Statement by Foreign Secretary at the UN Security Council
meeting on the situation in Lebanon.
This is a moment of maximum danger.
We are on the brink. The precipice. At a few minutes to midnight.
We talk of the risk of full-scale regional war but the truth is
we are already witnessing conflict on multiple fronts.
In Gaza. In the West Bank. In Lebanon. And the Red Sea.
The strikes in recent days have taken 550 lives in Lebanon.
The death of civilians, women and children.
The UN workers killed.
The Hizballah rockets that have killed Israelis are just the
latest in the cycle of pain, anguish and loss.
President,
As we face the abyss, this Council has a duty to speak with one
voice.
And we must say that the rockets must stop now. The air
strikes must stop now. Talks must start now. With an immediate
ceasefire on both sides now.
It is time to pull back from the brink.
President,
A full-blown war is not in the interests of the Israeli or
the Lebanese people.
And that is why within hours of last week's strikes I
called for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanese Hizballah and
Israel.
Since then, we've worked closely with the US and France to
formalise a wider demand for the ceasefire and a political plan
to implement it.
And at the UN in New York, the Prime Minister and I have been
urging our G7 and other partners to do the same.
Our priority must be a political solution in line with Resolution
1701. It is our duty to do all we can to exert maximum diplomatic
pressure so Israeli and Lebanese civilians can return to their
homes. So lives can be saved. So security can return to Northern
Israel and Southern Lebanon. So that daily life can begin to
return.
Now let me be clear.
The United Kingdom condemns Hizballah's attacks on Israel over
the last 11 months, which have driven more than 60,000 people
from their homes.
There was no justification for these attacks.
They have brought misery to ordinary people in Lebanon and
Israel.
And they have done nothing to end the conflict in Gaza or secure
Palestinian statehood.
And Iran, nothing justifies supplying weapons to terror groups in
defiance of this Council.
We call on Tehran to use its influence and urge Hizballah to
agree a ceasefire.
President,
For the people of Israel and for the people of Lebanon, a
brilliant, multicultural and tolerant nation taken captive by an
armed militia that puts itself before the Lebanese people, we
must come together to bring this conflict to an end.
In 2006, this Council acted in the interests of peace and
security. All parties need to embody that same spirit today.
By coming together, act now to bring this conflict to an end.
To stop the cycle of destruction.
To stop the loss of yet more innocent lives.
And to stop this conflict from exploding into full-blown war and
open a path to peace.
That is what we need.
