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President Bush called yesterday for quick approval of a proposed cease-fire to halt the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

 Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon rejected the plan, which would allow Israeli forces to stay in his country’s south until an international force could be deployed.

Speaking to reporters yesterday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is on vacation, Bush said, “Everyone wants the violence to stop.”

But Bush said it was important that the Israeli troops remain until the Lebanese army, backed by an international force, is ready to move into the area.

The United States and France have proposed a two-step solution to the problem, in which the U.N. Security Council would follow up a cease-fire resolution with a second resolution setting up the international force and addressing the conflict’s broader dimensions.

“Whatever happens in the United Nations, we must not create a vacuum into which Hezbollah and its sponsors are able to move more weapons,” Bush said.

In an emotional address to a group of Arab diplomats who gathered in Beirut yesterday to show their support, Siniora said he opposed the cease-fire resolution in its current form, saying it would not halt the violence.

“It barely leads to a cease-fire,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “We want a permanent and full cease-fire.”

He and other Arab diplomats have insisted that Israel be required to withdraw from Lebanese territory at the same time Hezbollah gives up its rocket attacks across the border.

The Lebanese government unanimously agreed yesterday to send 15,000 soldiers to south Lebanon as soon as Israeli troops withdraw.

Lebanon also called up reserve soldiers to prepare for possible deployment if a cease-fire agreement is reached to end fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces.

An official said the Lebanese army is ready to accept help from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which has 2,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon.

At the news conference in Crawford, Bush was asked why he was pushing for a quick cease-fire now, after resisting such calls for weeks. He responded, “Because, first of all, the international community hadn’t come together on a concept of how to address the root cause of the problem.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed to the progress toward a second, broader U.N. resolution. She said that an early, unconditional cease-fire would not have addressed issues like the Lebanese government’s control of the southern region now dominated by Hezbollah.

“So this has been time that’s been well spent over the last few weeks,” she said.

In New York, the French ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Marc de la Sablihre, defended the resolution but said he would be working “to take into account the concerns of all.”

Also yesterday:

At least 51 people died yesterday on both sides. Israeli attacks killed at least 49 people, Lebanese authorities said, including 10 in a sunset strike on south Beirut.
Hezbollah fired 160 rockets, wounding five Israelis.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbail, the military said.
The Israeli air force shot down a Hezbollah drone for the first time, sending its wreckage into the sea, the army said.
During his address to the Arab diplomats, Siniora, the Lebanese leader, initially announced that 40 civilians had died in an Israeli airstrike on the border village of Houla, in what he called “a deliberate massacre.” Later, however, he said only one person had been found dead in the village.

Via