Rice Gets Diplomacy Lesson Over Lebanon

"Every day America gives the green light to further Israeli violence, our already tattered reputation sinks even lower," said Christopher.

"Rice's just-concluded trip to Lebanon, Israel and Rome was an exercise in grace, bravery and, to my regret, wrongly focused diplomacy," Christopher wrote in a hard-hitting editorial in The Washington Post.

The seasoned diplomat, who led the US diplomacy from 1993 to 1997, said his own experience suggests that putting an end to the killing of civilians and hostilities must be given the first and foremost priority.

"Especially disappointing is the fact that she resisted all suggestions that the first order of business should be negotiation of an immediate ceasefire between the warring parties," Christopher wrote.

"In the meantime, civilians will continue to die, precious infrastructure will continue to be destroyed and the fragile Lebanese democracy will continue to erode."

A grisly Israeli strike killed at least 54 civilians, including 37 children, in the southern village of Qana, taking the death toll since Israel unleashed its war on Lebanon on July 12 to some 750 people, mostly civilians.

Christopher said the Bush administration's decision not to call for an immediate ceasefire is seen as giving a green light to Israel to continue its bombardment.

"Every day America gives the green light to further Israeli violence, our already tattered reputation sinks even lower," he said.

A December Gallup poll, conducted in 10 nations that comprise 80 percent of the world's Muslim population, found that an overwhelming majority of Muslims strongly doubted the US was trying to establish democracy in the Middle East.

Oil, protecting Israel and dominating the region were seen as US goals, according to the survey.

No Desire

The veteran diplomat said Washington can turn off the bloodbath, noting that Rice appeared as if she had no desire to see an end to the conflict.

"Twice during my four years as secretary of state we faced situations similar to the one that confronts us today. Twice, at the request of the Israelis, we helped bring the bloodshed to an end," he recalled.

Christopher was referring to the 1993 and 1996 Israeli assaults on Lebanon after Hizbullah attacked the northern borders of Israel.

"A succession of Israeli leaders has turned to us," he recalled, "and only us, when they have concluded that retaliation for Hizbullah attacks has become counterproductive."

Hizbullah has inflicted heavy losses on the powerful Israeli army and proved in no way an easy meat.

Its fighters forced Israeli forces to withdraw from the two strategic towns of Bint Jbeil and Maroon Al-Ras they had seized earlier.

Hizbullah has downed at least two Apache helicopters and damaged a giant warship at the very beginning of the conflict.

Some Israeli ministers and Members of Knesset have blasted Prime Minster Ehud Olmert for expanding the attacks and refusing to pursue a diplomatic track to defuse the crisis, warning that the Israeli army was bogged down in Lebanon.

"Recipe for Failure"

"America is being held responsible for Israel's behavior," said Telhami.

"In the course of her trip, the secretary repeatedly insisted that any ceasefire be tied to a 'permanent' and 'sustainable' solution to the root causes of the conflict.

"Such a solution is achievable, if at all, only after protracted negotiations involving multiple parties," he said.

The former secretary of state said refusing to speak with those the US dislikes "is a recipe for frustration and failure."

He said Syria played a pivotal role in 1993 and 1996 to convince Hizbullah to accept a ceasefire with Israel.

"Although our relations with Syria have seriously deteriorated in recent years, we do not have the luxury of continuing to treat it with diplomatic disdain," Christopher insisted.

"It is time for the United States to step forward with the authority and balance that this moment requires," he concluded.

Biased

Rice was on Sunday declared persona non grata in Lebanon after the Qana massacre.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he did not want her to come to his country, asserting he could not hold any talks on resolving the crisis before an immediate ceasefire.

Despite the hair-raising TV footage of dead children ferried from under the rubble in Qana, Rice stopped short of urging an immediate ceasefire.

Analysts say if Rice does not take home a deal of some kind this week, she will leave the impression that the US is not an honest broker.

"America is being held responsible for Israel's behavior," Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution, told Reuters Sunday.

"If she goes back to Washington without a ceasefire she will have failed."

Telhami further criticized Rice's assertion that a "new Middle East" was emerging from the war on Lebanon.

"Arabs view her 'new Middle East' talk with disdain," said Telhami, adding that they are suspicious of US motives just as they were with its democracy campaign.

Arab experts and former diplomats had dismissed Rice's vision of a new Middle East as nothing but chimera.