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Analysis: Israel Halts Strikes, U.S. Now Seeks Ceasefire

Council on Foreign Relations

July 31, 2006
Prepared by: Esther Pan

Israel announced July 30 it would suspend air strikes on Lebanon for two days after a deadly strike on the village of Qana killed fifty-seven civilians, mostly women and children (WashPost). Despite the pledge, Israel's air force carried out raids in southern Lebanon in support of ground troops July 31, and Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Parliament Israel will expand its offensive in Lebanon (al-Jazeera). Lebanese bloggers and other observers note the terrible similarity to an Israeli air strike ten years ago in the same town that killed over 100 people (Guardian).

After a week of contentious meetings around the globe, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she believes a ceasefire is within reach this week (NYT). That will be no easy accomplishment, as any agreement will involve securing a UN Security Council resolution, gathering troops from reluctant nations to form an international security force to patrol southern Lebanon, and drafting an agreement that would reform Lebanese politics (Newsweek). And Rice is fighting world opinion that considers the United States—and to a lesser extent Britain—complicit in the violence for allowing the Israeli air strikes to continue for nearly three weeks. Robert Fisk captures the global outrage over the Qana attack in a furious column in the Independent, writing, "This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity—yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the 'pinpoint accuracy' it claims, this was also a war crime." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed for an immediate ceasefire, but U.S. opposition scuttled such a call (Reuters) in a July 30 resolution deploring the Qana attack. Many say Rice's diplomatic task will be even tougher, since the United States is seen as having lost its already shaky claim to being an honest broker in the region (CS Monitor).

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.