Special report: Israel-Lebanon
Conflicts [video
]
BEIJING, Aug. 7 -- Lebanon is urging the
UN Security Council to revise a draft resolution aimed at ending the fighting
between Israel and Hezbollah. The Lebanese government wants a full withdrawal of
Israeli forces, with UN peacekeepers taking over positions once hostilities
end.
Security Council diplomats have already gathered to go over
the draft ... with the US saying it wants voting to start as soon as possible.
The Lebanese government says the UN draft is not in
the country's interests.
They say Lebanese people will reject it, unless it
includes a better plan to stop the conflict.
"It's against Lebanon, and against peace. This'll
open the war again in Lebanon indefinitely. This'll lead Lebanon to internal
strife, and will also be impossible to implement."
The Lebanese government has drawn up an alternative
plan.
Their seven-point framework calls for an immediate
cease-fire ... and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops.
The proposal is one of the many suggested amendments
to the resolution that was circulated Saturday by the United States and France.
This earlier draft called for an end to hostilities
by Israel and Hezbollah, but made no mention of an Israeli withdrawal.
Security Council experts spent several hours on
Sunday going over the draft. And the general feeling is that it does not give
enough consideration to Lebanese concerns.
Qatar, the only Arab member of the council,
introduced a host of amendments, including Lebanon's call for an Israeli
withdrawal.
Other council members also proposed changes.
US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has urged
the Council to adopt the resolution. She has stressed it aims to stop
large-scale violence to allow a focus on the underlying problems in the
conflict.
"First of all, let me say that it's important that we
vote the resolution in the Security Council, and we expect that to happen in the
next day or two. And at that point, the international community will have put
forward its views on how this war can abate."
If passed, the resolution will be the first
international response to the crisis ... and will mean hope for an end to almost
a month's fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
The conflict has left more than six hundred dead.
It's also forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in Lebanon.
(Source: CCTV)
