Nations Can't Agree on Peace ???, Rice Calls for 'New Middle East'se-Fire Plan,
European and Arab officials holding crisis talks on Lebanon failed to agree Wednesday on details for a cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, left, confers Wednesday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a meeting in Rome,Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, left, confers Wednesday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a meeting in Rome
failed to agree on details for a cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
Despite the failure to reach a common position on the details of how to pursue a cease-fire, the conference participants agreed to humanitarian aid for the country and to hold a donors' conference.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States favored urgently ending the fighting but said there cannot be a return to a "status quo" of political uncertainty and instability in Lebanon.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the solution to the Mideast crisis should involve Iran and Syria. He also called for the formation of a multinational force to help Lebanon assert its authority and implement U.N. resolutions that would disarm Hezbollah.

After listening to a dramatic appeal from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora for them to stop the killing, the officials said they had agreed on the need to deploy an international force under the aegis of the United Nations in southern Lebanon.

"Participants expressed their determination to work immediately to reach, with utmost urgency, a cease-fire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities. The cease-fire must be lasting, permanent and sustainable," Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said.

He said many of the participants in the meeting appealed for an immediate and unconditional truce.

The United States and Britain opposed the push for a quick cease-fire, saying any truce should ensure that Hezbollah no longer is a threat to Israel and should ensure a durable peace.

The foreign ministers and other senior officials from 15 nations, as well as Annan and representatives from the European Union and the World Bank, agreed on a declaration expressing "deep concern" for the high number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, where government officials say hundreds of people have been killed.

The officials called on Israel to exercise "utmost restraint" and deplored the destruction of infrastructure in the country.