Last update - 03:22 11/08/2006
Breakthrough in talks over cease-fire resolution; Security Council expected to convene Friday
Revised draft calls for 'progressive' IDF withdrawal from south Lebanon
By Shlomo Shamir, Aluf Benn and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
The parties involved in diplomatic negotiations for a UN-brokered cease-fire resolution aimed at ending the fighting in Lebanon made a breakthrough Thursday, raising hopes that a truce deal would pave the way for the stationing of international troops in Lebanon as part of a package that would end the month-long confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah.
The UN Security Council will convene Friday to discuss the new proposal, which has been agreed to by the United States as well as France.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said late Thursday, however, there was still no agreement on a resolution calling for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah but that he hoped for one on Friday. "I have not at all given up on the prospect that we might yet vote tomorrow," Bolton told reporters after a day of talks. "We have not yet reached agreement but will continue to work on it and will continue to work on it this evening and meet again early tomorrow morning."
The sides are currently trying to put the finishing touches to the final wording of the resolution. The revised draft calls for a "progressive" Israeli withdrawal, a senior Lebanese political source said on Thursday. "The Americans have moved their position. A deal with the French is very close in the next hours, but most likely on Friday," he told Reuters.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749019.html 
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