Weeping Lebonan PM wants cease fire, but rejects one offered by UN

Haaretz:

Lebanon's prime minister, choking back tears, demanded a "quick and decisive cease-fire" Monday, as he and Arab foreign ministers on Monday pressed for changes in a U.S.-French peace plan aimed at ending nearly a month of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah.

His eyes brimming with tears as he spoke about the suffering of civilians, Siniora appealed to fellow Arab states to help a nation "stunned" by devastating Israel Defense Forces attacks. He said more than 40
civilians had been killed in an IAF strike Monday while sheltering from fighting in a southern village.

"It is imperative that the Israeli enemy stops its aggressive actions and withdraw immediately..., hand it [territory] over to international forces, exchange prisoners, and reveal land mine maps," he said.

Siniora earlier expressed a new willingness to quickly deploy Lebanese troops in the south to bring a halt in the fighting.

On Monday, France said it is studying a Lebanese counter-proposal to the UN draft resolution.

Siniora has backed the idea of swiftly moving in Lebanese troops, with the support of beefed-up UN forces, in order to ensure that thousands of Israel Defense Forces soldiers leave the south with any cease-fire, an aide to the prime minister said.

A previous Lebanese peace proposal called for deploying the Lebanese army in the south, but only after a cease-fire was reached and a set of political demands was met - including a release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel and steps toward resolving Lebanon's claims on a patch of border territory held by Israel for years.

But Siniora was backing a speeded-up deployment because the U.S.-French cease-fire plan - due to be voted on by the UN Security Council in the coming days - would leave IDF troops in south Lebanon after a halt in fighting. Hezbollah immediately rejected that as unacceptable, raising the likelihood of a continued escalation in the violence.

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So who is in charge, Lebanon or Hezballah? The very existance of Hezballah is at the heart of the problem and Lebanon does not appear up to the task of dealing with it. Perhaps it should quit pretending to be the government and just turn the country over to Hezballah and let them take the responsibility and the consequences for their disasterous decisions. Hezballah has taken actions that have resulted in the destruction of significant portions of Lebanon's infrastructure, yet because it is not the government it acts as if it has suffered no losses other than its fighters. Lebanon has to hold Hezballah responsible for repairing all this infrastructure as part of its taking control of the country.