ISRAEL SEEKS 1.2-MILE-WIDE 'SECURITY ZONE'

ISRAEL SEEKS 1.2-MILE-WIDE 'SECURITY ZONE'

By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 26, 8:08 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel wants to establish a 1.2-mile-wide strip in south Lebanon that will be free of Hezbollah guerrillas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday, giving the dimensions of a new "security zone" for the first time.

Olmert outlined the plans in a closed-door meeting of parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, according to participants who later briefed reporters.

On Tuesday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz had first raised the idea of such a buffer zone, but left somewhat unclear whether Israeli troops would patrol such a no-go area or try to keep out Hezbollah fighters from a distance, by artillery fire and air strikes.

Olmert told legislators on Wednesday that the zone would be just over a mile wide.

"We want a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) space from the border in which it will not be possible to fire rockets toward soldiers and civilians' houses and in which there will not be contact with military border patrols," Olmert was quoted as telling the committee.

Israeli soldiers patrolled a "security zone" during Israel's 18-year occupation of south Lebanon, but Olmert indicated the new buffer zone would be different. "We do not have any intention of returning to the security zone but want to create an area where there will be no Hezbollah," he was quoted as saying.

Olmert also reiterated Israel's call for an international force with muscle to be deployed along the Israel-Lebanon border.

"We need international intervention forces that have military capabilities and ability to respond and enforce, and not forces similar to UNIFIL," he said, referring to U.N. peacekeepers who have been deployed in the area since 1978."

"I don't know when there will be a cease-fire," Olmert was quoted as saying. "This is difficult, but we will stand up to this. ... We want to end the violent operation as quickly as possible but we won't end it before we believe we can achieve results that justify the price we have paid."