By HELENE COOPER
Published: July 31, 2006
JERUSALEM, Monday, July 31 — Taken aback by the carnage from the Israeli bombing of Qana, Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrung the first significant concession from Israel late on Sunday in its nearly three-week-old war against the Hezbollah militia: an immediate 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes.
<snip>
...one fact is unchanged: the United States is still not calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Ms. Rice’s maneuvering highlights the deepening crisis in which she now finds herself — by far the biggest in her tenure as America’s top diplomat.
By refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, even in the face of the Qana bombing, Ms. Rice was teetering on the edge of a public relations disaster, particularly in the Arab world. All day on Sunday, scenes of dead children being pulled out of the wreckage at Qana dominated the airwaves.
<more>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/world/middleeast/31diplo.html?hp&ex=1154318400&en=636b5f7167f5d08b&ei=5094&partner=homepage