France floats idea of Mideast resolution

UNITED NATIONS --France circulated ideas for possible inclusion in a U.N. resolution on the escalating Mideast conflict, including a cease-fire, condemnation of "extremist forces" and the possibility of a new international force.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere also suggested calling for the release of abducted Israeli soldiers and supporting Lebanese government efforts to assert authority in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began a week ago, but the U.N. Security Council has yet to take any action. Lebanon accused the United States of blocking even a statement calling for a cease-fire.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Washington wants to wait for briefings from a U.N. mission sent to the region to try to defuse the crisis. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has also been talking to world leaders and joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday in proposing a new stabilization force as a way to get hostilities to stop.

Annan and the three-member U.N. team are returning to New York on Wednesday and de La Sabliere said the secretary-general would brief the Security Council on Thursday.

"France still believes that, at the appropriate moment, the council should adopt a substantial resolution for a sustainable solution to the crisis," de La Sabliere said in a statement.

He said the ideas sent to Security Council members were "largely inspired" by the final communique of leaders of the Group of Eight major powers who met in St. Petersburg, Russia, last weekend.

The G-8's message reflected a significant swing of support toward Israel's argument that it has been acting in self-defense against Hezbollah rocket attacks and abductions.

It called for the release of the abducted soldiers, an end to the shelling of Israeli territory, a halt to Israeli military operations, and support for disarming Hezbollah and other militias.

Two key suggestions from the French were calling for "a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire" and expressing a willingness to examine the possibility of a reinforced international security presence.

Bolton said Tuesday that the Security Council should not start talking about sending a new international force to southern Lebanon until it knows how the conflict is going to be resolved.

"I think it's the cart before the horse to talk about applying force before we know what the overall military or political resolution is like to be," he told reporters.

Bolton's reluctance to sign on to the idea mirrored Israel's opposition to such a force.

He said council members also need to ask what would make a new multinational force different from the U.N. peacekeeping force that has been in southern Lebanon for 28 years, and whether a new force would strengthen the Lebanese armed forces so they could deploy throughout the country.

The 2,000-strong U.N. force monitors the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel, which is not an official border but was drawn by the United Nations to mark Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Its mandate is solely observation.

Bolton said the council should consider a multinational peacekeeping force like the one monitoring the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace deal which led to Israel's withdrawal from Sinai rather than a new U.N. peacekeeping force. Ten countries have troops in the Sinai force, including the U.S. and France.