New UN resolution proposals fall short of Lebanese demands

The Lebanese government has maintained its position that the US-French draft Security  Council resolution must contain certain provisions that would ensure a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict, before it can agree to it..

France and the US have been struggling for days to reconcile their differences over the wording of the revised draft resolution after the first US-French draft was rejected by the Lebanese government as being without merit since it gave the Israelis even more than it asked for and left Lebanon’s demands unanswered. It was dismissed as being a complete surrender to the Israeli and American agenda.

Paris had wanted the new resolution to incorporate Lebanese demands that Israeli soldiers must leave as soon as fighting stops. and its major ally the want Israeli soldiers to be able to remain there until an international force arrives, fearing, they say, that Hezbollah could retake control of the border.

However, the Lebanese still find the amended resolution unsatisfactory for various reasons. .The Lebanese  Foreign Minister, Fawzi Salloukh, said the French-US proposals remained unsatisfactory because they failed to deliver an immediate ceasefire and were "vague" on Beirut‘s demand  for the withdrawal of Israeli forces. 

Salloukh said Beirut wants an immediate ceasefire, an  Israeli withdrawal to behind the Blue Line, the liberation of the  Shebaa Farms and the return of Lebanese displaced since the Israeli  offensive against began on July 12.

He added that there was "discrimination" even in the issue of  prisoners, the issue which supposedly sparked the Israeli offensive. Under the proposed drafts, the two Israeli soldiers captured by  Hezbollah would have to be freed, whereas "the issue of the Lebanese  prisoners should (merely) be dealt with quickly," he said.

t now appears that the ‘imminent breakthrough’ spoken of by French, English and American authorities is wishful thinking and not likely.

Meanwhile, Vitaly Churkin, ‘s UN ambassador, said the crisis in was too urgent to wait for the wording of a draft resolution on the withdrawal of Israeli troops and a permanent ceasefire to be agreed. They will propose their own resolution and cited the support of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, for the proposal that would urge diplomats to speed up their efforts to seek a political solution.

He said: "This diplomatic activity is not being conducted in a quiet academic environment. War is raging in and the humanitarian situation is getting catastrophic."