MIDDLE EAST: UN secretary general Kofi Annan arrived in Israel yesterday afternoon demanding that the government lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon. However, he is likely to come away empty-handed after meetings last night and this morning with Israeli leaders.
Mr Annan, who met last night with the parents of the two soldiers whose abduction by Hizbullah sparked the fighting on July 12th, also called for their swift release.
"We need to absolve the issue of the abducted soldiers very quickly," Mr Annan said during a visit earlier in the day with UN peacekeepers in Nakoura in south Lebanon. They are to serve as part of the international force to be deployed in the area to maintain a two-week-old ceasefire.
"We need to deal with the lifting of the embargo - sea, land and air - which for the Lebanese is a humiliation and an infringement on their sovereignty."
But Israeli leaders have said the blockade will not be lifted until a beefed-up UN force has been deployed along the Lebanon-Syria border to prevent arms being moved to Hizbullah from Syria. A spokeswoman for the government, Miri Eisen, said that Israel is "certain that if there is no serious force to stop [ smuggling], both Syria and Iran will continue to back, fund and arm Hizbullah in Lebanon."
Addressing members of the Unifil force in south Lebanon that is to be expanded to 15,000 troops according to a UN resolution that ended the fighting, Mr Annan said that the handover of south Lebanon from Israeli forces to international troops could be "done faster". He said he feared that if UN resolution 1701 was not fully implemented by Israel and Hizbullah, then "the risk is great for renewal of hostilities".
The UN chief met last night with Israeli defence minister Amir Peretz and is scheduled this morning to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Parents of the two captive soldiers, as well as the parents of another soldier being held captive by Palestinian militants in Gaza, said after meeting Mr Annan that he had not provided them with any new information but that he had given them a "personal pledge . . . to get the three kidnapped soldiers home".
Mr Olmert, meanwhile, encountered criticism yesterday from across the political spectrum over his decision to set up committees with only limited powers to investigate the government and the military handling of the month-long conflict with Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Lawmakers and protesters, who have gathered outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, have demanded the creation of a full state commission of inquiry into what they view as the government's gross mismanagement of the campaign in Lebanon. But Mr Olmert, aware that such a body could ultimately find him responsible for failures in the decision-making process, has come out against the idea, arguing that it would paralyse vital arms of the state, such as the military, for long periods.
Much of the criticism yesterday was voiced by members of the Labor Party, Mr Olmert's senior coalition partner. "There is a deep fracture between field command and senior command within the military, as well as between military leadership and state leadership," said Labour minister Eitan Cabel.
"This warrants a state committee of inquiry. I will vote against [ Mr Olmert's decision] and recommend that all Labour ministers do so."
Meanwhile, the Syrian and German foreign ministers discussed by telephone yesterday how the ceasefire in Lebanon could be shored up. Syria's Walid al-Moualem discussed with Frank-Walter Steinmeier how Middle East peace could emerge from the war in Lebanon, the Syrian state news agency said.
"The two sides agreed to keep up dialogue and mutual contacts, considering the constructive role Syria plays in stabilising the region," it said.