IRELAND: The US and the UK were now coming round to the belief that an immediate ceasefire had to be agreed in Lebanon, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has said.
Speaking after the Cabinet's meeting in Avondale House, Co Wicklow, Mr Ahern said he hoped for "significant moves in coming days", following talks at the United Nations and within the EU.
The Minister is due to attend a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels today. "I suspect that countries like the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic will be under very considerable pressure to come to an agreed statement by EU member-states for an immediate cessation of hostilities. I will be . . . strongly supporting other countries in that respect," he said.
Two weeks ago, Mr Ahern said that he had been "in the vanguard along with France and one or two others" in calling for an immediate end to the Israeli bombing and Hizbullah rocket attacks. The UK and the US, he said, had "made it quite clear that they were not calling for an immediate cessation".
"I think it is a big difficulty for the international community that they have not been able to speak with one voice for the immediate cessation of hostilities. Thankfully, it looks as if there will be some significant moves in this regard in the next few days," Mr Ahern said, adding that that he had instructed the Republic's UN ambassador to "robustly" call for a ceasefire. He hoped that the Israeli bombing of Qana would "bring people to their senses" and encourage those with influence to act.
"I have been forthright in saying that we do not agree with the stance taken by the UK and the US and other countries who have not been calling for an immediate ceasefire," he added. "But people should acknowledge that Hizbullah also has an important part to play in not having hostilities."
Syria and Iran, he said, would have to "put pressure on Hizbullah" to desist from firing rockets into Israel.
He continued: "I cannot say I am confident, but we do get the sense very strongly from our discussions that we do seem to be coming to a convergence of views that the sooner a ceasefire takes place the better. Even countries like the UK and US are now coming around to this view."
Both Mr Ahern and the Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, said that the Government would "carefully consider" any UN requests for Irish troops to join a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.