THE ISRAELI Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, yesterday said he wanted a written agreement in order to end Israel's air assault on Lebanon, which continued into its seventh day yesterday.
"We are aiming for a written document," said Mr Peres, adding that he was not interested in a verbal agreement like the set of US brokered understandings drawn up after a similar Israeli operation against the Hizbullah in 1993.
Israel wants guarantees that once hostilities end, Hizbullah guerillas will cease peppering towns in northern Israel with Katyusha rockets. But it also wants the Hizbullah to refrain from using Lebanese civilian settlements north of Israel's self imposed south Lebanon security zone as a launching pad for attacks on Israeli soldiers.
These conditions, the daily Ha'aretz newspaper reported yesterday, were part of a US ceasefire proposal which will include an Israeli pledge not to fire on civilian settlements in south Lebanon. But the paper also reported that the US was trying to broker a "quiet agreement" as well, to ensure calm across south Lebanon. The reason for this, sources in Israel suggest, was that Syria would not agree to a public set of understandings as this would imply recognition of Israel's presence in south Lebanon - which Damascus opposes strongly.
Touring the north yesterday, Mr Peres described Damascus as the "patron of Lebanon" and said Operation "Grapes of Wrath" was aimed at pressuring Syria and Lebanon into reining in the Hizbullah. "I think we have created this pressure," Mr Peres said.
But the Prime Minister also warned Israelis not to expect the military campaign to completely defuse the conflict on the country's northern border. "It's impossible to find a solution to all the problems through this operation," he said.
Ultimately, the Prime Minister said, there was "no alternative to peace" and no escape" from reaching a peace treaty with Syria and Lebanon.