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White House: Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself

[White House] White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday: "Within the Security Council...there is agreement on all the steps that are necessary....They include making it possible for the government of Lebanon to have full sovereignty over Lebanese territory, and to be able to assert effective military control in the south; for Hizballah to cease to operate independently as a militia in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 1559; to provide support for the government of Prime Minister Siniora so that it is going to be able to fulfill its obligations. There are humanitarian steps underway, as you know - there will be reconstruction - and also to try to put together steps that are going to lay in place the foundation for security in the future that's going to prevent the kinds of mischief that we've seen on behalf of Hizballah that have gotten us to this place." "We want a cease-fire that is sustainable, that is going to provide the basis for security in the long run in Lebanon....All recognize that if you declare an immediate cease-fire and you do not have the conditions for real peace, it is simply going to be a hollow declaration....We want an end to violence. We think that what has happened is a tragedy not merely for the people of Lebanon, but the people of Israel. A million Israelis right now are living in bomb shelters." "Israel will have a right to defend herself....The question is, somebody fires - somebody goes across your border, kidnaps some of your citizens, kills some of them, and begins firing rockets. Do you have a right to defend yourself? By international law, you certainly do....You're putting all the focus on the Israelis rather than on the people who started this, and continue to provide the impetus for the violence, and that is Hizballah." "It's hard to imagine that treating people as human shields is going to be a winner in the long run; or that the idea of placing rockets in people's homes, radar installations in civilian areas, and essentially holding civilian areas hostage to military operations is, in the long run, a winner."
2006-08-04 01:00:00
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