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Rice sets return course to Middle East
By Stephen Collinson
AFP
KUALA LUMPUR
Petroleumworld.com 07 29 06
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice departed for the Middle East Saturday, wagering personal prestige on a bid to sign up Israel and Lebanon to a UN resolution aimed at sidelining Hezbollah.
Rice flew out of Malaysia where she had attended an Asian security forum and headed for Jerusalem -- just three days after she left the troubled region.
President George W. Bush formally announced her trip during a joint press conference at the White House with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"She will work with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability for both of their countries," Bush said.
"Her instructions are to work with Israel and Lebanon to ... come up with an acceptable UN Security Council resolution that we can table next week."
A State Department official said Rice was expected to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem, and could also see Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
There was no word on her remaining itinerary, or when she would return home.
"She will go where she needs to go to get progress," the official said, as crisis diplomacy picked up pace, with Blair announcing that world powers would meet at the United Nations Monday to discuss a possible multinational stabilization force for Lebanon.
Talks would concentrate on language making clear that the use of Lebanese territory to attack Israel was unacceptable, the need to disarm Hezbollah and the role an international security force would play in Lebanon.
The United States has made clear the ultimate deal to end the crisis would be between Israel and Lebanon, and not Hezbollah's "state within a state".
Critics however say the crisis will never be solved without direct US talks with Syria and Iran, which Washington accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.
As Bush and Blair confronted calls for an "immediate ceasefire" which both have rejected, and Rice plotted her new mission in Malaysia, the violence in Lebanon and Israel ratcheted up another notch.
Israeli planes blasted south Lebanon for the 17th day as Hezbollah launched a new type of missile at the Jewish state amid growing global calls for a ceasefire in the escalating conflict.
Rice earlier abruptly delayed her departure from Malaysia after members of her entourage had packed their bags, after consulting US envoys in the region and considering whether it was time to deploy the weight of her office.
US assistant secretary of state David Welch and assistant national security advisor Elliott Abrams travelled to Israel Thursday, after Rice headed to Asia from an international Lebanon crisis conference in Rome.
Rice's team meanwhile rejected a suggestion by Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon that the Rome conference, which did not result in a call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict, was an endorsement of Israeli action.
"Any such statement is outrageous," said Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman.
"The United States is sparing no efforts to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict," Ereli told reporters.
Ramon told Israeli army radio on Thursday that "in Rome we have in effect obtained the authorization to continue our operations until Hezbollah is no longer present in southern Lebanon".
Washington has rejected suggestions that its opposition to the idea of an "immediate" ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was motivated by a desire to permit Israel's military operations to go ahead.
The United States says it would be better to press for a ceasefire at the same time as solving the "root causes" of the conflict, to ensure fighting does not quickly erupt again.
Those causes according to Washington are Iranian and Syrian support for Hezbollah, and the fact that the militia has not been disarmed as required by UN resolutions and a peace deal that ended Lebanon's civil war.
It is also keen to bolster the Beirut government so it can exercise authority and sovereignty throughout the country and is pushing for a United Nations-mandated security force to be formed for Lebanon.
UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland said Friday that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched attacks against Hezbollah targets on July 12 after the capture of two of its soldiers.
AFP 29 0347 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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