Hezbollah negotiator rejects peace proposal

updated 3:22 p.m. ET July 24, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Hezbollah’s de facto negotiator, rejected proposals brought by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, insisting a cease-fire must precede any talks about resolving Hezbollah’s presence in the south, an official close to the speaker said.

An official close to parliament speaker Nabih Berri said his talks with Rice failed to “reach an agreement because Rice insisted on one full package to end the fighting.”

The package included a cease-fire, simultaneous with the deployment of the Lebanese army and an international force in south Lebanon and the removal of Hezbollah weapons from a buffer zone extending 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, said the official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

Berri rejected the package, proposing instead a two-phased plan. First would come a cease-fire and negotiations for a prisoner swap. Then an inter-Lebanese dialogue would work out a solution to the situation in south Lebanon, said the official.

Root cause of violence
The United States has insisted that no cease-fire can take place without dealing with what it calls the root cause of the violence — Hezbollah’s domination of the south along the Israeli border. Israel has rejected any halt in the fighting until two soldiers captured by the guerrillas are freed and the guerrillas are forced back.

The U.S. has said an international force might be necessary to help the Lebanese army move into the south. The central government has long refused to send the army in, insisting Hezbollah is a legitimate force and fearing that doing so would tear apart the country because of the guerrillas’s strength.

In her surprise visit to a battered Beirut, Rice met for about 45 minutes with Berri, an ally of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and considered friendly to Syria, which held political and military sway in Lebanon for decades before pulling out troops last year.

Berri is an influential figure in Lebanon’s complicated and factionalized political structure. Although the United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist group and has no dealings with it, Rice has met with Berri before. She could use her discussions with him to send an indirect message to Hezbollah, and to try applying pressure on Syria.

‘Backwards 50 years’
Rice also met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who told her that his government is looking to “put an end to the war that is being inflicted on Lebanon.” Bush administration officials have so far said that a cease-fire would be premature unless it addresses the threat Hezbollah fighters pose to Israel.

Rice’s talks with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora appeared to have been tense. Saniora told Rice that Israel’s bombardment was taking his country “backwards 50 years” and also called for a “swift cease-fire,” the prime minister’s office said.

In a sign of the differences between the United States and Lebanon, Saniora presented his own package for a permanent solution that contained long-standing Lebanese complaints that must be addressed before “Lebanese authority can be spread over all areas,” his office said.

It included a call for a “swift cease-fire.” Then would come an over-all solution guaranteeing the return of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, Israel’s withdrawal from the Chebaa Farms — a tiny border region that Lebanon claims — and the provision of minefields lain in south Lebanon during its 18-year occupation of the region.

Rice’s five-hour visit, which opened her trip to the Middle East, marked the first high-level U.S. diplomatic mission to the area since fighting erupted 13 days ago. Her stay was marked by tight security as motorcades whisked her through a pummeled capital city, passing cross streets that were blocked off by armed Lebanese security forces.

“Thank you for your courage and steadfastness,” Rice told Saniora after he greeted her with a kiss on both cheeks.

Rice arrived in Israel late Monday as darkness fell. She planned to meet with her Israeli counterpart, foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

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