Rice battles to bring together Mideast foes

Condoleezza Rice

ROME - After two days of diplomatic shuffling between Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinians, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still looked far today from the "sustainable" end to hostilities that Washington wants.

Officials travelling with Rice, who arrived in Rome yesterday for an international meeting on Lebanon, have lowered expectations of a cease-fire deal emerging soon after the meeting in Italy where conditions for a cessation of violence will be discussed as well as the humanitarian crisis.

While Rice pressed on with diplomacy, the fighting raged after an apparent lull yesterday during her surprise visit to Lebanon. Israeli planes bombed south Beirut and Hizbollah rockets hit northern Israeli towns.

In a sign of how sensitive Rice's talks have been with leaders from Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian president, Rice has only read from prepared statements and refused to answer any questions about her efforts to stop fighting between Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and Israeli forces.

Aides say she wants to keep a low profile so as not to scupper chances of a diplomatic breakthrough.

Arab nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as many European countries want an immediate cease-fire but Washington argues it is better to wait for a "sustainable" deal than a hasty truce that breaks down before the ink is dry.

"It's not a question of delaying it (a cease-fire). We would like it to happen tomorrow if all the pieces were in place," said David Welch, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs.

"We feel some urgency about this, but the object here is to create conditions for a sustainable cease-fire," added Welch, speaking en route to Rome on Rice's plane.

Hizbollah is not represented at the conference and neither is Israel. Any cease-fire deal would have to be agreed by the Jewish state but Washington insists Syrian-backed Hizbollah does not need to be included and it says Lebanon's interests are represented by the anti-Syrian government of Fouad Siniora.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Siniora joined Rice for a private dinner in Rome today to discuss Lebanon but they declined comment on arrival at the hotel.

More than 400 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in two weeks of fighting that began with Hizbollah abducting two Israeli soldiers. The Israeli death toll is at least 42.

A key issue under discussion in Rome is the creation of an international force in southern Lebanon.

A senior official in the administration of US President George W. Bush said there was still no agreement over the size of such a force, how far it could go in disarming Hizbollah, who would be involved or whether it would be a NATO force.

After the Rome conference, Rice is scheduled to go to Malaysia to meet Asian ministers but she said she may return to the Middle East on her way home to Washington if it looks as if she can move the process forward.

- REUTERS