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Annan asks Israel to end Lebanon blockade
BEIRUT (BBC) - United Nations chief Kofi Annan has called on Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon and urged Hezbollah to free two captured Israeli soldiers.
Speaking after talks in Beirut, he said he was working for an immediate end to the sea and air blockade and the troops should be handed over to the Red Cross.
Mr. Annan is on a regional tour to try to prop up the two-week-old ceasefire.
The secretary general said the truce had created a chance for a "long-term ceasefire and a long-term peace".
All sides in the conflict had to implement the UN resolution which brought an end to the fighting, he said.
Discussions also focused on the deployment and role of 15,000 UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Last week, the secretary general secured a pledge by EU countries to provide thousands of soldiers for the UN force.
The force was authorised under the UN-backed ceasefire which ended the four-week conflict earlier this month.
Blockade
Correspondents say Mr. Annan used the press conference to speak diplomatically about all the sensitive issues on the agenda of his talks in Beirut.
He praised Lebanon for respecting the ceasefire, and stressed that southern Lebanon must become an arms-free zone.
"In Lebanon, there should be - as we have all agreed - one law, one authority, one gun," he said.
Mr. Annan indicated that the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons should be resolved through national agreement inside Lebanon.
His comments came after talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Lebanese parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri.
Mr. Annan also met Hezbollah cabinet minister Mohammed Fneish, who is Lebanon’s energy minister.
The UN chief said "lots of work" remained to be done, but that the UN and international community were determined to work "very, very intensively" to ensure the resolution was implemented.
The role of the UN peacekeeping force and Israel’s continuing blockade of Lebanon’s ports and airports were also discussed between Mr. Annan and Mr. Siniora.
Prisoner swap
Following his visit to Lebanon, Annan will also travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Iran.
Siniora said he and Annan discussed the issue of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, as well as Shebaa Farms - territory held by Israel but claimed by Lebanon with Syria’s support.
On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said "contacts" had begun about a prisoner swap, possibly involving Italy and Berri.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=8/29/2006&Cat=2&Num=030
Forum posts
30 August 2006, 20:32
He should NOT be asking Israel BUT TELLING THEM!
30 August 2006, 23:43
Many years ago, Hannah Arendt provided the world with a succinct metaphor to describe how average Germans could have actively perpetrated and passively gone along with the Nazi killing machine, without disturbing the routine of their daily lives or challenging their sense of justice and morality. She called this mindset "The Banality Of Evil."
Without explicitly saying so, Haaretz columnist, Amira Hass has nonetheless rightly applied this metaphor to the majority of the people of Israel. What the rest of the world sees as the breathtaking horror of the oppression of the Palestinian and the war crimes perpetrated against the Lebanese people, these Israelis take as a matter of course. Their active and passive participation in another people`s nighmare has become the norm of their lives. But, like the German people learned, the bill will eventually come due and the Israelis will have to pay a heavy price for their actions and lack thereof.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/756413.html
31 August 2006, 06:38
What ever happened to the first Israeli soldier that was captured? I think his name was Gilhead.
Did I miss him being rescued or returned to Israel. The only talk nowadys seems to centre on the two that were captured in Lebanon. Anybody heard anything?