Israel favourable to UN draft on Lebanon war

[cal04]

Israel views favourably a draft U.N. resolution calling for an end to the war in Lebanon but will insist that a ceasefire not allow Hizbollah to rearm, government officials and Israeli media said on Sunday.

The government has not formally commented on the draft Security Council resolution and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told ministers at a routine cabinet meeting not to speak about it until the document was finalised, a political source said.

But Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "What is important for Israel is the principle that ... a ceasefire must not allow Hizbollah to rearm, Hizbollah to regroup, Hizbollah to prepare again for another round of fighting."

The senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and local media noted that the draft allowed Israel to respond to Hizbollah guerrilla attacks once a truce took effect and did not order Israel to withdraw its 10,000 soldiers from southern Lebanon.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06196760.htm