A difficult road ahead

It will be a tough mission ensuring that a UN Security Council resolution meets Lebanese concerns, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa tells Dina Ezzat from New York

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GATHERING RESISTANCE: An armed Palestinian militant jumps over the rubble of a destroyed house in Ein Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese port city of Sidon, 9 August. Israel bombed Ein Al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon, early Wednesday, killing at least two and wounding five. Palestinians in Ein Al-Hilweh opened their homes to displaced civilians of the south in solidarity and in resistance to Israeli violence

After attending the UN Security Council session on Lebanon in New York Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was sceptical over the Arab delegation's ability to substantially alter the language of the draft resolution on Lebanon so that it accommodates all the concerns of the Lebanese government.

"We have a lot of work to do. Many meetings. Many discussions and much negotiation. The situation is very complex. This is a tough mission -- there is no doubt about it," Moussa said as he left the hall of the UN Security Council and before meeting with Arab ambassadors to the UN.

"We have just started working; it is too early to say how far we can go but it is safe to say that the road ahead is rugged," he told the Weekly early yesterday morning.

Moussa, together with the Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jabr Al-Thani, UAE Foreign Minister Mohamed Ben Zayed and Lebanon's envoy Tarek Mitri, arrived in New York following Monday's Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut. Qatar is currently a member of the Security Council while the UAE chairs the Arab Ministerial Council. The high-level Arab delegation has a clear message to deliver: that the draft resolution should include a clear reference to an immediate ceasefire and unequivocal language on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon.

"What some parties want to do to this region will not work. We have to tell them that. They cannot twist the region around to serve the interests of one party at the expense of all other parties," Moussa said, adding that while Arabs "stand united" in their wish to see "an immediate end to the war on Lebanon" they are also "standing very firm" in support of the Lebanese consensus that the draft Security Council resolution on Lebanon cannot pass as it stands.

"Lebanon's concerns have to be accommodated one way or the other," says Moussa, who sees the current draft as being sufficiently booby-trapped to be little more than a potential recipe for disaster.

Moussa hopes that within "48 hours or so" progress will have been made in convincing the resolution's sponsors to include at least some of the changes "Lebanon, backed by all Arabs, believes necessary."

That said, the Arab League secretary-general does not exclude the possibility that it "might take longer" to introduce essential changes, especially a reference to Israeli withdrawal along with the ceasefire.

The Arab delegation is seeking to incorporate clear -- in some cases clearer -- language on the concurrent and mutual exchange of prisoners, on any future international UN- mandated force in south Lebanon, and that Shebaa Farms will be handed by Israel to the UN as a first step towards returning it back to Lebanon.

"We cannot say with any certainty that all these changes will be included... But it is safe to say that our words were heeded and that they prompted greater wisdom on the part of some, though not all, concerned parties," said Moussa.

As Moussa was speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly the French news Agency AFP was quoting the Permanent Representative of France to the UN Jean-Marc de la Sablière, as saying that his country is convinced that some changes will have to be included to accommodate the views of Lebanon and the Arab League. Hours later French President Jacques Chirac warned in a press statement that it would be "immoral" to renounce calls for an immediate truce. In an acknowledgement that Paris and Washington were now divided, Chirac said that "if we fail to agree we will have a Security Council debate during which each side will clearly reaffirm their positions, including France with its own resolution," AFP reported.

Reuters reports growing unease in Washington over the proposed changes and backtracking on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's earlier commitment that the Shebaa Farms should be included in any permanent settlement.

"There are some positive signs and some negative ones... it is our mission, tough as it might be, to work hard and long enough to push things in the right direction and ensure we have a ceasefire as soon as possible and on the best possible terms," said Moussa.

He believes the Lebanese government's declaration that it would deploy 15,000 troops in southern Lebanon as soon as Israel withdraws was a positive move for which the Arab delegation in New York is seeking support. "At this point the formula could be a good alternative for the presence of an international force in the south. As soon as the Israelis pull out the Lebanese can deploy. And UNIFIL, which is already stationed there, can play an important role. This could provide an acceptable solution."

But will the US and Israel be persuaded by such a security arrangement, or accept that it eliminates the need for the US- proposed international stabilising force?

"This is an issue to be discussed following the ceasefire. Each party will have to offer its views," said Moussa, adding that no international force can be deployed in southern Lebanon "in a de facto fashion" or without the consent of the Lebanese government. A second resolution on the situation in Lebanon, Moussa argued, would have to include the Lebanese point of view from the very first draft.

Yesterday afternoon the Israeli cabinet approved army plans to push deeper into Lebanon, sending an extra 30,000 ground troops to advance towards the Litani River, 30 kilometres from the border. Meanwhile international humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross, Mercy Corps and Médecins Sans Frontières, said that their attempts to bring relief to civilians were being systematically thwarted by Israel's refusal to allow any movement of aid convoys.

"This is a very serious situation. We are entering the fifth week of this Israeli aggression and one of the main reasons the situation has become so bad is because the UN Security Council, or at least some of its most influential members, have prevented the council from meeting its responsibility to maintain international peace and security," says Moussa. The motive, he added, was to give the aggressor "time and more time."

But have the Arabs moved too late? And what will happen if their mission fails to accommodate basic Lebanese demands?

While seeking not to antagonise any Arab capitals, the Arab League's secretary-general concedes that Arab initiatives need to acquire greater momentum and move rapidly into the fast lane.

"We have to keep in mind that there is an Arab summit on the horizon. I have been assigned by Arab governments to prepare for this summit," Moussa said.

The one thing about which he does sound confident is that a cessation of hostilities will not take too long to deliver, though most sources now agree that the long-awaited resolution should not be expected before next weekend.