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Your World Today

Qana Suffering; Israel Calls Bombing a Tragic Mistake; Israel, Hezbollah Fighting Devastates Bint Jbeil; Ehud Olmert Speaks

Aired July 31, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Physical and emotional devastation is about all that is left of Qana after Israel's deadly airstrikes. We have a live report from the Lebanese town.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Parts of the Arab world are rocked with anger and protests following the airstrike that left so many civilians and children dead.

SWEENEY: And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves a devastated Middle East with plans for a cease-fire but no guarantees.

Hello and welcome. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney in Haifa, Israel.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani in Beirut, Lebanon.

From Qana Lebanon, to Damascus, Syria, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, Lebanese civilians stream out of battered villages as Israel pledges to halt airstrikes for 48 hours but step up its action against Hezbollah. Here are the latest developments across the region.

Civilian and relief officials are taking advantage of Israel's promise to halt air attacks for 48 hours. As people leave, aid convoys are reaching some hard-hit areas for the first time.

Israel announced the pause after Sunday's deadly bombing in Qana but have carried out several strikes this day. After Hezbollah militants hit an Israeli tank, one of those strikes hit a car carrying Lebanese soldiers. Israel acknowledged the mistake but said it fired to protect its ground troops. Those forces are on the move again in south Lebanon making a new incursion. Hezbollah reportedly said it's fighting back in a heavy exchange of fire.

Israel's Defense minister, meantime, says the army has no intention of declaring a cease-fire any time soon. He says that would leave Hezbollah a threat, vowing Israel will "expand and strengthen" its offensive.

And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns home today from the Middle East, saying she's hopeful a lasting settlement can be reached at the U.N. this week -- Fionnuala.

SWEENEY: Well, the speech by Israel's defense minister proved to be a moment of high drama in the Knesset. Amir Peretz has made clear that Israel will not agree to an immediate cease-fire and has plans to expand its operation in Lebanon.

That was met with anger by Arab members in the parliament who demanded an immediate cease-fire. Peretz defended his call by placing blame elsewhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMIR PERETZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): I know how difficult it is to talk about morality when we have the pictures of children that have been killed on the front during the war. I know how difficult it is to talk about humanitarian gestures when pictures of hundreds of thousands of refugees moving from south to north fill the television screens.

But let us ask courageously, who is responsible for this? How did we reach this situation?

The Arab Knesset are shouting, "You, you are responsible!"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, some Lebanese officials say blaming Hezbollah for the civilian deaths in Lebanon is unacceptable and morally outrageous.

Mohamad Chatah is a senior advisor to the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and he reiterated on our air his call for an immediate cease-fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMAD CHATAH, SR. ADVISER TO LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER: We don't believe in cease-fires like this one. It's either a complete cease- fire or it's a recipe for accidents like this one. I mean, a few days ago, we had an accident that killed 60 civilians, and this morning we had an "accident" that killed a soldier and injured three others, a Lebanese soldier.

This is insane. The firing should stop. It should be a complete cease-fire and work should be to make the cease-fire last.

And we do have a plan for this. And we should all be focused on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Well, the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil was the scene of fierce fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces last week. The city is now in ruins. Most of the residents have fled.

CNN's Karl Penhaul visited the town and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is downtown Bint Jbeil, or at least what's left of it. This was the scene of the some of the heaviest combat. For their part, the Israeli military say they fought Hezbollah guerrillas here hand to hand, door to door, window to window. But I've also talked to a member of the Hezbollah militia, and he says there were no running gun battles in downtown. He says there were no Hezbollah fighters here in town, though he does say around Hezbollah fighters were stationed in the hills around about.

I've also talked this morning to a doctor who remained in Bint Jbeil hospital through the thick of the fighting. He said it was so intense at one stage, he counted 300 Israeli artillery shells falling on the town in the space of just half an hour.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Bint Jbeil, south Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, in the city of Qana, an eery quiet has descended on the town there. Businesses are closed, many homes have been reduced to rubble a day after that Israeli airstrike that killed 52 -- 54 people.

Our Ben Wedeman is in southern Lebanon and he filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Nazi al-Shahub (ph) is packing up, moving out while her cousin Hazwa (ph) weeps for the two sisters and brother she lost in Sunday's attack. She's leaving for nearby Tyre with what she can carry as an Israeli drone buzzes over head.

