Some 10,000 IDF infantry soldiers continue fighting in southern Lebanon, together with armored units, combat engineers and other specialized forces. Heavy battles raged Sunday morning, south of Tyre in southwestern Lebanon. The IDF forces destroyed rocket launchers, and some casualties have been reported. The IDF has been operating south of Tyre for the past two days.
Barrages of dozens of Katyusha rockets were fired this morning throughout the north, hitting various cities and causing ten deaths; see separate story.
The UN's Security Council convened Saturday night to consider a proposal reached following a compromise between the United States and France. The resolution, sent to the 15 Council members for their consideration, calls for a full, though not immediate, ceasefire. It specifically calls for Hizbullah to stop attacking Israel, while allowing Israel the right of response to Hizbullah offensives. The proposal also calls for the captive Israeli soldiers to be released, and for a resolution to the issue of Lebanese terrorist prisoners held by Israel.
Two important points are the following:
1. Though the UN previously declared that Israel had totally withdrawn from all of Lebanon, it now states that the Shab'a Farms area - which some elements in Lebanon still claim - must be resolved.
2. The UNIFIL force currently in Lebanon will remain there to supervise the fighting, but after the ceasefire takes effect, the UN Security Council will discuss the deployment of another peacekeeping force.
Other points in the proposal:
Sanctions will be placed on elements that transfer weapons to terrorists in Lebanon, Israel will give Lebanon maps of land mines that remain in southern Lebanon, Israel need not retreat at present, and resolution 1559 calling for the Lebanese Army to wrest control of southern Lebanon from Hizbullah must be implemented.
Israel has expressed mild satisfaction with the resolution, while Lebanon, Hizbullah and Iran - which started the war on July 12 with a kidnapping-and-Katyusha offensive against Israel - appear to be proportionately unhappy.
Reactions
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, called upon Prime Minister Olmert and his government to reject the ceasefire proposal.
Shteinitz said that accepting the proposal would create a dangerous precedent of "giving territory [the Shab'a Farms] in exchange for abducted soldiers." He also noted that the UN's proposal indicates its recognition of Hizbullah's right to continue to deploy missiles north of the Litani River, thus continuing to threaten Israel's citizenry.
MK Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the National Religious Party, said, "For Israel to agree to a ceasefire now would be interpreted as a loss in this war. We must not give in to this proposal before we achieving all our objectives as formulated by the government - especially the release of the kidnapped soldiers and the disarming of Hizbullah."
"We must break the pattern in which Hizbullah attacks and then Israel makes concessions," Orlev said. "We must prove to the Muslim world that the IDF has beaten Hizbullah, and that terrorism does not pay off."
Meir Indor, head of the Almagor Terrorist Victims Association, says:
"If the UN deal goes into effect, Nasrallah can be very happy with the way this round of fighting turned out: He receives the symbol of the Palestinian struggle - the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar [who took part in a terrorist murder of an Israeli family in 1979], the Shab'a Farms, the destruction of hundreds of Israeli homes, a million Jews forced to wander homeless for a month, and dozens of dead Israelis. All this, with just 1,000 terrorists - who, in the end, are not even disarmed. With achievements like this, the next round is just a matter of time."
As of early Sunday morning [before the Kfar Giladi attack - ed.], 45 soldiers have been killed in the war with Hizbullah, and 36 civilians - including 13 Arabs and Druze - have been felled by Hizbullah-fired Katyushas.
Israel's Air Force has carried out over 8,700 sorties over Lebanon since the beginning of the war 25 days ago, attacking more than 4,600 targets. The targets have included headquarters, buildings, bunkers, tunnel openings, arms stockhouses, Katyusha launchers, vehicles, bridges and launching areas.
Barrages of dozens of Katyusha rockets were fired this morning throughout the north, hitting various cities and causing ten deaths; see separate story.
The UN's Security Council convened Saturday night to consider a proposal reached following a compromise between the United States and France. The resolution, sent to the 15 Council members for their consideration, calls for a full, though not immediate, ceasefire. It specifically calls for Hizbullah to stop attacking Israel, while allowing Israel the right of response to Hizbullah offensives. The proposal also calls for the captive Israeli soldiers to be released, and for a resolution to the issue of Lebanese terrorist prisoners held by Israel.
Two important points are the following:
1. Though the UN previously declared that Israel had totally withdrawn from all of Lebanon, it now states that the Shab'a Farms area - which some elements in Lebanon still claim - must be resolved.
2. The UNIFIL force currently in Lebanon will remain there to supervise the fighting, but after the ceasefire takes effect, the UN Security Council will discuss the deployment of another peacekeeping force.
Other points in the proposal:
Sanctions will be placed on elements that transfer weapons to terrorists in Lebanon, Israel will give Lebanon maps of land mines that remain in southern Lebanon, Israel need not retreat at present, and resolution 1559 calling for the Lebanese Army to wrest control of southern Lebanon from Hizbullah must be implemented.
Israel has expressed mild satisfaction with the resolution, while Lebanon, Hizbullah and Iran - which started the war on July 12 with a kidnapping-and-Katyusha offensive against Israel - appear to be proportionately unhappy.
Reactions
MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, called upon Prime Minister Olmert and his government to reject the ceasefire proposal.
Shteinitz said that accepting the proposal would create a dangerous precedent of "giving territory [the Shab'a Farms] in exchange for abducted soldiers." He also noted that the UN's proposal indicates its recognition of Hizbullah's right to continue to deploy missiles north of the Litani River, thus continuing to threaten Israel's citizenry.
MK Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the National Religious Party, said, "For Israel to agree to a ceasefire now would be interpreted as a loss in this war. We must not give in to this proposal before we achieving all our objectives as formulated by the government - especially the release of the kidnapped soldiers and the disarming of Hizbullah."
"We must break the pattern in which Hizbullah attacks and then Israel makes concessions," Orlev said. "We must prove to the Muslim world that the IDF has beaten Hizbullah, and that terrorism does not pay off."
Meir Indor, head of the Almagor Terrorist Victims Association, says:
"If the UN deal goes into effect, Nasrallah can be very happy with the way this round of fighting turned out: He receives the symbol of the Palestinian struggle - the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar [who took part in a terrorist murder of an Israeli family in 1979], the Shab'a Farms, the destruction of hundreds of Israeli homes, a million Jews forced to wander homeless for a month, and dozens of dead Israelis. All this, with just 1,000 terrorists - who, in the end, are not even disarmed. With achievements like this, the next round is just a matter of time."
As of early Sunday morning [before the Kfar Giladi attack - ed.], 45 soldiers have been killed in the war with Hizbullah, and 36 civilians - including 13 Arabs and Druze - have been felled by Hizbullah-fired Katyushas.
Israel's Air Force has carried out over 8,700 sorties over Lebanon since the beginning of the war 25 days ago, attacking more than 4,600 targets. The targets have included headquarters, buildings, bunkers, tunnel openings, arms stockhouses, Katyusha launchers, vehicles, bridges and launching areas.