THE ASSUMPTION by Israel and the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, that.he alone could resolve the conflict in southern Lebanon has angered Beirut and Damascus as well as the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette. Mr De Charette has been in the region for more than a week.
En route to Damascus late on Saturday, Mr Christopher told journalists on his plane that he would "give the European Union Presidency, the French and the Russians a call" when he had decided how to bring the crisis to an end. In the Syrian capital Mr Christopher met only the Syrian President, Mr Hafez al Assad, snubbing European envoys waiting there to consult him and ignoring their ceasefire proposal which has been accepted by Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Hizbullah.
Following yesterday's statement by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, that only the US could bring the conflict to a close, the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr Fares Bouez said Mr Peres "was slamming the door" on a solution. Mr De Charette, more diplomatically, said there were "many roads" to a solution. An official Lebanese source told The Irish Times that the "solid front" presented by Israel and the US could delay a ceasefire.
"The US is more concerned with trying to extricate Mr Peres from defeat and a public relations disaster than to bring about an end to this campaign," he said. Most Lebanese believe Israel has "lost" this battle in its protracted war with Lebanon, although they do, not yet feel Lebanon has won.
They reject the imposition of a solution by the perceived loser.
Frustration has been growing in the Arab world over the prosecution of Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" operation, particularly after the massacre of 101 innocent civilians at Qana on Thursday. Yesterday the militant Egyptian Gamaat Islamiyya announced it had killed 18 Greek tourists, believing them to be Israelis, to avenge Israel's attack on Lebanon.
Palestinians in Lebanon called the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, a "traitor" for meeting Mr Peres. Angry members of the Palestine National Council urged others to vote against removing references to the "destruction" of Israel from the PLO Charter. Opposition members in the Jordanian parliament demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in Amman and the rector of AlAzhar University in Cairo, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the spiritual head of one billion Sunni Muslims, criticised the "arrogant government of the US" for giving its "clear support" to Israel.
Summing up Arab feeling, a United Arab Emirates daily warned "Israel should think long and hard about the long term damage its campaign is doing."