Her kitchen looks out over the ruins of the house where her relatives took shelter and died. But she hasn't lost faith in Hezbollah.

"We're all with Hezbollah," she says. "I don't deny it." But everyone we spoke to denied Hezbollah fired rockets from here.

"Is this a military base" asks Jamal Shahub (ph). "Go ahead," his uncle Salim (ph) tells me. "Search the entire neighborhood. If you find a single bullet, then I'll tell you Israel was right."

Qana is or was a typical southern Lebanese village composed of farmers, shopkeepers, bureaucrats, old people who had made their fortune aboard and returned home to retire. But normal life in Qana has come to a screeching halt.

The village largely abandoned, pets left behind. This dog forgotten, locked up in a garage.

(on camera): This is the home of one of the Shahub (ph) families. The Shahubs (ph) are a large, extended family here in Qana. Several of them died in Sunday's bombing.

Now, they clearly left this house in a hurry. The freezer, the fridge are full of rotting food. (voice over): Tobacco farmer Ghazi Aidibi (ph) is staying. His only company a pair of kittens. He says he'll be sleeping in the village's only purpose-built bomb shelter dating back to the 1980s. He'll stay there until peace returns to Qana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And Hala, we have just received some news. We're hearing from Al Manar television, which is a television station of Hezbollah, that Hezbollah is claiming to have hit an Israeli warship off the coast of Tyre. We are in Tyre, I must point out, and I have not seen or heard anything. But That's what Hezbollah's TV's reporting -- Hala.

SWEENEY: Ben, it's actually Fionnuala in Haifa right now.

Can I ask you about the just general overall situation there in terms of this 24-hour corridor for people to leave southern Lebanon? Is that picking taken advantage of?

WEDEMAN: Some people are taking advantage of it. When we were coming back from Qana, there's a fair amount of traffic on the road. There were people waiting in the streets with bags for cars to pick them up. So, people realize that this may be their last chance, their last window of opportunity, so to speak, to leave south Lebanon. But there's also something else we need to keep in mind.

Some of the people we see around here, the women -- because there's often not a lot of young men visible -- some of them are wives who are staying behind to take care of their husbands who are fighters in Hezbollah. So, we don't expect the entire southern part of Lebanon to be evacuated. There are those who are going to stay on no matter what -- Fionnuala.

SWEENEY: All right. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Tyre, in south Lebanon.

Well, Israel's deadly attack on Qana has sparked protests around the world. In Iran, thousands of demonstrators carried banners and chanted slogans in support of Hezbollah. And in Syria, too, they chanted anti-Israel slogans condemning the strikes.

Aneesh Raman reports from Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The attack on Qana, Lebanon, has sparked further anger in the Arab world. Here in Damascus, just a short time ago, where I stand, there was a remarkably small, though, group of protesters, just a couple of hundred of them who carried coffins to symbolize the children killed in the Qana attack, as well as posters with pictures of those that were injured and those that were killed.

Yesterday, as well, in the Syrian capital, protesters took to the streets with the flags of Hezbollah. Also, children wearing T-shirts with the picture of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of that organization.

In Tehran, Iran, several hundred protesters reportedly took to the streets, many women. Again, protesting the attack on Qana.

The people here lay no blame to Hezbollah. I have asked them repeatedly if they feel that Hezbollah is part of this crisis. Instead, they say Hezbollah is a legitimate resistance movement and that what happened in Qana was just a stark illustration of what has been happening in Lebanon from the beginning.

There were protests as well here in Damascus outside the U.N. office. They say the U.N. is doing little to stop what is taking place in Lebanon. They say the world, as well, is watching with a blind eye and that Arab leaders are essentially silent.

So, we are seeing a growing bond within anger between the people of Syria, the people of Iran, and as we've seen as well, a growing bond between their governments amid this ongoing crisis.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Damascus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: Well, Iran is dealing with an international debate of its own concerning its nuclear weapons program. The U.N. Security Council has voted to warn Iran that sanctions could be coming if Tehran doesn't give up uranium enrichment by the end of August. Some see it as a positive step.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: We hope this resolution will demonstrate to Iran that the best way to end its international isolation is to simply give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: But lobbying by Russia and China has weakened the policy which had first guaranteed sanctions. Now the Security Council will only discuss sanctions should Iran not give in.

