U.S. sees progress on Lebanon peacekeepers

updated 8:45 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration claimed progress Tuesday toward establishing an international peacekeeping force for Lebanon but said no quick cease-fire seemed likely in the 3-week-old war between Israel and Hezbollah.

In New York, United Nations officials announced that nations willing to contribute troops to a peacekeeping force would meet on Thursday. An earlier meeting scheduled for Monday was scrapped after France said there was no point talking about peacekeepers with the war continuing.

The Bush administration provided little detail about what progress might be occurring. The White House said an immediate halt to the bloody fighting "doesn't seem to be in the cards."

"Neither side is headed that way," said presidential spokesman Tony Snow. "What the president is working on and what our allies are working on are providing those conditions for a sustainable cease-fire."

Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers called for Israel and Hezbollah to agree to an “immediate cessation of hostilities” followed by international efforts to get agreement on a sustainable cease-fire.

Peres: Fighting may last ‘a matter of weeks’
Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said Israel was nearing a decisive point in battling Hezbollah. Asked how long the fighting might go on, Peres said, "I don't want to say but it's a matter of weeks. Maybe even less."

He said it took awhile for Israel's army to understand what it faced but "now they feel they're in control." Peres met at the White House with President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.

The administration credited France, Britain, the Lebanese government and other allies for cooperating with the United States at the U.N. Security Council and through diplomatic channels to make the new security force a reality.

Upbeat on prospects for a "stable and enduring" cease-fire, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "the diplomacy is moving ahead" and an agreement on how to end the fighting was possible within days, not weeks. "I think we are making progress," Rice said on PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We believe that we are going to be able to have some action in the Security Council in the coming days, and hopefully this week."

Annan announces meeting
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, after meeting with the U.S., British, French, Chinese and Russian ambassadors, urged governments debating Lebanon's future to put aside their differences to help solve the conflict.

Annan then announced the Thursday meeting of governments contributing peacekeeping troops, but late Tuesday a spokesman for France's U.N. mission said France still believes it is too early to talk about troops and will not attend.

The French spokesman, who refused to be identified by name because an official announcement was still forthcoming, said France's view remained unchanged from Monday. That day, France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said, "France is in favor of setting up an international force to implement a political settlement. It is important to have this political settlement before having the force deployed. So it is premature to have such a meeting."

Annan wants nations to lay the groundwork for a force, apparently so it can be deployed as quickly as possible once a political framework to end the fighting is settled.

"He did ask them to set those differences aside and move along quickly on the question of a mandate for the force and the formation of the force, and who's going to be able to give what and which countries will be able to contribute," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

Envoys acknowledge disagreements
Despite the meeting, diplomats acknowledge that sharp differences remain.

The United States objects to French proposals calling for creation of a multinational peacekeeping force and a new buffer zone empty of either Israeli troops or Hezbollah militants — but only after a halt in fighting. The U.S. wants any force to help the Lebanese army extend its authority throughout southern Lebanon, which is now under Hezbollah's control, and disarm the powerful militia.

While there is wide disagreement over whether to try to compel Israel to accept an immediate cease-fire — the United States supports Israel in taking more time to pummel Hezbollah arsenals — there is consensus building around a peacekeeping force that would be more potent than the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) created in 1978 with a weak mandate.

The Bush administration views a new force as useful in helping Lebanon gain control of its southern region, from which Hezbollah has fought a cross-border war with Israel.

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