Blair to 'bridge UN differences'
The PM has spoken to a number of world leaders in recent days about the Lebanon conflict
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Tuesday, 08, Aug 2006 10:31
Tony Blair is continuing diplomatic efforts to secure international support for a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Downing Street has confirmed.
The prime minister, who has delayed his annual holiday in the wake of the current crisis in the Middle East, telephoned world leaders yesterday in an attempt to bridge differences over a UN resolution aimed at halting fighting between Israel and the militant Lebanese group Hizbullah.
The UN security council has been forced to delay a vote on a draft proposed by the US and France after Lebanon rejected the resolution on the grounds that it does not call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from the country following a ceasefire.
Instead, Washington and Paris plan to table a second security council resolution that would allow an international peacekeeping force to take over from Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon once fighting in the region has ceased.
A spokeswoman for Number 10 said the prime minister believed the current proposals identified a "middle ground" that would allow for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon.
"We recognise the concerns on both sides. We are dealing with two countries that have deep-rooted differences," the spokeswoman said when asked about Lebanon's rejection of the draft UN resolution.
"The prime minister is working to bridge those differences," she added, stressing that Mr Blair was "committed to bringing about the earliest possible passage of a resolution".
Reports suggest that the prime minister's latest round of telephone diplomacy included talks with Lebanese premier Fouad Siniora and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
In recent days Mr Blair has also spoken to key international figures regarding the conflict, including Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, US president George Bush, French president Jacques Chirac and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Renewed diplomatic efforts by the prime minister to help resolve the conflict in Lebanon come amid growing criticism over the government's policy of joining with the US in failing to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
A survey of parliamentarians for the Ceasefire Today group, which is supported by aid agencies such as Oxfam and Christian Aid, found that 212 MPs - including 121 Labour representatives - backed an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, while just 22 supported the government's position on the conflict.
Meanwhile, UN diplomats have said that a vote on the draft UN resolution is now unlikely to take place before Wednesday.
Representatives from the Arab league will today urge the UN security
council to revise the peace plan currently under consideration in light of Lebanon's concerns.
The Lebanese government has offered to deploy 15,000 of its own troops in southern Lebanon if Israel withdraws its forces from the region immediately, but Mr Bush warned yesterday that he was not prepared to allow a "vacuum" to emerge which would allow Hizbullah guerrillas to rearm.