Well, when YOUR WORLD TODAY returns, we'll be talking about fighting and diplomacy as it steps up in the Middle East crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent cease-fire and a lasting settlement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Will the U.S. secretary of state live up to her role as peacemaker?

We'll have more on that and the perspective of Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN.

U.S. President George W. Bush has reiterated a call for a long- lasting and sustainable cease-fire in the Middle East. Well, Mr. Bush plans to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later on Monday.

As John King reports, Rice says she's confident about reaching a deal at the United Nations to settle the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Fresh from one diplomatic achievement, Secretary of State Rice set her sights on the bigger, much more difficult goal -- a full cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: To make a cease-fire more than words alone, the international community must be prepared to support and sustain it. And I call on my international partners to do so this week in New York.

KING: Secretary Rice immediately headed home to oversee negotiations at the United Nations, voicing confidence there is a consensus on approach that includes a permanent cease-fire, deployment of the Lebanese army in areas now controlled by Hezbollah, an international embargo against rearming Hezbollah, and creation of a new international force to police any cease-fire.

RICE: And Lebanon should, assisted as appropriate by the international community, disarm unauthorized armed groups.

KING: Secretary Rice made no mention of concessions by Israel. But U.S. and Israeli sources tell CNN she was assured this weekend Israel is ready to discuss prisoner exchanges and returning disputed land to Lebanon as long as the soldiers Hezbollah kidnapped to provoke this conflict are released. Secretary Rice spoke hours after forcing a significant Israeli concession, a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes in southern Lebanon to clear the way for major humanitarian missions.

RICE: These are important, yet temporary measures.

KING: The suspension of Israeli airstrikes in the south is a direct fallout of the tragic bombing at Qana and the first time the United States forced a major Israeli concession since the hostilities began nearly three weeks ago.

(on camera): The proposal rejects, once again, urgent worldwide calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities. But by brokering the hiatus in Israeli airstrikes, and now by calling for action in the Security Council this week, Secretary Rice hoes to quiet her Arab and other critics who say the United States too often takes Israel's side and, as a result, shares responsibility for the continued bloodshed. John King, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: Well, in spite of the U.S. secretary of state's efforts, Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz said earlier that Israel cannot agree to an immediate cease-fire. He also said Israel plans to expand and strengthen its offensive against Hezbollah.

Well, for more on what this could mean for a potential cease- fire, we're joined from Jerusalem by the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Mark Regev, isn't really a cease-fire not on the cards at all when you haven't been able to stick by your own self-imposed cease- fire agreed last night with the United States?

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: I think what we want to see is a cease-fire that is sustainable, a cease-fire that contains elements of a package that will sustain peace and that will move us forward to a better reality, will move us forward towards implementing those U.N. resolutions on Lebanon, 1559, which call on Hezbollah to be disarmed, and for the Lebanese army to be active in all parts of Lebanese sovereign territory.

SWEENEY: But everybody's looking for confidence-building measures at the moment, and it hardly is a confidence-building measure if you cannot stick by your own imposed agreed cease-fire that you arranged last night.

REGEV: No, I think we're being very clear and we're sticking to what we're doing. We never said it would be a total cease-fire. We were very clear about what we said.

We said we would limit our airstrikes to targets if there's an immediate and necessary danger there that has to be dealt with. The idea was, one, to do our own inquiry on how the Qana tragedy happened, and two, to allow the humanitarian support that was needed to allow people to leave.

Ultimately, no one on the Israeli side wants to see the innocent Lebanese people suffer. And we're hopeful that these steps will, in fact, limit that suffering.

SWEENEY: I mean, it's impossible to preempt the Qana investigation, but something clearly went very terribly wrong. And when Israel says it deeply regrets civilian deaths, it's something that we've heard many times over the last number of weeks. There is a danger, more than a danger, perhaps reality that most of the world, bar the United States, doesn't believe Israel.

