LEBANON: Lebanese react to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's second visit to the Middle East in less than a week

Record ID: 1526230

  • Title: LEBANON: Lebanese react to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's second visit to the Middle East in less than a week
  • Date: 29th July 2006
  • Summary: NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2006 16:17
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5QDY7WXHMA18BZ48NXOA2DFKO
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Condoleezza Rice headed for Israel on Saturday (July 29) to discuss terms for a U.N. Security Council resolution to end its 18-day-old war with Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, but in downtown Beirut people were pessimistic.
    Rice, who visited Jerusalem and Beirut earlier in the week, will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the evening and hold more talks in Israel on Sunday (July 30). She will also hold talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who has been pleading for an immediate ceasefire.
    Mohammed Fawaz, who fled south Lebanon told Reuters Television, "What do we want from Rice? What use is Rice to us, she is coming to conspire on us or is she coming to press for the Israeli conditions, we don't need her. Let her stay at home, its better or she can stay with the Jews who are her friends and relatives. We don't want her to step her foot here."
    Washington has pledged $30 million to help Lebanon but America's attitude to the war has angered many Lebanese.
    "I am telling you she comes and destroys Lebanon and then leaves. She arrives, destroys, then leaves that is what we know, she came last time, did nothing and the situation worsened and nothing happened, it is going to happen again," said Mahmoud, who lives in Beirut.
    "(Her visit) is not effective because she comes and leaves without anything done, there is no result, as long as she has the dogs behind her who bite us and are against the Arabs and Lebanon. May they never succeed," added Yusof Haider, who also lives in the city.
    U.S. President George W. Bush told a news conference in Washington on Friday (July 28) that Rice's instructions were to work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable U.N. Security Council resolution that could be tabled next week.
    Bush, speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said an international force should be sent quickly to southern Lebanon.
    The two leaders did not call for an immediate ceasefire, saying a settlement must tackle Hizbollah's influence in Lebanon. Bush has said the Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas and their main allies Syria and Iran are to blame for the conflict.
    Hizbollah says it is fighting a U.S.-Israeli plan to wipe out all Israel's foes in the Middle East and has vowed to accept no "humiliating" terms to end the violence.
    International concern has mounted at civilian casualties in the war and at the humanitarian crisis it has caused in Lebanon.
    At least 462 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict erupted on July 12 when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
    Hizbollah, which wants to swap the soldiers for Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, has killed 51 Israelis, 18 of them civilians hit by rockets fired into the Jewish state.
    Rice has echoed Bush's stance that the root causes of the conflict -- meaning Hizbollah's armed presence in Lebanon and its ability to target Israel and retaliate to Israeli attacks -- must be dealt with before an effective truce can be secured.
    Siniora argues that the main problem is Israel's occupation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area claimed by Lebanon, its detention of Lebanese prisoners and its refusal to hand over maps of minefields it has sown in the south.
    U.S. officials said much diplomatic work remained and it was unclear whether a U.N. resolution would be ready by Monday (July 31).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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