[WCUSP] Fw: United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah

Thu Jul 20 06:00:36 CDT 2006

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Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:00 PM
Subject: United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah


> United States to Israel: you have one more week to
> blast Hizbullah
>
> Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli
> and UK sources
>
> By Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Patrick Wintour
> The Guardian
> Wednesday July 19, 2006
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1823817,00.html
>
> The US is giving Israel a window of a week to
> inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in
> behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon,
> according to British, European and Israeli sources.
>
> The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked
> efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated
> at the UN security council, the G8 summit in St
> Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting
> in Brussels.
>
> "It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the
> green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed
> to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior
> European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources
> said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by
> fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of
> control.
>
> US strategy in allowing Israel this freedom for a
> limited period has several objectives, one of which is
> delivering a slap to Iran and Syria, who Washington
> claims are directing Hizbullah and Hamas militants from
> behind the scenes.
>
> George Bush last night said that he suspected Syria was
> trying to reassert its influence in Lebanon. Speaking
> in Washington, he said: "It's in our interest for Syria
> to stay out of Lebanon and for this government in
> Lebanon to succeed and survive. The root cause of the
> problem is Hizbullah and that problem needs to be
> addressed."
>
> Tony Blair yesterday swung behind the US position that
> Israel need not end the bombing until Hizbullah hands
> over captured prisoners and ends its rocket attacks.
> During a Commons statement, he resisted backbench
> demands that he call for a ceasefire.
>
> Echoing the US position, he told MPs: "Of course we all
> want violence to stop and stop immediately, but we
> recognise the only realistic way to achieve such a
> ceasefire is to address the underlying reasons why this
> violence has broken out."
>
> He also indicated it might take many months to agree
> the terms of a UN stabilisation force on the Lebanese
> border.
>
> After Mr Blair spoke, British officials privately
> acknowledged the US had given Israel a green light to
> continue bombing Lebanon until it believes Hizbullah's
> infrastructure has been destroyed.
>
> Washington's hands-off approach was underlined
> yesterday when it was confirmed that Condoleezza Rice,
> the US secretary of state, is delaying a visit to the
> region until she has met a special UN team. She is
> expected in the region on Friday, according to Dan
> Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the UN.
>
> The US is publicly denying any role in setting a
> timeframe for Israeli strikes. When asked whether the
> US was holding back diplomatically, Tony Snow, the
> White House's press spokesman, said yesterday: "No, no;
> the insinuation there is that there is active military
> planning, collaboration or collusion, between the
> United States and Israel - and there isn't ... the US
> has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts, issuing
> repeated calls for restrain,t but at the same time
> putting together an international consensus. You've got
> to remember who was responsible for this: Hizbullah ...
> It would be misleading to say the United States hasn't
> been engaged. We've been deeply engaged."
>
> Steven Cook, a specialist in US-Middle East policy at
> the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations,
> said: "It's abundantly clear [that US policy is] to
> give the Israelis the opportunity to strike a blow at
> Hizbullah ...
>
> "They have global reach, and prior to 9/11 they killed
> more Americans than any other group. But the Israelis
> are overplaying their hand."
>
> Israel is already laying the ground for negotiations.
> "We are beginning a diplomatic process alongside the
> military operation that will continue," said Tzipi
> Livni, Israel's foreign minister, yesterday. "The
> diplomatic process is not meant to shorten the window
> of time of the army's operation, but rather is meant to
> be an extension of it and to prevent a need for future
> military operations," she added.
>
> Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, said the
> offensive could end within a few weeks, adding that
> Israel needed time to complete "clear goals". Israeli
> officials said fighting could begin to wind down after
> the weekend, if Hizbullah stops firing rockets.
>
> A peace formula is also beginning to emerge: it
> includes an understanding on a future prisoner
> exchange, a deployment of the Lebanese army up to the
> Israeli border, a Hizbullah pullback, and the beefing
> up of an international monitoring force. For the first
> time, Ms Livni suggested Israel might accept such a
> force on a temporary basis.
>
> There were signs of differences of emphasis between the
> Foreign Office and Downing Street over the conflict.
>
> Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister, explicitly
> called for the US to rein in Israel. "I very much hope
> the Americans will be putting pressure on the Israelis
> to stop as quickly as possible." he told the BBC. "We
> understand the pressure the Israeli government is
> under, but we call on them to look very carefully at
> the pressure ordinary people are under in southern
> Lebanon and other parts of Lebanon too ... We want to
> stop this as quickly as possible".
>
> Israeli airstrikes killed 31 yesterday, including a
> family of nine in Aitaroun. More than 230 civilians in
> Lebanon have been killed in the past week.
>
> An Israeli man was killed by a Hizbullah rocket in
> Nahariya in northern Israel, bringing the total of
> Israeli civilian deaths to 13. The army said 50
> missiles were fired yesterday at northern Israel,
> injuring at least 14 people.
>
> Flashpoints
>
> Â· 31 Lebanese killed in Israeli air raids. Nine members
> of one family were killed and four wounded in a strike
> on their house in the village of Aitaroun. Five were
> killed in other strikes in the south and two in the
> Bekaa Valley. An attack on a Lebanese army barracks
> east of Beirut killed 11 soldiers and wounded 30. A
> truck carrying medical supplies was hit and its driver
> killed on the Beirut-Damascus highway. Hizbullah says
> one of its fighters was killed.
>
> Â· One man killed as he was walking to a bomb shelter in
> Nahariya, northern Israel. The army said Hizbullah
> fired 50 missiles, hitting the port and railway depot
> at Haifa, as well as the towns of Safed, Acre and
> Kiryat Shmona.
>
> Â· Hundreds evacuated from Beirut in helicopters and
> boats. HMS Gloucester arrives to start evacuation of
> Britons. The Orient Queen, a cruise ship capable of
> carrying 750, sets out from Cyprus, escorted by a US
> destroyer. Guardian Unlimited Â© Guardian Newspapers
> Limited 2006
>
> ____________________________________________
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