The UN Security Council passed the ceasefire agreement unanimously last night. There are a lot of conflicting interpretations of what that means for Israel and Hezbollah. The Washington Post reports the agreement as follows:
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 11 — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday that calls for a halt to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and authorizes the deployment of 15,000 foreign troops to help the Lebanese army take control of southern Lebanon.
The resolution calls on Israel to begin withdrawing all its forces from Lebanon "in parallel" with the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and 15,000 additional Lebanese troops. It gives the international force the mandate to use firepower but no explicit role in disarming Hezbollah, leaving the fate of the Lebanese militia to a future political settlement.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to accept the terms of the U.N. cease-fire, according to U.S. and U.N. diplomats. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will ask his cabinet to approve the resolution when it meets Sunday, according to Israeli officials. The Lebanese cabinet is scheduled to vote on it Saturday.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the cease-fire will not go into effect immediately. She said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will consult with Israel and Lebanon in the coming days to set a date for the cessation of hostilities.
"No one can expect an immediate end to all acts of violence," Rice said. She cautioned that "the conditions of a lasting peace must be nurtured over time."
The resolution provides the first significant hope for a gradual reduction in the violence — and potentially an end to the month-long conflict, which has killed more than 800 Lebanese and 122 Israelis. Fighting continued Friday, with Israeli warplanes strafing cars and trucks evacuating people from the town of Marjayoun, killing at least four people, and with Hezbollah firing 124 rockets into Israel but causing no casualties.
By a rational standard, Hezbollah lost the war that they started. They did not get any of the things they claimed they started hostilities over. Things in the Middle East are rarely, or possibly never, rational, however. I have seen a lot of people who say this ceasefire is a disaster for Israel. Some who say Hezbollah has won on the basis of increased prestige. Many, if not most, who think Olmert's political career is essentially finished.
I do know one thing. Israel got it's butt kicked in the propaganda war with the help of the Western press.
UPDATE: Donald Sensing wishes Olmert shalom.
Troops tripled. Peacekeepers and Isreal takes land and keeps it.
They won’t pay for the troops or reparations.