US says agreement very close on Mideast deal -- Stanley's Humble Abode

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Date Posted: 12:26:21 08/11/06 Fri
Author: Stanley Levin
Subject: US says agreement very close on Mideast deal

US says agreement very close on Mideast deal

By Irwin Arieff and Evelyn Leopold 9 minutes ago

U.N. Security Council members were on the verge of a deal on Friday on a resolution aimed at halting the bloodshed in Lebanon and Israel and could vote by the end of the day, U.S. and British ambassadors said.

"We are now very, very close to agreement and our aspiration to have a vote at the end of the afternoon remains," said U.S. Ambassador John Bolton. His British counterpart, Emyr Jones Parry, agreed.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to New York in anticipation of a vote to end the five-week war and was set to meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the United Nations said.

Rice also met British Foreign Secretary Margaret Becker and French officials said Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was en route to the United Nations.

Franc's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabiere, said "it is likely," there would be a text on Friday.

Bolton, who had negotiated the text along with de la Sabliere, said the resolution still had to be shown and discussed "by a number of parties."

"But our feeling is, because of the importance of bringing this to closure, that if once again France and the United States and others can come together on a text, we can move forward expeditiously," Bolton told reporters.

Throughout Thursday, negotiators believed they had achieved a breakthrough. But they received a setback when Beirut rejected deployment of additional U.N. troops under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for the use of force rather than just self-defense.

Bolton and de la Sabliere worked late into the evening to work around using the term Chapter 7.

Meanwhile, Russia, impatient at the nonstop negotiations, introduced a council resolution calling for a 72-hour truce so humanitarian supplies could reach civilians suffering from the five-week war between Hizbollah militia and Israel.

More than 1,000 Lebanese and 121 Israelis have been killed. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has said he would not insist on a vote if the French-U.S. draft was completed.

The U.S.-French resolution has not yet been formally introduced to the 15-nation Security Council but Jones Parry said he hoped that members would waive the 24-hour rule and vote late on Friday.

ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL

The text calls for a "cessation of hostilities," but negotiations repeatedly stalled on the question of how and when Israeli troops would withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Lebanon had rejected an international force not under U.N. control while Israel, which has delayed plans to deploy more troops in Lebanon, insisted on a strong multinational force before it would withdraw.

The latest compromise proposal calls for a phased withdrawal by Israeli troops as the Lebanese army deploys in the south, controlled by Hizbollah. At the same time, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, would be reinforced by French and other troops, perhaps as many as 15,000.

As part of the deal, Hizbollah would pull out from south of the Litani River, 13 miles from the Israeli border.

Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, who has harshly criticized UNIFIL as ineffectual, told Israel's Channel 1 television the new U.N. force "will be completely different from the blue helmets we know today" and that "a number of European countries" have agreed to be part of the force.

As in earlier drafts, the resolution is expected to include an arms embargo on weapons flowing to militia in Lebanon except for the those ordered by the Beirut army and U.N. forces.

A second resolution is expected to follow within a month setting out terms for a permanent cease-fire, including the release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hizbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12 that sparked the conflict.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Verrinder at the United Nations, Sue Pleming in Washington)

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