Downing Street Says » Middle East

» Thursday, September 14, 2006

Middle East

Asked if the Prime Minister took the same view as that of a junior FCO Minister that the approach to Lebanon had been a mistake, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that people should look at what Kim Howells had actually said. Mr. Howells had said that we were right not to call for a ceasefire, and that the only way to stop the fighting was for a UN resolution. Mr. Howells also said that he did not agree that a dual-track (i.e. calling for a ceasefire) would work have worked. We were very worried that a temporary ceasefire would have allowed Hizbollah to re-arm, and Israel to revitalise and to continue their plans. That, therefore, was consistent with the Prime Minister’s position. If people looked at the Amnesty report today on Hizbollah firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, it underlined the rational why we believed that calls for a unilateral ceasefire were simply rhetoric.

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