Israel plans to keep blockade in place

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 A Hezbollah member wants Arab countries to break the blockade. JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel has no plans to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force takes up positions along the Syrian border and at Beirut's airport. Israeli officials said Olmert wasn't issuing an ultimatum. But the tough stance appeared to be an attempt to put pressure on the international community to send a powerful force willing to disarm Hezbollah, which fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel during 34 days of fighting. Olmert laid down his position in a meeting with U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, who is in the region to discuss implementation of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Diplomats are still trying to hammer out final details, including the peacekeeping force's precise responsibilities. "Olmert said deploying the force at border crossings to Syria and at the airport will allow the lifting of Israel's sea and air closure and contribute to the implementation" of the cease-fire, the prime minister's office said. Roed-Larsen said the security situation in Lebanon would remain "vulnerable" for the next two or three months, but he said Lebanon was working to secure its borders. He said he hopes the embargo will be lifted soon. An Aug. 11 Security Council resolution calls for a 15,000-member international force to monitor Lebanon's southern border with Israel and help the Lebanese army assert authority throughout the country. Border security Though the resolution does not explicitly call on the force to police the Syrian frontier, it says it should help Lebanon secure its borders and prevent arms from illicitly entering the country. Israel says Syria is a main supplier of weapons to Hezbollah, and officials said Israel was seeking assurances that arms do not reach the group again. The cease-fire resolution calls for a halt in arms transfers to the guerrillas, and a 2004 resolution requires the group to disarm. "The disarmament of Hezbollah is our main objective. As long as it is not disarmed, we will defend ourselves against their being rearmed," said Miri Eisin, a senior Israeli government official. "To do so, we're going to stop all of the routes that allow the supplies to arrive to Hezbollah — sea, air and land." Israel imposed the blockade shortly after the outbreak of fighting July 12. Since the cease-fire took hold, air traffic has largely been limited to aid flights and official delegations, while shipping is limited to relief efforts and vessels with prior authorization. Lebanese Labor Minister Tarrad Hamadeh, a member of Hezbollah, said Tuesday that Lebanon may ask Arab ships and airlines to break the Israeli blockade, a move that could lead to a broader conflict. Lebanese officials from rival factions have also criticized the blockage. "If Israel wants to attack, let them attack Arab ships and planes and let them shoulder the responsibility before the international community," Hamadeh said. Arab agreement to a blockade-running attempt was seen as unlikely, however. In an interview with The Associated Press, Roed-Larsen said the security situation in Lebanon would remain "vulnerable" in the coming months as the Lebanese army deploys in the south along the Israeli border and the beefed-up U.N. force arrives to help. Slow process "Until the Lebanese force is completely deployed and has asserted its full authority and until there is a robust peacekeeping force there and the necessary cooperation is established, there will be, up to a point, a security vacuum," he said. He also said Secretary-General Kofi Annan is working relentlessly to find countries willing to send peacekeepers to Lebanon but acknowledged the process was slow. Roed-Larsen said Annan is considering visiting the region himself. Roed-Larsen was joined by Vijay Nambiar, an adviser to Annan, who said efforts are continuing to secure the release of two Israelis captured by Hezbollah. Nambiar hinted that Israel might be warming to the idea of a prisoner swap — something it ruled out at the outset of the fighting. He said the idea had been raised with Israeli counterparts and it "may find some traction now." The July 12 cross-border kidnapping of the soldiers sparked the 34-day war. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.