Glaring Omission in Rice Plan: IDF Hostages - News Analysis
22:05 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766
by Hana Levi Julian
U.S. Secretary of State continues to formulate plans for a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah terrorists, but there is one issue conspicuous in its absence: the fate of the IDF hostages.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that she believes it is possible to hammer out an “urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement” between Israel and Lebanon this week.
Israel is not at war with Lebanon, however, and Rice did not talk about a ceasefire between the Jewish state and the entity with which Israel is at war: the terrorist organization Hizbullah. The text of Rice’s remarks referred solely to an agreement between Israel, Lebanon and the international community.
“We will call for the United Nations Security Council action this week on a comprehensive settlement that includes three parts,” she said, a ceasefire, the political principles that provide for a long-term settlement and the authorization of an international force to support the Lebanese in keeping the peace.”
There was no direct reference to the terrorist organization which touched off the war by kidnapping two IDF soldiers while simultaneously attacking northern Israeli communities with Katyusha rockets on July 12th.
Rice made three oblique references to Hizbullah.
The first was that “armed groups must be prohibited in the areas where the international force is deployed,” which has not been the case for years. A UNIFIL post located right next to a Hizbullah stronghold was accidentally hit by a stray IDF shell during an attack on the village from which terrorists were firing rockets at northern Israeli communities. Four UNIFIL military observers were killed in the incident, which touched off a major diplomatic crisis.
The second reference contained the assertion that “no foreign forces will be allowed unless specifically authorized by the government of Lebanon.” However, the Iranian-backed Hizbullah terror group is officially represented in the Lebanese parliament.
U.S. President George Bush commented in a speech at the Port of Miami on Monday that “Iran must end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hizbullah. Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon.”
The third statement was that “Lebanon should, as assisted by the international community, disarm armed groups,” a requirement mandated by the Security Council’s Resolution 1559 in 2004 which has never been implemented.
The other glaring omission in Rice’s remarks was more ominous: she made no mention whatsoever of the two IDF soldiers who were kidnapped by Hizbullah. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has repeatedly said he will not agree to any ceasefire until the soldiers are returned to Israel and the terrorist group is disarmed and dismantled.
The parents of one of the hostages, Ehud Goldwasser, met on Monday with Olmert to urge him not to forget the soldiers who were taken captive. In an interview with Army Radio, Goldwasser’s father said Olmert was evasive about plans to rescue the soldiers.
“The Prime Minister did not give us a straight answer about this, but he left us with the impression that he would do everything he could to bring our children home,” he said.
Iin an address to the nation Monday evening, however, the Prime Minister emphasized that there would be no ceasefire until IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists on July 12th, and Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas terrorists in the south on June 25th, were returned to Israel safely.
Olmert had agreed late Sunday to a 48-hour suspension of Israel Air Force bombing attacks on terrorist targets in southern Lebanon, and a 24-hour window during which civilians could leave the war zone, a move negotiated by Rice in a two hour meeting with the Prime Minister.
Ground operations and air strikes continue nonetheless to be carried out against specific terrorist “targets that present a threat to Israel and its troops, including rocket launchers, vehicles transporting ammunition, Hizbullah fighters, weapons stores and Hizbullah assets.”. The Hizbullah “assets” include members of the organization, regardless of whether they were considered an immediate threat.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz was firm about his intent to continue operations against Israel’s attackers in the north. “We must not agree to a ceasefire that would be implemented immediately,” he said during Monday’s stormy Knesset session, “because then we will find ourselves in a few months in a similar situation.
Peretz advocated, during the emergency session, for continuing to expand and strengthen IDF operations against Hizbullah, as Arab MKs shouted insults. At one point, four Arab MKs were ejected from the meeting on the orders of Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik after one of them called Peretz a “war criminal” and a “child murderer”.
“We have to finish the operation, and I will do it,” Peretz asserted. “The army will expand and deepen its actions against Hizbullah.”
Peretz said he regretted the incident in which more than 50 Lebanese civilians, including more than 25 children, were killed after the IDF bombed a cluster of buildings it was believed housed weapons and ammunition.
“I am sorry about what happened in the village of Kana,” he said, “and we won’t hesitate to investigate an operation we carry out. But we aren’t doing it to look good in anyone else’s eyes.”
Bush maintained that Israel was "exercising its right to defend itself" against "Hizbullah's unprovoked attacks," and said that America mourned the deaths of innocents on both sides.
An inquiry into the incident is expected to be completed by Wednesday.