French President Jacques Chirac said on Wednesday he believed US objections could be overcome to amendments proposed by the Lebanese government and the Arab League to a draft U.N. resolution on Lebanon, REUTERS REPORTED. "It does seem that there is an American reservation about adopting this draft," Chirac told reporters after a meeting with members of his cabinet in the south of France. "I can't imagine that there would be no solution because that would mean, which would be the most immoral result, that we accept the current situation and that we abandon an immediate ceasefire," he said. "I can't imagine that of the Americans or anyone else." The comments came as diplomats work on revisions to a French and U.S.-backed United Nations resolution to end the war. The Lebanese government, backed by the Arab League, has rejected the draft U.N. proposal that called for full cessation of hostilities but did not demand an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the country. "I think it's normal that we should take into consideration solutions envisaged in particular by parties to the conflict," Chirac said. "We have to take account of them." He said that the original French and U.S.-backed draft was a "working base" and that France had requested that it should incorporate "a certain number" of proposals put forward by the Arab League. "If we don't manage it, there will obviously be a debate in the Security Council and everyone will present their position clearly, including of course France," he said.
