Rice Calls for Release of Israeli Soldiers, Urges Restraint
14 July 2006
Ambassador Bolton calls on Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah
Washington – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the abduction of Israeli soldiers is at the origin of the current crisis in the Middle East and called for their safe return in order to defuse the conflict.
“[I]t is extremely important that the abductions stop and that the soldiers be returned safely,” Rice told reporters during a July 13 press briefing in Germany.
Israel launched an assault on Gaza June 27 following rocket attacks on Israeli towns and the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit from an Israeli army post near the Gaza border. On July 12, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah showered rockets into northern Israel and abducted two soldiers near the border prompting Israeli forces to open a second front in Lebanon.
Rice reaffirmed the Bush administration’s position that Israel has a right to defend itself, saying, “[W]e would not ask of any country that it not take steps to stop the kind of rocket attacks that have been going on against Israel.”
Nevertheless, she called on Israel to exercise restraint as it acts in self-defense. She said she has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and urged them to “be concerned about civilian casualties, be concerned, of course, about civilian infrastructure.”
She said it is important for Israel to be mindful that its long-term security interests lie in the development of stable, democratic states in the region and that Israel should not act in such a way as to undermine the Road Map peace process with the Palestinians or the fragile democracy taking root in Lebanon.
“[I]t is, in the case of Lebanon, especially important that Israeli actions not undermine a new, fledgling democratic government, which obviously has its problems in that it has within it Hezbollah, which is the source of these attacks,” she said.
Rice urged the countries of the region to play a constructive role in defusing the crisis and praised Egyptian efforts to that end. She called on Syria to end its support for the terrorist activities of Hezbollah and Hamas and said Damascus should use its influence with those organizations to secure the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers.
The secretary gave her full support to the mission of the U.N. team sent by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to try to resolve the conflict, calling it “the best opportunity now for de-escalation of this crisis.”
She said the current crisis is a reflection of the problems that arise when groups seek to maintain one foot in politics and another in terrorism.
“Hamas is clearly not delivering a better life for the Palestinian people because they have one foot in terror. Hezbollah is not helping the Siniora government to deliver a better life for the [Lebanese] people because they have one foot in terror,” she said.
The secretary defended the U.S. veto of a July 13 U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its incursion into Gaza, saying, “The U.S. veto does not mean that we are unconcerned about this crisis in the Gaza. Obviously, we're very concerned about it… But it does not help to have a resolution that doesn't address in a concrete and useful way the origins of this crisis -- that is, the abduction and the rockets -- and it doesn't help to have a resolution that has inflammatory language about one of the parties.” (See related article.)
The Security Council met again July 14 to discuss Israel’s actions in Lebanon. At that meeting, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called Hezbollah’s July 12 incursion into Israel “a deliberate and premeditated provocation intended to undermine regional stability and … contrary to the interests of both the Lebanese and Israeli people.”
He said, “All militias in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, must disarm and disband immediately and the Lebanese government must extend and exercise its sole and exclusive control over all Lebanese territory.”
He said Syria and Iran must also be held accountable for their support of terrorism in the region, particularly their sponsorship and financial assistance to Hezbollah and Hamas. “No reckoning with Hezbollah will be adequate without a reckoning with its principal state sponsors of terror,” he said.
A transcript of the Rice press briefing is available on the State Department Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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