REGEV: Well, I actually think there's no logical reason to believe that we would deliberately target these civilians in Qana. It's against our moral code. And, of course, it didn't do us any political advantage either. There's no logical reason to presume that Israel did that deliberately. It appears it was an accident, it's still being investigated, the details. There's some serious questions as to exactly what happened.

But what I can tell you from a diplomatic point of view, we do not want to allow Hezbollah and its allies to use the tragedy as an excuse to try to torpedo the whole diplomatic effort. In other words, we don't want them to sidetrack what has to be done, and that is to move forward on the Security Council resolutions, 1559, on Lebanon. We can't allow Hezbollah to exploit this tragedy for its own political purposes.

SWEENEY: Well, let me ask you there about the diplomatic effort. I mean, Condoleezza Rice is returning to Washington, saying that she's going to be pushing for a comprehensive cease-fire this week, yet Israel's military leaders say they want two or three more weeks to finish the job.

Is Israel being pushed into a corner?

REGEV: I don't believe so. And I would say to those members of the international community who want the cease-fire to come sooner or later, that they don't have to be bystanders. They're not going to solve this problem by putting out a press release.

We understand the elements of getting a cease-fire in Lebanon. That demands concrete steps out of multilateral -- multilateral forum. And we have to see other countries in Europe, in other parts of the world, ready to play a concrete role. And I think if those countries do step up to the plate, if they give more than words, we can see the cease-fire happen sooner rather than later.

SWEENEY: All right. Mark Regev, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, we have to leave it there.

Just a note, though. There has been, of course, more cross- border violence today. Hezbollah lobbing rockets into Israel. It's been very quiet here in Haifa. No air raid sirens went off during the day.

The Israeli military apologized that it deeply regretted the death of a Lebanese soldier which -- who was in a truck with other Lebanese soldiers which was targeted by Israel. Israel believed it was carrying a senior Hezbollah leader.

And within the last few minutes, the IDF is confirming that it hit a truck along the Syrian-Lebanese border. A truck that it says was carrying weapons.

Well, we will have more on the Middle East crisis later on in the program.

GORANI: All right. Including a change of command in southern Afghanistan.

That and more.

You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. First, though, a check on stories making headlines here in the U.S.

Right here in Atlanta, a suspicious package sent people scurrying from a midtown skyscraper. A S.W.A.T. team and Homeland Security officials are at the scene right now. We just saw them move a robot into the building. The 25-story tower was evacuated after the package was discovered just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RICHARD PENNINGTON, ATLANTA POLICE: 10:00 a.m. this morning, the Atlanta Police Department received a call for 1117 Peachtree, where a maintenance worker up on the 22nd floor observed an explosive device in a vacant office building. And so at that time, he immediately called the Atlanta Police Department.

My bomb squad unit responded to that location. They're currently up on the 22nd floor evaluating the situation. We currently have evacuated the entire building and the building adjacent to it, and so we've cordoned off the entire area until we find out and ascertain exactly what this explosive device may be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There was a minor fire at the same building last week. The chief says law offices are among the businesses located inside

Let's talk about the heat. It is hot and it's getting hotter.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's check in on New Orleans. Killing after killing there. Now new concerns that the city's image is in more danger. Six people were killed in New Orleans over the weekend. All in a 24-hour period.

CNN's Sean Callebs has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another bloody weekend in post- Katrina New Orleans. Six people were shot and killed in three separate incidents. This on the heels of five teachers being gunned down in an execution-style killing about a month and a half ago. Police here say there is a crime problem but maintain it is not out of control. Governor Kathleen Blanco says that National Guard troops who had been patrolling New Orleans for weeks will stay on in the city beyond their initial September pullout date. New Orleans has been struggling to rebuild since the hurricane to lure its residents back and to lure much-needed tourism dollars here, as well.

Police and the mayor's office say that almost all violent crime is drug-related. And in an effort to allay concerns, say almost all of that crime has been committed in low-income neighborhoods, areas they say where visitors rarely venture to begin with. However, they say there is no easy solution to the killings, the spate of killings, or the national perception that New Orleans is once again a violent city.

Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Birth control. The FDA said today it will considering allowing the Morning After pill to be sold over the counter without a prescription, at least for women 18 and older.

