President Bush yesterday defied world pressure and stood behind Israel’s refusal to agree to an immediate cease-fire, after Israeli bombs killed at least 54 people in the Lebanese town of Qana.
“We want there to be a long-lasting peace, one that is sustainable,” the president said in Miami.
“It is important to remember this crisis began with Hezbollah’s unprovoked terrorist attacks against Israel. Israel is exercising its right to defend itself. We mourn the loss of innocent life, both in Lebanon and Israel.”
Bush said the bombing in Qana was “awful,” and acknowledged “there’s been a lot of pressure on Israel to stop” – but he told Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto that’s not the solution.
“What we’ve got to do is put pressure on the world to help create the conditions so that when there’s a cease-fire, it lasts. Stopping for the sake of stopping is – can be – OK, except it won’t address the root cause of the problem,” Bush told Fox.
“The root cause of the problem is armed militias [like Hezbollah] firing rockets . . . [Qana] was awful. I understand that, but it’s also awful that a million Israelis are worried about rockets being fired from their neighbor to the north.”
Bush sought to put new pressure on the Hezbollah terrorist sponsors in Iran and Syria as he outlined the conditions that must be met to achieve a lasting peace.
“Iran must end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah. Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon,” Bush said.
Iran’s foreign minister was meeting his French counterpart in Beirut, where both were visiting – French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was important to keep contacts with Iran as part of settling the Lebanon crisis.
As America approaches the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Bush linked Israel’s struggle with the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah to the al Qaeda attacks against the United States as part of a larger struggle “between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror” in the Mideast.
“The terrorist activists of a Hezbollah or an al Qaeda or a militant Hamas are all linked . . . They may not be coordinating together but they have this kind of same attitude and same desire to stop the advance of democracy,” he said.
The president also hailed the just-passed U.N. Security Council resolution that threatens Iran with sanctions unless it halts it nuclear weapons push by Aug. 31, saying that shows “the world is coming together.”
Many analysts suggest Iran’s mullahs were happy for Hezbollah to kidnap two Israeli soldiers and trigger fighting across the Lebanese border as a distraction from the U.N. push against Iran’s nuclear dreams.
Bush was meeting last night in Washington with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who cut short her Mideast mission after Qana to discuss a possible U.N. Security Council resolution to deal with the crisis.
As she departed from Israel, Rice said, “I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent cease-fire and a lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week.”
Bush said the resolution must include a multinational force to be sent to southern Lebanon where Hezbollah is entrenched, return of the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers and extension of Lebanese authority over the south.
One key – and so far unresolved – question is whether a cease-fire would take hold once the U.N. resolution was passed or only after there was a strong multinational force in place to police it.
The United Nations was supposed to begin talks yesterday on creation of a multinational force that would be “robust” enough to cope with Hezbollah, but they were postponed. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said the delay is due to “airline schedules” and other meetings in Europe and has “zero political significance.”
Also yesterday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora demanded an “immediate” cease-fire and Israeli withdrawal, in an interview with ABC News, and said he believes that Hezbollah should be disarmed – but only “ultimately.”