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Rice Urges Quick Action On Mideast Resolution

August 6, 2006 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that a draft UN resolution on the Israel-Lebanon conflict should quickly end large-scale violence.

She urged the Security Council to vote by August 7 or 8 on the draft, which calls for a full cessation of hostilities.

But she warned this is only a "first step" towards lasting peace. Rice said she could not rule out that there could be skirmishes continuing between Israeli forces and Hizballah guerrillas "for some time."

The draft resolution was hammered out by the United States and France, and the text was publicized on August 5. However, senior Lebanese officials have already rejected it as inadequate, saying it would leave Israeli forces on Lebanese territory.

"The resolution does not anticipate and does not expect a complete Israeli withdrawal in the first phase, no," Rice said. "Because this is a resolution that ceases hostilities with forces in place, but requires that the major military operations, offensive military operations, the firing of rockets, the kind of violence that really is so hard on civilian populations -- that that's got to stop."

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem described the U.S.-French plan as "a recipe for the continuation of the war." Moallem is visiting Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders.

(compiled from agency reports)

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org