UN divisions dash hopes for early Middle East vote

The draft calls for the creation of a buffer zone in south Lebanon. Picture / Reuters

UNITED NATIONS - Lebanon has asked the UN Security Council to call for a quick withdrawal of Israeli troops as part of a draft resolution seeking to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

The demand divided council members, dashing hopes for the resolution's approval as early as Monday, diplomats said.

"I think that means a vote on Tuesday is the more likely scenario," said one council diplomat.

Paris and Washington had hoped their resolution - which calls for "a full cessation of hostilities" but does not explicitly call for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon - could be adopted on Monday or Tuesday.

Some diplomats had pushed for a vote as early as Sunday evening as the fighting raged on.

But the council's five permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France - failed to reach agreement during a 90-minute meeting on whether to amend the text to meet Lebanon's concerns, diplomats said.

That prevented Paris and Washington from putting the draft into final form - a move that would have cleared the way for a Monday vote, the diplomats said.

During the closed-door meeting, China and Russia argued in favour of making the resolution more attractive to Lebanon to strengthen its support for the council's plan to end the conflict.

"Our concern was that the Lebanese government seems to be unhappy with the draft resolution," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters, adding that the full 15-nation Security Council would meet again on Monday morning New York time for further talks.

Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud presented Beirut's proposed amendments to the council on Sunday.

He did so hours after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said "all of Lebanon" rejected the draft resolution because it did not fully reflect the seven-point peace plan adopted by the Lebanese government, which includes Hizbollah ministers.

But Mahmoud stopped short of saying his government rejected the draft, saying only: "It is not implementable."

The text calls for a "full cessation of hostilities," based on "the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations," leaving Israel able to conduct military operations it sees as defensive.

It also asks Israel and Lebanon to approve the major elements of an eventual peace settlement, which would include creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of any military forces except Lebanese and UN-mandated troops.

In Jerusalem, senior government officials and Israeli media said Israel viewed the draft favourably, although the government has not formally commented on it.

The resolution would be the first of two the council expects to adopt to deal with the violence that erupted July 12 when Hizbollah guerrillas crossed over into northern Israel and seized two Israeli soldiers.

The second measure, which council diplomats said on Saturday would be expected in two to three weeks, would cover plans for a permanent peace deal and authorise deployment of an international force in southern Lebanon to enforce the truce.

But US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters in Crawford that the United States wanted a second resolution adopted in days rather than weeks, to help speed the deployment of international peacekeepers.

- REUTERS