WASHINGTON – World leaders yesterday launched frenetic talks on installing a multinational peacekeeping force – possibly led by NATO – in southern Lebanon, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rushed to the region for an emergency powwow with top-level officials from both sides.
U.N. Ambassador John Bolton indicated that the Bush administration was seriously considering the call for a multinational force to patrol a buffer zone in southern Lebanon along the Israeli border.
“We have been looking carefully at the possibility of a multinational force, perhaps authorized by the Security Council – but not a U.N.-helmeted force,” Bolton said.
Bolton said NATO forces could join the contingent.
“We’ll certainly take it seriously,” he said of the idea of using the security alliance, of which the U.S. is a member.
White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten said it wasn’t “anticipated” that U.S. ground forces would join an international force that could patrol the region.
Ambassador Bolton explained that the force had to fit within a “larger, long-term political solution” – and he notably didn’t push Israel to accept a cease-fire, something several world leaders have demanded.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said his country would be willing to see an international force move in on an interim basis – and wants NATO to take the lead.
“Israel’s goal is to see the Lebanese army deployed along the border with Israel, but we understand that we are talking about a weak army and that in the midterm period, Israel will have to accept a multinational force,” Peretz told his government’s Cabinet, suggesting NATO be in charge.
President Bush, returning from his Texas ranch, yesterday met with Rice, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, and other Saudi officials in the Oval Office just before his secretary of state jetted off to her Mideast task.
“We are requesting a cease-fire to allow for a cessation of hostilities,” Faisal said after the meeting. He gave Bush a letter from Saudi King Abdullah asking for the cease-fire.
Faisal said Bush was “very conscious of the destruction and the bloodshed” in Lebanon.
He said Bush’s commitment is “to see the cessation of hostilities. I have heard that from him personally, and that is why he is sending Ms. Rice to work out the details.”
Rice plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but won’t talk to Arab leaders until an international meeting in Rome.
Bolton urged Iran and Syria to “stay out of the internal affairs” of Lebanon and slammed the terror group Hezbollah for claiming to be a political party while lobbing missiles at Israel.
“Hezbollah has aspirations to be a political party in Lebanon, but political parties normally don’t have anti-ship cruise missiles,” Bolton said on “Fox News Sunday.”
But Bush hasn’t wavered in believing Israel “has a right to defend itself,” White House Chief of Staff Bolten said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He said “there shouldn’t be any surprise” that the U.S. is speeding up delivery of bombs and munitions to aid Israel’s military because Israel is a longtime ally. When the Middle East conflict broke out earlier this month, Bush told Arab leaders that the real culprit “is the militant wing of Hamas and Hezbollah,” according to a Newsweek reporter who was trailing the president.
Bush then told the magazine, “I view this as the forces of instability probing weakness. I think they’re testing resolve in many ways.”