U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he wants the upcoming meeting in Rome of key Middle East players to agree on a package to stop the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting and ensure lasting peace between Israel and Lebanon. The package also should include a cease-fire, deployment of an international force, and the release of two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah, the secretary-general said. Annan, who will attend the Rome meeting on Wednesday, said the goal must be to support the Lebanese government so that its armed forces can deploy into southern Lebanon, which is now controlled by Hezbollah guerrillas, and to ensure that the militia is disarmed. “You cannot disarm Hezbollah by force,” the secretary-general said, emphasizing that disarming the militia will require a political understanding among the Lebanese. That is why Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's main supporters, must be part of a solution, he said. “What is important is that we leave Rome with a concrete strategy on how we are going to deal with this, and we do not walk away empty-handed and once again [ruin] the hopes of those who are caught in this conflict,” Annan said. “We have to truly agree on a package and move forward with simultaneous and parallel implementation of the package.” Annan said any deal also should address the dispute over the Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and still occupies.
