Israel has expressed concern that some of the countries pledging troops for UN deployment in south Lebanon do not officially recognise the Jewish state's right to exist.
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman speaking at the UN Security Council meeting earlier today
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman said: "It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognise Israel and who have no diplomatic relations with Israel."
He said Israel would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries it has friendly relations with.
"But to expect countries who don't even recognise Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," he said.
Mr Gillerman was speaking after Indonesia and Malaysia, which do not recognise Israel, pledged troops for the UN deployment.
France today defended its decision to send only 200 additional troops to a UN peace keeping force in Lebanon, insisting it wanted a clearer mandate before committing more soldiers.
UN officials have openly expressed their disappointment that France hasn't dispatched a much larger force, but Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie dismissed any suggestions that Paris had let down its allies.
The French reticence stunned some UN officials after Paris played such a central role in drawing up last week's resolution to end the fighting in Lebanon and establish the new UN force.
During the negotiations France insisted that Unifil take charge of the peacekeeping, rejecting US suggestions that the operation should be separate from the United Nations.
The UN has received pledges of 3,500 troops for an expanded peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but it is unclear whether the soldiers represent the right mix of countries and units that could deploy quickly. Bangladesh made the largest offer of up to 2,000 troops.
Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown told a meeting of nearly 50 potential troop-contributing countries that at least 3,500 new troops were needed in south Lebanon within 10 days to expand the 2,000-strong UN force trying to help maintain an uneasy truce between Israel and Hizbullah militants.
The UN resolution that led to Monday's ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah after a brutal 34-day conflict authorised up to 15,000 UN peacekeepers to help 15,000 Lebanese troops extend their authority throughout south Lebanon, which Hizbullah controls, as Israeli troops withdraw.
The aim is to create a buffer zone free of Hizbullah fighters between the Litani River and the UN-drawn border, about 18 miles to the south.
More than 200,000 Lebanese refugees have returned to the shattered south without waiting for the Israelis to complete their pullout and despite unexploded munitions.
At least 1,110 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the conflict that erupted after Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12th.
A month of Israeli bombardment has inflicted a "disastrous" $3.6 billion worth of physical damage on Lebanon from which it could take years to recover, the country's reconstruction chief said today.
Hizbullah handed out bundles of cash today to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing, consolidating the Iranian-backed group's support among Lebanon's Shias and embarrassing the Beirut government.