French President Jacques Chirac said on Wednesday that only dialogue could achieve peace and security in the Middle East, and called for an immediate end to the fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

Breaking off his vacation, he convened a cabinet meeting in the southern city of Toulon to discuss the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, according to French news channel TF1.

At a following news conference, the president called for respect for Lebanon's sovereignty, unity and stability, saying a French-U.S. resolution draft was a working base.

"Israel and Lebanon have responded and we have to take note of these responses and consider especially Lebanon's interests and its stability, its unity and its sovereignty, its independence," he said.

The draft was opposed by Lebanon and Arab nations, which said it failed to call for a withdrawal of some 10,000 Israeli troops from Lebanon's territory. France and the United States have said they would consider making changes to their draft UN resolution.

He welcomed a proposal by the Lebanese government to deploy a 15,000-strong Lebanese force in southern Lebanon, saying "it would allow the Lebanese government to exercise its sovereignty over its whole territory."

He revealed the possibility of the deployment of an international force "in one month for example,"in which France would be ready to take part, while noting the necessary priority of the "political agreement of the two parties so that each one could [receive] the guarantees that they have the right to [claim] ."

Chirac also warned that the Israel-Hezbollah conflict was a threat to the stability of the entire Middle East, while underlining France's efforts to try to reach a ceasefire and a sustainable solution to the crisis.

"Faced with this crisis, which threatens the stability of an entire region, France is fully mobilized... to secure a ceasefire and reach a durable settlement of this crisis," Chirac told reporters.

"Nothing will be solved by force. A political agreement is the key to reaching a solution," he said, describing the conflict as "a tragic succession of death, suffering and destruction... which each day brings new horrors."

He also said that it would be "immoral" for the international community to give up its efforts in seeking an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

Source: Xinhua