The emergency birth control is designed to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. It's up to 89 percent effective. The announcement comes just a day before President Bush's nominee to head the FDA appears before a Senate committee.

It is a men-only club, but some women say it's about time they are allowed into the Roman Catholic Priesthood. Kyra Phillips will tackle the issue on "LIVE FROM" at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: All right. We're going to take you live to Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making comments. Let's listen in.

EHUD OLMERT, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): ... on the ground. At these very moments as we speak, IDF divisions are making progress in the south of Lebanon in order to wipe out terrorist infrastructure there. And that is the answer to the question that I was asked earlier.

Minister, head of the local authority organization, the mayor of Komeal (ph), Eledi Aldal (ph), who is there, right up there in the front of this struggle. And my colleagues, mayors of Israel, citizens of the state of Israel, my fellow Israelis, Israel is continuing to fight.

Precisely, 20 days ago, this campaign started when the Hezbollah terrorist organization attacked Israeli soldiers within the territory of our country, killed eight of them, kidnapped two of them, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and began to rain down rockets on the towns and cities and villages of the north.

Now, when this campaign started, I said it wouldn't be easy one. We knew, at the time, my colleagues and me, the government and myself, knew that it would be difficult and even painful and sometimes very painful, indeed. We said that we would have to demonstrate a great deal of patience, a great deal of resolution, in order to get to all of the places where the terrorists were hiding and to hit at their launching sites.

And we said we would pay the dearest price of all, human life. That we would pay the price in loss of property, loss of tranquility, loss of routine life. And sometimes, for a short time, also, the loss of joie de vivre, joy of life. We knew and we decided that there was no other way than to react robustly, because we had no alternative.

It was absolutely out of the question to allow a terrorist organization north of our border to continue reinforcing themselves. We couldn't allow them to build up more rockets, more missiles, store- piling all sorts of deadly weapons. Had we restrained ourselves, then the day would have come, and it wouldn't have been very distance, when the barrage of rockets and mass missiles would have led you, the residents of the north of the country, to suffer irreparable damage.

And we decided to respond directly, replying to war with war, and only to bring it to an end when we had brought this threat to an end and brought back our three kidnapped soldiers; when they and their comrades who are fighting come home, so that you could rest safely in your homes in the cities and towns and villages in this part of the country.

I think a great deal at the moment of our young sons, our brave- hearted warriors. I think of their parents, their brothers, their sisters, their children, and their friends.

I think of Oli Kline (ph). He's in the Golani brigade; he's a commander. A grenade was thrown at his fellow soldiers. He jumped on it and absorbed the full blast, saving them. He managed to murmur the words of the "Smart Israel," hero Israel prayer. He asked the communications officer to pass the news on of his death. This is how he returned his soul to the creator. His little children, Gilad (ph) and Yoav (ph), and his wife Sara (ph), are now orphaned and bereft. I think of Oli and I can gain no repose.

I think of Nepav Shai (ph) or Mihowi Javia (ph), Tom Fowkash (ph)...

GORANI: All right. We're going to break away from this live speech by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. No cease-fire in the coming days. Ehud Olmert just said Israel is continue to fight. The words of Ehud Olmert on the 20th day of the conflict. Ehud Olmert saying that Israel knew that this conflict would be painful, that the Israeli people need to demonstrate patience and resolve, that the Israeli people and the Israeli government saying they need to be willing to pay in human life, as well as in normalcy.

As we hear in the background here in Beirut which seems to be fireworks at this point, Ehud Olmert also saying that Israel responded to war with war and will only bring it to the end once the fight is finished.

I'm going to bring in Mamoun Fandy. He's in London. He's from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. For more analysis on what was just said, Mamoun Fandy.

No cease-fire, the two words from the Israel's prime minister. Your reaction?

MAMOUN FANDY, COLUMNIST, "ASHARQ AL-AWSAT": Well, I think probably there is no strategic win for Israel in this war, Hala. You know, post-Qana, everything -- I mean, Qana changed the whole situation. There are two wars here. There is war on the screen that Hezbollah is winning, and the Israelis know it, and there is war on the ground, and Israel has to do a lot on the ground to actually be pushed off the Qana pictures off the screen. They have a very hard time to do that.

GORANI: What do you make of this...

