Rice seeks deal on peacekeepers to end Lebanon war

Rice, in the region for a second time in a week on a trip that puts her reputation as a mediator on the line, said she hoped for agreement on conditions for a ceasefire to be outlined in a U.N. resolution that could be tabled as early as Tuesday.

"I expect the discussions to be difficult, but there will have to be give and take," Rice told reporters on Saturday. "I assume and have every reason to believe that leadership on both sides of this crisis would like to see it end."

At least 483 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in an offensive Israel launched after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Fifty-one Israelis, including 18 civilians, have died.

The fighting rages on despite the diplomacy. An Israeli air strike killed a woman and six children in the southern village of Nmeiriya on Saturday. Another strike also wounded two Indian soldiers with the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Hizbollah fired more than 90 rockets into northern Israel on Saturday and the guerrilla group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Rice in a televised speech of serving only Israel's interests.

Threatening to strike deeper into Israel, Nasrallah said: "There are many cities in central Israel which will come into target range ... if the barbaric aggression on our country and people continues."

The United States has faced mounting criticism across the world for not calling for an immediate ceasefire and for giving Israel an apparent green light to press on with its offensive.

President Bush blames the conflict on Hizbollah and its main allies, Syria and Iran.

"We must recognize that Lebanon is the latest flashpoint in a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Rice, who dined with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday evening, will meet Israel's foreign and defense ministers on Sunday morning and is expected to hold talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora later in her trip.

An Israeli political source said Rice did not pressure Olmert for an immediate ceasefire but did urge Israel not to attack Lebanon's infrastructure. They agreed Hizbollah must release the two Israeli soldiers as part of any deal.

Rice praised Siniora for securing an agreement with Hizbollah cabinet members in Lebanon to seek an immediate ceasefire that would include the disarming of militias.

Siniora says the main issues to be resolved include Israel's occupation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area, claimed by Lebanon, and its detention of Lebanese prisoners.

The Israeli political source said Rice and Olmert had not discussed Siniora's demands and that the size and composition of the international force to patrol southern Lebanon still had to be decided on, although France's participation looked certain.

In a softening of Israel's position that could help Rice get a deal, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Israel would not demand the peacekeepers immediately disarm Hizbollah. The Shi'ite guerrilla group would almost certainly reject this.

The official said Israel would demand peacekeepers keep Hizbollah away from the Israeli border and prevent the group from replenishing its stockpile of rockets from Syria and Iran.

An Israeli air strike cut Lebanon's main crossing point to Syria on Saturday.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called a meeting in New York on Monday to get troop contributions for an international force, which could be 15,000-20,000 strong, even though its mandate has yet to be set by the Security Council.

President Jacques Chirac of France, which has emerged as the potential leader of the force, said troops could not be sent until there was a ceasefire accompanied by a political deal.

The war has forced an estimated 750,000 people from their homes in Lebanon. Residents of mainly Shi'ite south Lebanon and southern Beirut have fled intense Israeli air strikes.

Israel dismissed a U.N. proposal for a three-day truce to aid civilians trapped by the fighting, saying it was already allowing aid shipments through its blockade of Lebanon.

Israel said its forces had killed around 70 to 80 Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon in the past few days. Hizbollah says only 31 of its fighters have died in the war.

/www.reuters.com/