The Lebanese politician who represents Hezbollah has rejected outright the draft UN resolution for an end to hostilities.
Nabih Berri said Lebanon would not accept any terms that did not include a government plan calling for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli troops.
"Lebanon, all of Lebanon, rejects any talks or any draft resolution that does not include the seven-point government framework," Berri said at a news conference in Beirut.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora first offered the plan, later adopted by his Cabinet, during the Rome crisis summit July 26.
The seven-point proposal calls for a mutual release of prisoners held by Israeli and Hezbollah and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. It foresees the Lebanese government taking control of southern Lebanon with the help of an international force.
The U.S.-French proposal, which was expected to go to the floor of the U.N. Security Council early this week, calls for Hezbollah to stop all military operations and for Israel to stop its offensive drive against Lebanon. The proposal would allow Israel to strike back if Hezbollah were to break a cease-fire.
The draft resolution does not require an immediate Israeli withdrawal to its side of the common border.
"We always spoke about an immediate cease fire. We never spoke about ending military operations because this is in a way like legitimatizing the occupation, as if the war is being legitimatized," Berri said in fiery remarks before opening the floor to questions.
He said the U.S.-French draft resolution was fundamentally tilted in favor of Israel.
"If Israel has not won the war but still gets all this, what would have happened had they won" the war, Berri asked.
The central demand of the U.S.-French plan, agreed to after days of difficult negotiations, is "a full cessation of hostilities" under which Hezbollah must stop all attacks, and Israel must stop all offensive attacks. That's a victory for Israel because its military is not prohibited from defensive operations, a term that can be interpreted broadly.
Now we can see the duplicity of the terrorists. They have been demanding, practically whining for, a ceasefire. When one is offered, they reject it because it's different from all the ones in the past. This one doesn't give them the fiction that they won.