(AUDIO BREAK)

SWEENEY: Right, there, we've obviously lost the satellite link there, from Beirut in Lebanon, where Hala has been conducting an interview. But I understand Mahmoud Fandy, if you are still there, I know Hala was asking about your reaction to Ehud Olmert's speech. What in your opinion is it going to take a cease-fire this coming week. Is a tangible possible time line?

FANDY: I think it will take probably more than a week. Certainly, for a cease-fire you need -- you need a resolution, a U.N. resolution, to provide a legal framework for that. You need the forces to be in place. All of this can not be done in one week. It's extremely impossible for anyone who knows the U.N. or international organization -- logistically it can't be done before two weeks to have actually boots on the ground to separate the two parties, the two warring parties.

SWEENEY: Let me ask you, if I may, what is the consensus in the Arab world? We know that, of course, following what happened in Qana yesterday, that public opinion in the Arab world is growing very much anti-Israeli, if not exactly pro-Hezbollah. But we've seen demonstrations in Syria and Iran that are pro-Hezbollah. But generally speaking, is it possible to generalize on the Arab government opinion?

FANDY: Well, it's very difficult to generalize. However, I think it became extremely impossible on the Arab screens, television or radio or even print media to criticize anything that Hezbollah's done, because basically people are being bombarded by the Qana pictures and the babies being killed. We haven't seen any pictures of combatant in this whole world. We have seen just basically civilians being slaughtered. And it's very difficult for Arab leaders, especially key Arab players like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, not to feel embarrassed by this whole war and by their earlier statements. So America and Israel are embarrassing the moderates in the Arab world, and making it very difficult for them to actually speak out.

SWEENEY: And in that case, then, will they be forced to take a different kind of stance than the one they have taken already?

FANDY: I think if you watch, probably, the Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi position, they started out with saying this is a reckless act by Hezbollah. But then they backtracked after that, as the situation started to change, as the pictures of civilians started top appear on -- civilians being killed, especially children -- on the Arab television screens.

It became very difficult for these leaders to actually explain their position to their own people. They were put between a rock and a hard place. Certainly, they suffer from their own extremist and their own violent groups in their own countries, but right now, Hezbollah is winning on the Arab street.

SWEENEY: Have to leave it there. Mahmoud Fandy in London, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

FANDY: Thank you.

SWEENEY: Of course, if you were watching Hala in Beirut earlier, you would have heard some noise in the background, and that was, we are happy to report, fireworks, rather than anything else. And we're working to bring the satellite connection up. As you might understand, things in Beirut, perhaps not as easy to organize, logistically or technically, as in other places.

We'll be right back after the break with more on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Well, EU foreign ministers gather in Brussels this day in the hopes of bringing the fighting to a swift end. Our European political editor, Robin Oakley, reports now on yet another diplomatic effort to end the fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Israeli air strike on the village of Qana that killed at least 54 people, most of them children, led to angry protests in Arab capitals. In Damascus and Tehran, Israeli and U.S. flags were burned. Women protestors brandished placards showing the dead children and carried symbolic coffins. There were protests, too, in European capitals as the EU's External Affairs commissioner called the attack quote, "an unjustifiable escalation of violence."

But if the deaths in Qana marked the worst moment yet in the conflict, they may, too, have provided the catalyst for more urgent attempts to broker a cease-fire. From the U.S., Britain's prime minister joined with Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, in calling for urgent U.N. action towards the earliest-possible cease-fire.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What has happened at Qana shows that this is a situation that simply can't continue. We have to speed this entire process up, get a resolution now, and on the passing an agreement to that resolution, then the hostilities have got to stop.

OAKLEY: In France, which currently chairs the Security Council, the prime minister called for both Israel's bombardment and the Hezbollah rocket attacks to cease.

DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): France condemns the drama of Qana, which was an unjustifiable act which stunned all our compatriates. After the death of four U.N. soldiers, after repeated rocket strikes against Israel, this is yet another sign that the conflict is getting more and more extreme.

OAKLEY: In Beirut, his foreign minister spelled out what he thinks is needed.

PHILLIPE DOUSTE-BLAZY, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): An immediate cessation of hostilities is the condition for the parties to talk, to negotiate and then to reach a political agreement. Then, a long-lasting cease-fire. And then the conditions for a multilateral force to be deployed in the south.

