BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- One hundred days after hostilities ceased between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon urged the international community to eliminate any cause for a new eruption.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has underlined the need to eliminate risks for a recurrence of hostilities in south Lebanon at a time the country is reeling under an acute political crisis pitting the ruling anti-Syria coalition against Hezbollah and other pro-Iran and pro-Syria groups.
"A major national goal of the government is to translate the cessation of hostilities into a permanent ceasefire," Siniora said in an address to the Diplomatic Corps Tuesday.
He reiterated the need to implement a seven-point plan put forward by his government during the 34-day war last summer, "whereby Israel must put an end to flights over Lebanon, submit all the maps of landmines planted on our territory, withdraw from the Ghajar village and return the detainees in Israeli prisons."
Siniora underscored the ultimate importance of placing the disputed Israeli-occupied Shabaa Farms region under U.N. custody to pave the ground for a permanent ceasefire on the Lebanon-Israeli border, a volatile area for more than four decades.
"Placing Shebaa under U.N. custody will allow Lebanon to reaffirm the exclusive authority of the state on the entirety of its territory and revive the 1949 armistice agreement, until a just solution to the conflict in the Middle East is found," Siniora said.
As he emphasized the importance of international financial assistance in helping Lebanon's economy back on its feet, Siniora also indicated the need to eliminate reasons for Hezbollah to keep its arms and justify its armed resistance against Israel, for which Lebanon paid a high price in the last war.
The fate of Hezbollah's weapons is a key point of contention among Lebanon's political groups.
