EU calls for end to war in Lebanon

UNITED NATIONS – The European Union’s 25 foreign ministers called Tuesday for an immediate cessation of hostilities in southern Lebanon and “expressed their readiness” to serve in a multinational peacekeeping force there once Israel and Hezbollah agree to halt their fighting and settle their political differences.

The agreement increased international pressure on the United States to press Israel for a halt to its military offensive. It also complicated U.S. diplomatic efforts to quickly stand up a multinational force under the mandate of the United Nations and carrying the authority to check Hezbollah’s ability to attack towns in northern Israel.

Instead, the EU accord lent support to a diplomatic initiative by France to delay sending such a large force to the region until there is greater certainty that a sustainable peace accord can be enforced.

The optimistic schedule outlined by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her weeklong diplomatic mission appeared to slip Tuesday, as White House and State Department officials engaged in intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy with France.

Still, senior U.S. officials said they were upbeat about the prospect for an agreement that could help end the violence in the region, and Rice said a cease-fire is still possible this week.

“This week is entirely possible,” she said on PBS’ “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” “Certainly we are talking about days, not weeks, before we are able to get a cease-fire. It’s time to end the violence.”

On the same program, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said it could take longer for Israel to end its operation to degrade Hezbollah’s military capacity. “I hope it will be a matter of weeks, not of months,” he said.

Earlier Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan pressed the United States, France and the three other permanent Security Council members to “put aside their differences” and reach agreement on a common approach, according to Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi. But diplomats said the meeting produced no agreement.

“We all know there are differences,” Fawzi said after the meeting. He said Annan is “knocking heads together to come up with ideas that would break the impasse.”

After the meeting, France threatened to boycott a U.N.-sponsored meeting scheduled for Thursday, at which countries would be asked to consider contributing peacekeeping troops. A French official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said France believes it is “premature” to discuss such a force until there is a political settlement of the crisis.

The key dispute between Washington and Paris has to do with the timing of the deployment and the sequence of actions. After the confrontation between U.S. and French troops and Shiite militants in 1983, when Hezbollah was in its infancy, the French do not want to deploy prematurely for fear of an even bloodier repeat, French envoys said.

Among the ideas under consideration to bridge the divide, according to U.S. and U.N. officials, is a call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the reinforcement of 2,000 U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon so that they can help ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance to Lebanese civilians. Israel, however, opposes any plans to expand the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, citing its failure to restrain Hezbollah attacks against Israel for more than two decades.

Once hostilities have ceased, the United Nations would broker a broad framework for a durable political settlement and sell it to the warring factions. The Security Council would authorize deploying a much larger international force – 10,000 to 20,000 troops – to southern Lebanon to help the Lebanese authorities implement a settlement.