Rice calls for urgent, but enduring ceasefire
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today expressed concern about the suffering of “innocent people throughout the region”, but did not demand an immediate halt to Israeli-Lebanese fighting.
Rice reiterated her call for enduring Mideast truce, suggesting that the US is siding with Israel’s demand that Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas be neutralised before any halt in fighting.
The secretary spoke after a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
“I assured the president that we have great concerns about the suffering of innocent peoples throughout the region,” she said.
She said she briefed Abbas on Washington’s efforts to “bring about an urgent, but enduring ceasefire in Lebanon, one that can deal with the causes of extremism, and lead to the establishment of sovereignty for the Lebanese government throughout its territory”.
Israel has demanded that Hezbollah be disarmed and that the Lebanese army deploy on the Israeli-Lebanese border to prevent attacks by militants on Israel.
Abbas, meanwhile, renewed a call for an Israeli-Palestinian truce, following a month-long Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, launched to free a kidnapped Israeli soldier.
“We are exerting all our efforts to release the Israeli soldier,” Abbas said, adding that he hoped thousands of Palestinian prisoners would also be freed by Israel.
“Israeli aggression in the West Bank and Gaza Strip must stop immediately so we can strengthen the truce and start a political process that aims to end the occupation,” he said.
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