OAKLEY: As the horror of the Qana bombing was spread across the world's media, the protests increased. And from Rome, Pope Benedict, too, called on the world's statesmen to work urgently for peace.

POPE BENEDICT (through translator): In name of God, I call on all of those responsible for this spiral of violence to see that weapons are immediately laid down on all sides. I ask those who govern and the international institutions to spare no effort towards achieving the cessation of hostilities.

OAKLEY: The deaths of innocent women and children in Qana have brought worldwide condemnation. The hope now is that they could, too, concentrate the minds of those who will need to hammer out the cease- fire resolution at the United Nations.

Robin Oakley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: Also in the diplomatic arena, the U.N. Security Council considering action to separate the combatants, but a meeting on an international force for southern Lebanon has been postponed. Richard Roth is also following the Security Council action on Iran. He joins us now. First of all Richard, Lebanon, this decision to postpone indefinitely, a meeting on the multinational force. What kind of signals does it send? RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well France thought it was too premature and France appears to be in the vanguard of organizing any time of international deployment in southern Lebanon. They thought let's find out just what the political dynamics going on with what Secretary Rice wants, what the Security Council may be considering. So they're not killing it forever that idea. And Ambassador John Bolton of the U.N. hinted the U.S. may be ready to come to the council as early as today with its own draft resolution. They can then compare it with the French version to try to start getting some type of political statement on the table in case the guns go silent there. Fionnuala?

SWEENEY: And, on the subject of Iran, the Security Council resolution there, what is -- we know that obviously the international community has been gearing up its diplomatic prowess against Iran. Does this up the ante somewhat on Tehran?

ROTH: Well it certainly gives them a deadline, although they knew this was coming. The Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of a resolution demanding that Iran cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency within 30 days or face at that time, a big discussion here that may lead to sanctions on Iran. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton at the Security Council.

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JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: This is the first security council resolution on Iran in response to its nuclear weapons program, reflecting the gravity of this situation and the determination of the council. We hope this resolution will demonstrate to Iran that the best way to end its international isolation is to simply give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

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ROTH: Iran spoke at the Security Council insisting its nuclear program was strictly for peaceful purposes.

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JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Today's proposed action by the council, which is the culmination of those efforts aimed at making the suspension of uranium enrichment mandatory, violates the fundamental principles of international law, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and IAEA port resolution. It runs counter to the views of the majority U.N. member states which the Security Council is obliged to represent.

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ROTH: The lone Arab country on the council voted no. Qatar, saying wrong time to inflame the region, he said. We'll have to check Iran's response in a month. Back to you, Fionnuala.

SWEENEY: Richard Roth reporting live from the U.N. Thank you as always. Now we want to update on a report that we heard from Ben Wedeman earlier in this program. He was talking about a report on the Hezbollah television station in Lebanon, Al Manar, which claimed that an Israeli gun ship had been shot down or at least attacked off the coast of Tyre there and had been attacked and successfully sunk. The IDF, we should say, confirming to CNN that it is denying that report. So that's the latest we have for the moment. We'll be back with more after the break. Stay with us.

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SWEENEY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney in Haifa, Israel. Now international aid agencies are trying to take advantage of the Israeli suspension of air strikes to deliver the much-needed aid in south Lebanon. But officials say they need a complete cessation of hostilities to do their job. The World Food Programme is sending convoys of food and medical supplies to Qana and Tyre. More convoys are scheduled to leave tomorrow. The emergency coordination for the World Food Programme spoke about the difficulties in setting up these deliveries.

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AMIR DAOUDI, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: We are coordinating with all parties concerned to ensure the safe and ease of delivery to the needy people in southern Lebanon. However it is a tedious job. It requires massive coordination, to insure that the delivery takes place. And so far, since we started last Wednesday, we have managed to send five convoys. One of them was turned down -- the one was destined to Sunday because of the hostilities.

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SWEENEY: You have been watching the very latest on the crisis in the Middle East here on CNN. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney in Haifa, Israel. On behalf of my colleague Hala Gorani in Beirut, Lebanon, thank you very much for watching. Stay with CNN.

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