World Leaders Cower Before U.S. Power

Diplomats Back Troops, but Not Cease-fire, for Mideast

By HELENE COOPER

07/27/06 "New York Times" -- --- ROME, July 26 — In the face of United States opposition, an international conference here today stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Lebanon crisis.

The conference instead adopted more nebulous language that reflected America’s desire to give Israel time to continue its bombardment of Hezbollah targets.

In a statement, diplomats from the United States, Europe, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia expressed their “determination to work immediately to reach with the utmost urgency a cease-fire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities.”

The diplomats also called for an international military force to be deployed in southern Lebanon under the auspices of the United Nations, after NATO members said their alliance was already overstretched. And they called for a regional conference, including Syria and Iran, to discuss security issues.

The release of the diplomats’ prepared statement was delayed by almost two hours by wrangling over its contents. The key sticking point was the phrase concerning a ceasefire, according to two European diplomats who were in the room.

Most of the officials in the room were seeking, at the very least, a phrase that said the group would “work towards an immediate ceasefire,” one of the diplomats said. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused, and won, he said.

“She insisted it say ‘work immediately to bring a ceasefire,’ not ‘work to bring an immediate ceasefire,’” the diplomat said. He said that the group argued about that for more than 30 minutes before ceding the point to the United States.

The change reflects the Bush administration’s view that the conflict will not be settled in a lasting way unless Israel is given the leeway to diminish Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

“This is a region that has had too many broken cease-fires,’’ Ms. Rice said at the conference’s conclusion.

Hanging over the discussion was the killing of four members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Tuesday by Israeli artillery. On Tuesday night, Israel called the incident a mistake but United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said it was “apparently” deliberate.

Asked about the incident today, Mr. Annan said that while he accepted the apology of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he wanted a separate U.N. investigation into the incident.

“Mr. Olmert definitely believes it was a mistake,” Mr. Annan said. But, he added, “the shelling of the U.N. positions began early in the morning, and carried on all day” despite repeated calls to the Israelis from the United Nations that the posit, which Mr. Annan said was “long established and clearly marked’’ was being shelled.

“You can imagine the anguish of the” U.N. peackeepers over the death of their colleagues, said a clearly angry Mr. Annan.

The observers were from Austria, Canada, Finland and China. In Beijing today, officials said that President Hu Jintao had condemned the killings and demanded an investigation and an immediate cease-fire, Reuters reported.

The conference here did not reach a decision on the makeup of an international force that would be sent to occupy southern Lebanon once a ceasefire package is reached, but did agree that the force would fall under U.N. auspices, and not NATO. European envoys said that France and Germany both balked at the idea of using NATO forces because of its commitments elsewhere.

Ms. Rice said that the prime purpose of the force will be to support the Lebanese government in disarming Hezbollah, a position that Lebanon’s prime minister, Fouad Siniora, said he supported.

While agreement was reached on the need for the international force and a follow-up conference on aid for repairing the damage done to Lebanon, perhaps the most stark aspects of the meeting were how isolated the United States appears, and the growing impatience, particularly in the Arab world, over the delay in calling for a ceasefire. While France and other European countries have delayed calling for an immediate ceasefire, in support of the U.S. position, some daylight is now starting to show between Europe and America.

A senior U.S. official denied that America stood alone on the issue, saying that “there was broad agreement in the room over the urgent need for a ceasefire.”

In Washington, White House Tony Snow rejected a suggestion that the United States had blocked a desire by the other nations at the conference to push for cease-fire.

“If the talks broke down, they wouldn’t have come out with a joint statement that showed they are knitted up on the key items,’’ he said, The Associated Press reported.

During the closed door session, diplomats said, Mr. Siniora gave a heartrending speech which left many in the room calling for immediate action.

“Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere?” Mr. Siniora asked. “Are we children of a lesser God? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?”

Mr. Siniora said Lebanese will begin “legal proceedings” against Israel, and appeared to accuse Israel of war crimes. He said he would “spare no avenue to make Israel compensate the Lebanese people for the barbaric destruction it has inflicted on us.”

He ended his remarks with a quote from the Roman historian Tacitus, which he said describes well what Israel is doing to Lebanon and the region today.

“They created a desolation and call it peace,” Mr. Siniora said.

Diplomats said there was visible emotion around the room after Mr. Siniora’s comments.

During her remarks after the conference, Ms. Rice acknowledged Mr. Siniora’s “very impassioned’’ speech, saying he had “put a human face’’ on the crisis.

While still pressing for an immediate halt to the fighting, Mr. Siniora in his remarks after the conference seemed to accept the prospect of negotiations over the conflict’s end. He said that as part of any negotiations, he would press several conditions first put forward by Hezbollah: that Israel withdraw from a disputed slice of border territory it continues to occupy, that it release Lebanese prisoners, and that it turn over a map showing the locations of land mines it placed in southern Lebanon.

Ms. Rice called on Syia and Iran to do more to rein in Hezbollah, and said that Mr. Annan had pledged to use his “good offices’’ to reach out to Damascus and Tehran. The United States has no diplomatic ties with Iran and limited representation in Syria.

She singled out Syria in particular as needing to take action to end the crisis.

After she spoke, the senior administration said that the crux of the matter for the United States is making sure that any ceasefire will last, and that Hezbollah won’t emerge after all still able to rain rockets down on Israel.

Exasperated, he said: “What’s a ceasefire?”

A reporter answered: “People stopping killing each other.”

“We’re for people stopping killing each other,” the official said. “but how do we do that? Do we do it by walking into a room and saying, ‘everybody stop?’ That’s what happened before. What’s going to make them stop?”

Helene Cooper reported for this article from Rome and John O’Neil from New York. Contributing reporting were: Greg Myre from Jerusalem, Jad Mouawad from Beirut, and Elaine Sciolino from Paris.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company