UN To Vote Today

The US and France have reached a compromise agreement on a ceasefire proposal. There will be a vote later today.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said the resolution would give a U.N. force in Lebanon an enhanced mandate to help coordinate the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops. But it would ultimately be deployed under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter — which Israel has previously opposed.

That decision was a key concession to Lebanon and Hezbollah. Israel wanted the force deployed under the Charter's Chapter 7, which would give the troops more robust rules of engagement.

An individual close to the Israeli government said there was a "good chance" it would accept the cease-fire proposal. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the government's high-stakes negotiations.

If confirmed, it would be a dramatic reversal of the position of the Israeli government, which ordered a massive ground invasion of southern Lebanon even as the U.N. deliberations went on.

"You'll find that the mandate for the force is very robust," Jones-Parry said.

Robust and France are not usually used in the same paragraph. Sometimes not in the whole book.