United Nations, July 22
Voicing serious concern over deteriorating situation in the Middle East following Israeli military offensive in Lebanon, India has asked all parties to eschew violence and return to the path of negotiations to save the region from a possible wider conflict.

Intervening in a debate on the situation in the Middle East, India’s UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen yesterday sharply criticised the Security Council for not taking action despite severe escalation in the conflict, a looming humanitarian crisis and “distinct” possibility of spillover of the conflict beyond the region.

“The international community needs to call for an immediate halt to hostilities on all sides, counsel utmost restraint, especially in the excessive use of force by Israel and urge return to dialogue,” he told the council members.

Strongly condemning both abduction of Israeli soldiers and “excessive and disproportionate” military retaliation by the Jewish state, Sen slammed Tel Aviv for targeting civilian infrastructure, including the Beirut airport.

The responsibility to protect women and children in an armed conflict has to be “real and not theoretical,” he said.

There can be no justification for targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, Mr Sen asserted, adding this merits “condemnation and was contrary to international law.” It was India’s firm conviction, he said, that lasting peace and security in the region, which was not only in the interest of countries of the region but also the whole world, could be achieved only through a peaceful dialogue and not through the use of force.

Mr Sen said an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire would be predicated on the return of captured Israeli soldiers, extension of the authority of the Government of Lebanon all over its territory and immediate measures to provide relief to the people and withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Mr Lebanese Government has been unable to assert authority in southern part of the country which is virtually controlled by Hezbollah which uses the region to fire rockets on Israel.

Mr Sen urged the council to act quickly to fulfil its charter responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.

His remarks came in the wake of the council’s failure to agree on any plan of action with the US insisting that release of kidnapped Israeli soldiers and end of terror against Israel by Hezbollah are the starting points of the peace process.

But several other members believe that what is needed is immediate ceasefire to avoid rising civilian casualties.

As a major contributor to peacekeeping missions in the region including UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Mr Sen said India was concerned about the conditions under which peacekeepers in the conflict zone were required to perform their duties.

SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday disagreed United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Lebanese leaders that a ceasefire was the best solution to the ongoing Israeli-Lebanon crisis. Miss Rice, who will travel to the Middle East for talks on Sunday, said a ceasefire “will be a false promise if it returns us to the status quo.”

Miss Rice branded Hezbollah the source of the problem in Lebanon and called for it to be disarmed. Speaking to reporters at the State Department in Washington, she said the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora “is a good and young democratic government, but the extremists of Hezbollah have put that government at risk and have brought misery to the region.”

“Any ceasefire cannot allow that condition to remain, because I can guarantee you, if you simply look for a ceasefire that acknowledges and freezes the status quo ante, we will be back here in six months again or in five months or in nine months or in a year, trying to get another ceasefire because Hezbollah will have decided yet again to try and to use southern Lebanon as a sanctuary to fire against Israel,” she said.

In New York, Vijay Nambiar, Mr. Annan's special political adviser, issued a report to the U.N.

Security Council on Friday after a trip to the Middle East. Mr. Nambiar, formerly India's permanent representative at the U.N., said a ceasefire is integral to easing the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and finding a political solution.

Israeli forces commenced their attacks in Lebanon on July 12 after Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others in a cross-border raid.

The United States has resisted international pressure to urge Israel to end its offensive in Lebanon which has killed at least 261 people and wounded about 600 so far.

Asked if she was concerned about Israeli preparations for a bigger ground offensive, Miss Rice said, “The Israelis have said that they have no desire to widen this conflict and I take them at their word that they have no desire to widen this conflict.”

Miss Rice said the United States is committed to ending the bloodshed, but not before certain conditions are met. The U.S. has said that Hezbollah must first free the two Israeli soldiers and stop firing missiles into Israel. “We do seek an end to the current violence, we seek it urgently. We also seek to address the root causes of that violence,” she said. "It is important to remember that the cause of the current violence was Hezbollah's illegal attack from Lebanese territory.”

Asked how much she hoped to accomplish given the fact that the United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist organisation and does not communicate with Syria, Miss Rice responded: “First of all, Syria knows what it needs to do, and Hezbollah is the source of the problem.”

Referring to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming and disbanding militias in Lebanon, she said: “It's now clear why 1559 anticipates a circumstance in which you cannot have people with one foot in politics and one foot in terror.” Hezbollah also provides social services in Lebanon, and its political wing holds seats in the Lebanese parliament. "It is unacceptable to have a situation where the decision of a terrorist group can drag an entire country, even an entire region, into violence,” Miss Rice said.

Miss Rice will be meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. She will also attend a meeting in Rome of Lebanese diplomats.

She described the ongoing violence as “the birth pangs of a new Middle East.”

Washington, July 22
Undercover government investigators purchased sensitive surplus military equipment such as launcher mounts for shoulder-fired missiles and guided missile radar test sets from a Defence Department contractor.

Much of the equipment could be useful to terrorists, according to a draft report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

In June, two GAO investigators spent $1.1 million on such equipment at two excess property warehouses. Their purchases included several types of body armour inserts used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, an all-band antenna used to track aircraft, and a digital signal converter used in naval surveillance.

“The body armour could be used by terrorists or other criminal activity,” noted the report. “Many of the other military items have weapons applications that would also be useful to terrorists.” Thousands of items that should have been destroyed were sold to the public, the report said. Much of the equipment was sold for pennies on the dollar.

The list included circuit cards used in computerised Navy systems, a cesium technology timing unit with global positioning capabilities, and 12 digital microcircuits used in F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft.