The scene is reminiscent of the diplomatic confrontation that preceded the US invasion of Iraq. In a repeat of 2003, French President Jacques Chirac, who is fiercely interested in developments in Lebanon, is making a stand against George Bush on the conflict.
The 73-year-old is balking at the prospect of sending French troops under a UN flag into southern Lebanon unless the weapons can be silenced and a political solution found.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is saying that "the ideal" for France would be to proceed in three phases. After an immediate cessation of hostilities, a political agreement between Israel and Lebanon would ensure a lasting cease-fire.
Then, an international force of UN troops could be sent in. Douste-Blazy said France would be meeting the United Nations Security Council over the next few days to discuss the proposals. So far, French hesitancy has blocked the United Nations from holding meetings on the proposed peacekeeping force.
At the same time, Paris wants Iran included in the search for a solution - much to the chagrin of the Americans. France as a "nation leader" of the 20,000 soldier-strong UN force being considered, could send up to 5,000 soldiers. But Chirac would not want to send any soldiers questioning why they were there. "Washington and London want to plan such a mission quickly, without themselves having one soldier on the ground," one diplomat said.
With the US and Britain envisaging a strong force to disarm Hezbollah, Paris is reluctant to impose such a move on the Lebanese government. The US view was "contrary to our vision - we don't believe in a military solution, keeping Iraq in mind," warned Douste-Blazy.
Lebanese interests have long been very important to Chirac. The leftist Parisian Magazine, "Le Nouvel Observateur," has dubbed him "Lebanese Chirac", a man more popular in Beirut than along the Seine. One difference between the current diplomatic dilemma and Chirac's stance against the Iraq war is that Chirac does not have German support this time. An "embarrassment in Berlin" is how the Paris media are reporting the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has not called for an immediate cease-fire.
Paris's desire to have Iran included in a solution has also irked the US. Chirac has been proclaiming the Lebanese death toll more and more loudly while his Foreign Minister has met the Iranian Foreign Manuchehr Mottaki. In remarks made at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Douste-Blazy commented that Iran was a recognised country with "an important stabilising role in the region." All this in spite of Iran's nuclear programme and the assistance given to the Hezbollah militia by the Iranian government.
Chirac feared a US attack on Iran after the US mid-term elections in November, and that could have set the entire region ablaze, according to the Parisian magazine, "Le Canard Enchaine." Even from his holiday retreat and summer residence Fort Bregancon on the Cote d'Azur, Chirac is pulling diplomatic strings.
According to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and several government members, he now intends to send Minister for Health Xavier Bertrand on a "humanitarian aid mission" to Beirut. As far as the Lebanese force is concerned, Chirac must be ready to compromise. "The positions are getting closer to each other," was the view in Paris and the US was also beginning to speak of progress regarding the rift.
Perhaps a formula could be worked out, whereby there could be a cessation of hostilities before the deployment of the UN force. Whatever happens, the French would not want to appear to be "lackeys of the Americans, working for the Israeli Generals" as one Parisian diplomat put it.
WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE ADDS:
US-ISRAELI AIM: The sharp escalation of the attacks against Lebanon on Friday have made it abundantly clear that the objective of this US-Israeli war of aggression is to demolish Lebanon as an independent and sovereign country.
The war is aimed at transforming the country into an occupied territory controlled by the US and Israel, perhaps through the medium of a Nato "peacekeeping" force. The destruction of Lebanon is being carried out quite deliberately, and with very definite designs. For Israel, it is yet again a matter of annexation of more territory. And for Washington, it is the preparation of new and even bloodier wars, directed in the first instance against Syria and Iran.
The pretence that this war is being waged to defend Israel from terrorism or even to destroy the Shiite Hezbollah movement is belied by the Israeli bombing campaign that is now striking targets and claiming victims far from the Shiite centers of south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
With the US and Britain envisaging a strong force to disarm Hezbollah, Paris is reluctant to impose such a move on the Lebanese government. The US view was "contrary to our vision - we don't believe in a military solution, keeping Iraq in mind," warned Douste-Blazy.
In one of the worst atrocities since the war began, an Israeli air strike claimed the lives of over 33 farm workers, blown to pieces as they loaded plums and peaches onto trucks at a farm warehouse in the far north of the Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. At least another 20 people were wounded in the attack. Most of the victims were Syrian Kurds. They were taken across the border to Syrian hospitals, because previous bombing raids had demolished roads leading to hospitals in Lebanon itself.
This massacre of farm workers followed airstrikes that systematically demolished bridges on the main coastal highway linking Beirut and the Lebanese south to the northern half of the country. Marking the first major attacks on the predominantly Christian North, these attacks served to cut the country in two and to cut off the sole remaining lifeline for relief supplies from abroad.
At least five people were killed in these bombings, which were conducted during the morning rush hour, including motorists who were crushed to death as the bridges were bombed from beneath them.
In the south of Lebanon, near the Israeli border, yet another horror was reported on Friday, after Israeli airstrikes demolished two homes where civilians were apparently seeking refuge from the military offensive. According to Lebanese officials some 57 people were trapped beneath the rubble of the buildings, and it was unknown how many were dead and if there were survivors.
Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud issued a statement accusing Israel of waging a "war of starvation" against the Lebanese people. "It is an aggression that has exceeded Israel's declared objectives. Israel has now decided to destroy Lebanon," he said.
The effect of Friday's bombing of the key bridges linking the north and south of the country is to accelerate this destruction by cutting off the last route for aid entering the country.
The deliberate sabotaging of any attempts at relieving the suffering of the Lebanese people threatens to have catastrophic consequences. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that the contamination of drinking water due to the destruction of infrastructure and the cut-off of fuel supplies threatened south Lebanon and its displaced population in particular with the outbreak of deadly epidemics.
The experience of the last 40 years have demonstrated that Israel is a state without fixed borders. The momentum of each new war expands its control over new territory to meet its supposed security needs. In Lebanon, the Israeli state is pursuing the equivalent of what was referred to under Hitler's Third Reich as lebensraum-the killing or expulsion of populations viewed as inferior in order to repopulate their land.
For Washington, the Israeli offensive has a far broader significance. The destruction of Lebanon is seen as a stepping stone to the launching of new aggressive wars aimed at achieving "regime change" in Syria and Iran. The unconditional US support for Israel's criminal war against the Lebanese people is driven most fundamentally by US imperialism's strategic goal of establishing its undisputed domination of the Middle East and its oil wealth.
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