- BEIRUT (IPS) - U.S. secretary
of state Condoleezza Rice has come and gone, but the conflict in Lebanon
continues. Most Lebanese believe she had little to say for them through
her talks with leaders of the region.*
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- Rice held an unannounced meeting in Beirut Monday with
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, with the stated goal of ending the
ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
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- Rice is reported to have told Siniora that there could
be no ceasefire until Hezbollah released two Israeli soldiers captured
during an attack, and until Hezbollah withdraws from the Israeli border.
-
- Rice was also quoted as saying that the captured soldiers
must be released unconditionally, and Hezbollah forces moved at least 20km
back from the border.
-
- Hezbollah has dismissed both demands, and continues to
demand release of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners from
Israeli prisons.
-
- Siniora has repeatedly called for ceasefire since the
fighting began two weeks ago. He has said that a prisoner swap and an end
to Israeli occupation of the Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon would be
a better political solution. Shebaa Farms is a 30 sq km agricultural area
of mostly abandoned farms on the slopes of Mount Hermon at the junction
of Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
-
- Following Rice's visit to Beirut, the United States announced
a 30 million dollar aid package for Lebanon. Many here see this as crumbs
of aid, and no compensation for the position the United States is taking
in support of Israel.
-
- Tuesday afternoon and night, Israeli jets continued to
pound both southern Lebanon and the Dahaya district of southern Beirut.
Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into northern Israel, killing and
wounding civilians.
-
- Fierce fighting continues in the south between Israeli
soldiers and Hezbollah fighters, as the conflict enters its third week.
There appears to be no end in sight to the ongoing violence.
-
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters after
meeting Rice that Israel is determined to continue its military operations
in Lebanon. He said "severe measures" would be taken against
Hezbollah. "Israel is determined to continue on in the fight against
Hezbollah."
-
- Rice appeared to support this policy when she said that
while a ceasefire was needed, it could not come at any price. "It
is time for a new Middle East," she told reporters.
-
- Rice said that the terms of UN resolution 1559 and the
Taif Agreement, which ended the Lebanese civil war in 1990, must be met.
Both documents state that the Lebanese government should exercise full
control over its territory, and disarm militias, including Hezbollah.
-
- Hezbollah refuses to disarm, and refuses to withdraw
from the southern border to make way for an international peacekeeping
force. Several European Union countries have offered to assist in a UN
peacekeeping force on the border.
-
- Near the end of her short visit to Beirut, Rice told
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri that "the situation on the
border cannot return to what it was before Jul. 12."
-
- Berri, a Shia Muslim who has worked with both Siniora
and Hezbollah since the fighting erupted, dismissed her proposals, and
insisted that a ceasefire must precede any talks regarding Hezbollah's
presence in southern Lebanon.
-
- The sticking point seems to be what should come first.
Most leaders in the Lebanese government want a ceasefire first, and then
exchanges of prisoners, to be followed by discussions on other issues.
On the other hand, Israel wants Hezbollah -- which the Lebanese government
has little if any control over -- to leave the border area immediately
and free the captured soldiers without conditions.
-
- Rice was not able to shake either position through her
visit. And on the streets of Beirut, people had their own views about her
and her efforts.
-
- "The Prime Minister should never have received her,"
said Samer Razzouk, a 23-year-old information technology instructor. "Rice
is only another face of Israeli policy, and she has no interest in a peaceful
settlement."
-
- Several sizable demonstrations against her visit were
held around Beirut Monday.
-
- But she did have her supporters. "We think that
although it is a difficult solution she proposes, it is the best and final
solution for the Lebanon problem," said 50-year-old Nassan Hanin who
owns a stationery store in Beirut. "Hezbollah must return the soldiers,
and this will solve the problem."
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