xrayzebra
07-20-2006, 03:16 PM
washingtonpost.com
Annan Calls for Halt to Mideast Fighting
By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 20, 2006; 3:34 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Thursday for an immediate halt to the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and spelled out a U.N. team's proposal for ending the violence.
Yet Annan acknowledged there were "serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire" and condemned Israel's "excessive use of force" against Lebanon. He also denounced Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and July 12 abduction of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the crisis.
"Both the deliberate targeting by Hezbollah of Israeli population centers with hundreds of indiscriminate weapons and Israel's disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of the Lebanese people must stop," he said.
Annan said the number of civilians affected by the conflict is now at 500,000, but he added that likely could increase. He based that estimate on information provided by a three-member U.N. team that visited the region and his own contacts.
"What is most urgently needed is an immediate cessation of hostilities" to prevent more civilian deaths, to get food and medicine to those in need and to give diplomacy a chance to resolve the crisis, he said.
"Let me be frank with the council," Annan added. "The mission's assessment is that there are serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire, or even to diminishing the violence quickly."
Since fighting began, the Security Council has taken no action and Lebanon accused the United States on Saturday of blocking even a statement to the press calling for a cease-fire.
Annan detailed U.N. mission proposals that he believes must be part of any lasting cease-fire. The mission has consulted the Israeli and Lebanese leaders.
The elements include Hezbollah handing the soldiers over to the Lebanese authorities, under the auspices of the International Committee for the Red Cross.
The council could then deploy an expanded peacekeeping force on the Lebanese side of the U.N.-drawn boundary with Israel known as the Blue Line.
Also, Lebanon should implement a Security Council resolution calling for the government to extend its control over the south and disarm Hezbollah, and the international community should establish a framework to fund humanitarian, development and reconstruction aid for Lebanon.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters after Annan's speech that there would be no cease-fire. Gillerman said he was "disturbed" that Annan's report never mentioned the word "terror" or referred to Syria and Iran, which Israel accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.
"The first thing that must be addressed is cessation of terror before we even talk about cessation of hostilities," Gillerman said.
"When you operate on a cancerous growth you do not stop in the middle, sew the patient up and tell him keep living with that growth until it kills you. You make sure it is totally removed."
Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud echoed Annan's call for an immediate cease-fire and warned Israel there was no military solution.
"It could take them very, very long and they won't achieve anything, only the destruction of Lebanon, and I think that's what they aim for," he said.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said it was time for the Security Council to start considering a response, but he, too, ruled out a cease-fire.
"I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire," Bolton said. "How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitments that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?"
As part of the continued diplomacy, Annan planned to have dinner later Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before she travels to the region. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice intends to leave as early as next week.
Yet he stressed that Rice was not expecting to seek an immediate resolution to the crisis.
"You are not going to see a return to the kind of diplomacy that we have had before, where you try to negotiate an end to the violence that leaves the parties in place," he said in Washington.
___
Associated Press reporter Nick Wadhams contributed to this story.
© 2006 The Associated Press
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You got to love this guy. Wonder why he didn't reference UN resolution
1559. and this statement ""I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire," Bolton said. "How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitments that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?"
No kidding. And how do you handle prisoners taken when dealing with
terrorist. Why try them in a regular court or turn them loose. According
to all the "experts". Right!
Annan Calls for Halt to Mideast Fighting
By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 20, 2006; 3:34 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Thursday for an immediate halt to the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and spelled out a U.N. team's proposal for ending the violence.
Yet Annan acknowledged there were "serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire" and condemned Israel's "excessive use of force" against Lebanon. He also denounced Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and July 12 abduction of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the crisis.
"Both the deliberate targeting by Hezbollah of Israeli population centers with hundreds of indiscriminate weapons and Israel's disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of the Lebanese people must stop," he said.
Annan said the number of civilians affected by the conflict is now at 500,000, but he added that likely could increase. He based that estimate on information provided by a three-member U.N. team that visited the region and his own contacts.
"What is most urgently needed is an immediate cessation of hostilities" to prevent more civilian deaths, to get food and medicine to those in need and to give diplomacy a chance to resolve the crisis, he said.
"Let me be frank with the council," Annan added. "The mission's assessment is that there are serious obstacles to reaching a cease-fire, or even to diminishing the violence quickly."
Since fighting began, the Security Council has taken no action and Lebanon accused the United States on Saturday of blocking even a statement to the press calling for a cease-fire.
Annan detailed U.N. mission proposals that he believes must be part of any lasting cease-fire. The mission has consulted the Israeli and Lebanese leaders.
The elements include Hezbollah handing the soldiers over to the Lebanese authorities, under the auspices of the International Committee for the Red Cross.
The council could then deploy an expanded peacekeeping force on the Lebanese side of the U.N.-drawn boundary with Israel known as the Blue Line.
Also, Lebanon should implement a Security Council resolution calling for the government to extend its control over the south and disarm Hezbollah, and the international community should establish a framework to fund humanitarian, development and reconstruction aid for Lebanon.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters after Annan's speech that there would be no cease-fire. Gillerman said he was "disturbed" that Annan's report never mentioned the word "terror" or referred to Syria and Iran, which Israel accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.
"The first thing that must be addressed is cessation of terror before we even talk about cessation of hostilities," Gillerman said.
"When you operate on a cancerous growth you do not stop in the middle, sew the patient up and tell him keep living with that growth until it kills you. You make sure it is totally removed."
Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud echoed Annan's call for an immediate cease-fire and warned Israel there was no military solution.
"It could take them very, very long and they won't achieve anything, only the destruction of Lebanon, and I think that's what they aim for," he said.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said it was time for the Security Council to start considering a response, but he, too, ruled out a cease-fire.
"I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire," Bolton said. "How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitments that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?"
As part of the continued diplomacy, Annan planned to have dinner later Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before she travels to the region. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice intends to leave as early as next week.
Yet he stressed that Rice was not expecting to seek an immediate resolution to the crisis.
"You are not going to see a return to the kind of diplomacy that we have had before, where you try to negotiate an end to the violence that leaves the parties in place," he said in Washington.
___
Associated Press reporter Nick Wadhams contributed to this story.
© 2006 The Associated Press
Ads by Google
\================================================= =======
You got to love this guy. Wonder why he didn't reference UN resolution
1559. and this statement ""I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire," Bolton said. "How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitments that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?"
No kidding. And how do you handle prisoners taken when dealing with
terrorist. Why try them in a regular court or turn them loose. According
to all the "experts". Right!