MIDEAST: Israel Under Pressure for Ceasefire

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Peter Hirschberg

JERUSALEM, Jul 31 2006 (IPS) - Israel agreed to a 48-hour hiatus in aerial strikes in Lebanon Monday after its bombardment of a building in the south Lebanese village Qana killed 54 people, at least half of them children.

The bombing sparked intense international pressure for an end to Israel’s 18-day offensive against Hezbollah. In Jerusalem, officials estimated that a ceasefire could be in place by Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on her departure Monday from Jerusalem, said she believed a long-term ceasefire agreement could be reached this week, strengthening the sense that the fighting might be winding down.

“This morning, as I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week,” she told reporters.

Israeli officials confirmed in the early hours of Monday that the government had agreed to a 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes to investigate the events at Qana, and that a safe passage corridor would be coordinated with the United Nations so that civilians could leave south Lebanon. But government officials insisted that the hiatus – hammered out in a meeting late Sunday evening between Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – did not mean that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire.

“Absolutely not,” said Interior Minister Roni Bar-On, when asked whether Israel had agreed to halt its offensive against Hezbollah.

“I’m convinced that we won’t finish this war until it’s clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon,” said Justice Minister Haim Ramon. “This is what we are striving for.” Ending Israel’s offensive now, Ramon added, would amount to “a victory for Hezbollah” and “a victory for world terror, led by Iran and Syria,” who give backing to the Shia organisation.

Government officials said Monday that Israel would continue aerial strikes against rocket launchers in south Lebanon and would also target trucks carrying weapons and Hezbollah fighters. “If we identify (Hezbollah chief) Hassan Nasrallah, we will target him,” the Haaretz daily quoted a government source as saying.

But despite the public declarations, the working assumption in Israel was that the UN Security Council would declare a ceasefire on Friday and that it would take effect the following day. Until then, Rice will be spending her time trying to cobble together a deal based on deployment of an international force in Hezbollah-controlled south Lebanon to ensure that the Shia organisation is kept away from the border with Israel.

While Lebanon, with the backing of a large section of the international community, is calling for an immediate ceasefire, Israel and the United States still oppose an unconditional cessation of hostilities. Both Rice and Olmert have said this would reinstate the situation that existed on the eve of the fighting, when Hezbollah operated freely along the border with Israel.

“We must not agree to an immediate ceasefire,” Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz told parliament Monday. “If we do, the extremists will re-emerge and within a few months we will find ourselves in the same situation (as that which existed on the eve of the fighting).”

In the immediate aftermath of the Qana bombing, Olmert expressed “deep sorrow” over the civilian deaths, and government officials said there would be “an open investigation to find out how this happened.” Military chiefs said they were unaware that civilians were inside the building at the time of the air strikes on the village.

But Israeli leaders have pointed the finger of blame at Hezbollah, saying the Shia organisation was responsible for the civilian deaths because it has been firing rockets into Israel from among the civilian population. Defence Minister Amir Peretz accused Hezbollah of using Lebanese civilians as “human shields”.

Israeli leaders also emphasised that Hezbollah had fired almost 2,000 rockets at Israeli towns since the fighting erupted Jul. 12, killing 18 civilians, injuring hundreds and forcing Israelis into bomb shelters for more than two weeks.

Peretz told parliament Monday that when Hezbollah rockets killed eight workers at a railway depot in the northern city of Haifa, the organisation viewed it as an “operational success”, whereas Israel viewed the Qana killings as a “tragedy” that would be investigated.

In recent days, Olmert said, “hundreds of Katyushas have been fired at Israel” from Qana and its surroundings. Military officials also said they had repeatedly told civilians in south Lebanon to leave their homes and move north so that they would not be caught in the fighting.

With the majority of the Israeli public, as well as most politicians, still firmly supporting Olmert’s decision to launch a broad offensive against Hezbollah, most of the criticism has been voiced by the 10 Arab lawmakers in parliament. They repeatedly interrupted Peretz’s address to the plenum Monday, with one lawmaker calling him a “child murderer.”

In the wake of the Qana bombing, Jamal Zahalka, a lawmaker from the Balad party, said Israel had “declared war on the citizens of Lebanon, and the massacre in Qana is part of that. Those responsible have committed a war crime and should be tried in The Hague.”

Peretz told lawmakers that Israel would strengthen its assault on Hezbollah. Israeli ground forces were still operating Monday against Hezbollah positions about two or three kilometres inside Lebanon.

But the Qana bombing will likely drastically shorten the amount of time Israel has left to achieve what it said was the main aim of its operation – significantly weakening Hezbollah and ensuring it is forced away from the border.

Ten years ago, in the midst of another broad Israeli operation in south Lebanon, wayward Israeli artillery shells slammed into a UN base in Qana, killing over 100 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there. The deaths sparked international opprobrium and halted the Israeli offensive in its tracks. Ten years on, it seems, the deaths of large numbers of civilians in Qana will again halt the fighting.