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Middle East

Cease-Fire Talks Stall as Fighting Rages on 2 Fronts.

By CRAIG S. SMITH and HELENE COOPER
Published: July 27, 2006
AVIVIM, Israel, July 26 — Israel’s two-front conflict saw its heaviest day of fighting on Wednesday, killing 9 Israeli soldiers, dozens of Hezbollah fighters and at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza. As the battles raged, a meeting of the United States and European and Arab countries in Rome failed to reach agreement on a plan to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as the United States resisted calls for an immediate cease-fire.

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
Israeli soldiers faced heavy casualties Wednesday in Lebanon as they tried to clear out Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah kept up its sustained fire on northern Israel, with 130 rockets hitting the region, wounding more than 10 Israelis.
The death toll has been at least 433 in Lebanon and 51 in Israel, according to Reuters.
The death toll on Wednesday was Israel’s highest since fighting began on July 12 after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers during a raid into Israel.
The most intense ground combat came around the hilltop town of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold just a few miles from the Israeli border. At the meeting in Rome, while the other nations pressed for an immediate cease-fire, the United States argued for a “sustainable cease-fire,” with the Lebanese government regaining sovereignty over southern Lebanon, and militias like Hezbollah being disbanded.
The lack of action prompted Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon to lash out with a cry of despair.
“Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere?” he asked. “Are we children of a lesser god? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?”
Accusing Israel of “barbaric destruction,” he vowed to seek justice, announcing that Lebanon would begin legal proceedings for war reparations.
European and Arab governments, as well as Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, and Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, lined up behind him and pushed hard for an immediate cessation of hostilities or even a truce on humanitarian grounds, several participants said.
But in a tense, sometimes stormy debate that went on for nearly an hour, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dug in, and prevailed.
Later, she defended the United States’ refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire, saying: “It doesn’t do anyone any good to raise false hopes about something that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen. I did say to the group, ‘When will we learn?’ The fields of the Middle East are littered with broken cease-fires.”
She said she expected that the issue would end up being resolved by the United Nations Security Council.
In a news conference after the talks, the normally placid Mr. Annan made no effort to control his rage at Israel for what he had called an “apparently deliberate targeting” of a United Nations observer post in southern Lebanon by Israel on Tuesday. Four observers were killed.
“Mr. Olmert definitely believes it was a mistake,” said Mr. Annan, referring to Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert. But despite at least 10 calls from United Nations personnel to Israel that their positions were being shelled, Mr. Annan added, “The shelling of the U.N. positions began early in the morning and carried on all day.”
He pledged a formal investigation.
Ms. Rice and Mr. Annan disagreed at the news conference on whether Syria and Iran should be brought into the effort to end the violence. Mr. Annan called for working “with the countries of the region to find a solution,” naming Iran and Syria as players; Ms. Rice, by contrast, said she was concerned about Iran’s role and calling on Syria to live up to its responsibilities, a reference to previous United Nations resolutions.
While the world has focused on the fighting in Lebanon, Israel has continued to shell Gaza. Most of those killed in Gaza on Wednesday were militants, but a mother and her two young daughters died when an artillery shell hit their home, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. A third young girl was also killed, and dozens of Palestinians were wounded.
In its campaign, which began as an effort to halt rocket attacks and intensified after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier last month, Israel has hit homes in residential areas where it believes weapons are stored, causing civilian casualties in some cases.
Israel says it has dropped leaflets, and even made phone calls to families in the area, warning them that they should leave because militants are operating in the area and that the Israeli military could carry out operations.
In southern Lebanon, Israel’s initial talk of breaking Hezbollah’s back has slowly given way to more limited goals as Israeli ground troops have bogged down just a few miles into the country. The latest talk is of creating a buffer zone just two kilometers, or about 1.2 miles, wide, which Israel said it could police from its side of the border.
“You can create a buffer zone, not only by being there, but by going in and out,” said Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, who is in charge the Israeli military’s ground forces.
Prime Minister Olmert briefed an Israeli parliamentary committee Wednesday on plans for the zone, according to participants in the closed session.

Craig S. Smith reported from Avivim for this article, and Helene Cooper from Rome. Greg Myre contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Elaine Sciolino from Paris.

Courtesy of http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/world/middleeast/27mideast.html?th&emc=th