Word: romes
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...mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict for the past 25 years, is expressing displeasure with the Bush Administration's handling of the conflict in Lebanon. In written responses to questions from TIME, Mubarak said the emergency meeting with Arab envoys hosted by Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice in Rome Wednesday failed to halt the bloodshed. While not directly criticizing the White House's refusal to call for an immediate cessation of Israel's attacks on Lebanon, he complained that the crisis "could have been contained at its early stage" and demanded that the international community issue "a serious and urgent...
...will not solve Israel's problems with Hizballah. An immediate cease-fire is the utmost priority. Cessation of hostilities would create the environment conducive to addressing such problems in a candid manner. The bloodshed and the heavy toll of Israel's operations must be brought to an end. The Rome meeting of the International Core Group on Lebanon has failed to achieve this goal. The Security Council has a role to play and must discharge its responsibilities...
...international force is needed to pull Israel's chestnuts out of the fire, then those who would constitute it - along with Hizballah and its backers - would likely have a substantial say in determining the nature of the truce it would enforce. Indeed, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking in Rome, urged the inclusion of both Iran and Syria in the search for a deal to permanently end hostilities across the Israel-Lebanon border...
...There was substantial agreement in Rome, not surprisingly, on the need to send an international force to police southern Lebanon to allow for the Lebanese army to assume control of the border and for Hizballah to be disarmed. But how such that can be achieved remains highly contentious. Even if most of the international community wants an immediate cease-fire, it is powerless to effect one without the support of the U.S. - the only player capable of persuading Israel to call off its assault. Still, the way the military situation is evolving may actually give the Arabs and Europeans greater...
...Rome discussion produced no decisive response to the crisis, and the battle in Lebanon will continue to rage for some time yet. But it is becoming clear both on the battlefield and in the diplomatic arena that the U.S. and Israel are unlikely to achieve the knockout blow they'd hoped to deliver against Hizballah. The question that will be settled, both on the battlefield and in the chambers of diplomacy in the coming days, is which side will have to concede more in the cease-fire that will ultimately take shape...