese, give them the land.

Minefield maps were part of the '48 or '49 armistice accord, and Siniora, echoing Nasrallah, has long called for having Israel give them the maps from the '80s as part of fulfilling the earlier accords. It's not a short term or long term victory condition, but is both humanitarian, and a bonus for Hezbollah and possibly for Siniora (who, in this, deserves at the very least being forced to live in a pile dog shit for a few months).

Spreading of Lebanese authority was one of the mandates given to UNIFIL in 2000, along with helping to disarm Hezbollah. We see how that's gone; I wonder what expanding the peacekeeping contingent would entail, and who it would be--its size was reduced in recent years, and this may just represent a return to the year 2000 size.

There's also a quibble over whether the UN force would be armed and active. Hezbollah rejected this; the current proposal seems to say it would be armed, but leaves the matter in more ambiguity than anybody that wants stability, could desire. It's the one thing required for Israel to be satisified; expansion of Lebanese control over the area is simply perceived as a prerequisite for this.

Moreover, I think that there would have to be a separate statement: Hezbollah is part of the establishment, and its supporters are in the military. It would be a mere matter of paperwork to declare Hezbollah to be agents of the central government. This must be ruled out.

Given past history, it's not unreasonable to expect that the parts that are least likely to be done occur first, prior to granting Hezbollah its victory.

[mom cat]

49. Has there been any Israeli responce yet? This sure makes Bush

look bad. It is interesting that this move by the EU comes right after the drunken little frat boy screwed up so badly at the G8. I think that the EU has decided to fill the leadership gap.

[maalak]

50. wasn't Hezbollah supposed to be disarmed after the last ceasefire?

the one where Israel withdrew from Lebanon?

historically Hezbollah has used ceasefires only when it needs time to regroup... they've proven time and time again that they will end any ceasefire when it's convenient for them.