BBC NEWS - July 24, 2006
Israel has said it is prepared to accept a European peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon providing it is robust and has a strong mandate.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the announcement after his government met envoys from Germany, France and the UK.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives on Monday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
She said there was an "urgent" need for a ceasefire but that it was also vital that any such arrangement would last.
"It is very important to establish conditions under which a ceasefire can take place," she told reporters as she flew from Washington.
"It is important to have conditions that will make it also sustainable."
Nasrallah defiant
Israeli air strikes killed at least eight people in Lebanon on Sunday while rocket attacks on Israel by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah killed two people.
A senior United Nations envoy, Jan Egeland, has strongly condemned Israel`s bombing of Beirut.
An Italian UN military observer was wounded during fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
At least 362 Lebanese, many of them civilians, and 37 Israelis - about half of them civilians - have been killed since the violence erupted 13 days ago.
The crisis was triggered by the capture of two Israeli soldiers on 12 July by Hezbollah which is demanding a prisoner exchange with Israel. The Israelis withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000.
Israel has since vowed to destroy the group`s ability to launch rockets at its territory.
But Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon would not succeed.
"Any Israeli incursion will not have political results unless it achieves any of the announced goals, most importantly to stop the bombardment of Zionist settlements," he told As-Safir newspaper.
"I assure you that this will goal will not be achieved."
`Combat experience`
The Israeli prime minister has been making his position clear ahead of Ms Rice`s visit, the BBC`s Crispin Thorold reports from Jerusalem.
Ehud Olmert`s requirements include the enforcement of UN resolution 1559, which calls for the disarming of militias in Lebanon.
But Jerusalem now says that it also wants robust peacekeepers to take the place of Unifil, the largely toothless UN force in southern Lebanon, our correspondent says.
Mr Olmert said he was prepared to accept the deployment of European soldiers in southern Lebanon instead.
This could be a Nato force or a European Union one but the Israeli premier insists that any troops deployed must have combat experience.
They would have, he added, to control border crossings between Syria and Lebanon as well as supporting Lebanon`s own army.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier held talks with Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz on Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy visited Haifa, where he called for a ceasefire "which answers Israel`s legitimate aspiration to live in security and a ceasefire which preserves the state of Lebanon".
British foreign office minister Kim Howells also visited the city.
The Israelis are hinting at a more realistic assessment of what they can achieve through the application of brute force alone, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams reports from Jerusalem.
Senior political sources have told the BBC the government does not think its military operation will complete the task of disarming Hezbollah, and it believes it needs another week or 10 days in which to operate.
Saudi Arabia has urged Washington to press for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
`Disproportionate`
After visiting bomb-blasted suburbs of Beirut, Jan Egeland said the "disproportionate response" by Israel to Hezbollah`s actions was a "violation of international humanitarian law".
The UN`s emergency relief chief had arrived hours after another Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital as well as attacks on Sidon, a port city in crammed with refugees, and the Baalbek region.
Mr Egeland appealed for both sides to halt attacks and said UN supplies of humanitarian aid would begin to arrive in the next few days.
Israel has said it will lift its blockade on Beirut`s port to allow aid through.
Within hours of Mr Egeland leaving the suburbs, the bombing resumed with three huge blasts heard across the city, the BBC`s Christian Fraser reports from the scene.
