Egyptian FM holds phone talks with Rice on Lebanon

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has held a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the latest developments in Lebanon and the need to halt Israel's military operations, the official MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alaa Al-Hadidi was quoted as saying that during the phone talks on Friday night, Abul Gheit called for a political settlement to the 25-day-old Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

According to the spokesman, Abul Gheit told Rice that this political settlement should include mechanisms to deal with all pending problems between Lebanon and Israel, such as the restoration of the disputed Shebaa Farms and the exchange of prisoners.

As for deployment of multinational forces in southern Lebanon, Abul Gheit said that it was important that any UN assignment should specify the role and nature of this force as a peacekeeping one working under the UN umbrella, not a force to impose peace. Abul Gheit also told Rice that such a force should be approved by all Lebanese parties to guarantee that a ceasefire would hold and that the proposed force would prove successful.

For her part, Rice told the Egyptian top diplomat that she would head for New York soon in order to prepare for the issuance of two UN Security Council resolutions on halting military operations in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the two sides also discussed a proposal jointly put forward by the U.S. and France to end the Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

Earlier on Thursday, Rice told CNN that a UN Security Council resolution for halting the Israel-Lebanon conflict was "close".

Under intense international pressure to stop the Mideast crisis, Washington and Paris had stepped up negotiations on a UN resolution that calls for an immediate cessation of the conflict and sets conditions for a lasting peace.

The two countries are also seeking for another UN Security Council resolution on setting up a multinational force to be deployed in southern Lebanon, which will be tasked with keeping peace on the Lebanese-Israeli borders, according to MENA.

The conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas erupted on July 12 when Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others during cross-border raids.

Lebanon said over 900 Lebanese were killed and 3,000 wounded in the violence. The 25 days of fighting has also killed over 70 Israelis.

Source: Xinhua