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 UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States and France appeared at odds Wednesday over Arab demands to change a U.N. resolution they are co-sponsoring to call for a complete cessation of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities and withdrawal of Israeli forces, diplomats said.
France proposed new language on a total cease-fire and Israeli pullout, but the Americans rejected it out of concern that without a robust international force, a vacuum would be created in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, the diplomats said.
While both countries welcomed Lebanon's announcement Monday that it will deploy 15,000 soldiers to the south when Israel withdraws, the U.S. does not believe this force and U.N. peacekeepers can prevent a vacuum, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private.
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