By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 31, 2006; A09

NEW YORK, July 30 -- At an emergency session Sunday of the U.N. Security Council, Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed to members to condemn Israel's killing of a score of adults, plus three dozen children, in the Lebanese village of Qana and to press for an immediate cease-fire.

Annan delivered some of his harshest criticism to date of Israel's 2 1/2 -week-long military offensive against Hezbollah. He blamed the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia for triggering the current round of violence, but he said that Israel's reaction has been excessive and that commanders on both sides may have committed war crimes.

"Excellencies, we must condemn this action in the strongest possible terms, and I appeal to you to do likewise," Annan told the 15-nation council. "No one disputes Israel's right to defend itself. But by its manner of doing so, it has caused, and is causing, death and suffering on a wholly unacceptable scale."

After hours of negotiations, the council on Sunday night issued a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" at Israel's attack on a residential building in Qana. The statement "strongly deplores" the loss of innocent lives but stopped short of urging an immediate truce. Instead, it calls for "an end to violence" while pressing its members to "work without delay" to reach agreement on a resolution that would help bring about "a lasting settlement of the crisis."

Annan's appeal to members was calculated to prod the United States -- which has backed Israel's operation in Lebanon -- to reverse course in opposing an immediate cease-fire. Annan was joined in that call by an unexpected voice: Ann M. Veneman, a former member of President Bush's Cabinet, who is executive director of UNICEF.

Senior administration officials in Washington and New York said it was premature to press for an immediate cease-fire, which would allow Hezbollah time to gather strength to fight another day.

U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton assured the Security Council that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is working "urgently" to reach a wider political settlement that "will help create an enduring cessation of hostilities in the region" and the establishment of a multinational force for Lebanon.

He insisted that Washington has told Israel on "many occasions" that it "needs to exercise care and restraint" in its military operations and that "they assured us that that's what they're doing."

France introduced a Security Council resolution that echoed Annan's call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

The resolution would require Lebanon and Israel to endorse a U.N.-brokered settlement before establishing a multinational force of up to 20,000 international troops. It would help enforce security and implement a final agreement; France is expected to play a leading role in any force sent to Lebanon.

Bolton told the council behind closed doors that the United States is working on a draft resolution. Rice is returning from the Middle East on Monday, in part, to work on the resolution's language.

Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, told the council that his government is "truly sorry" for the "horrible tragic incident." He said the dead in Qana "may have been killed by Israeli fire but they are the victims of the Hezbollah," asserting that the group has launched missiles and rockets from Qana and other densely populated towns.

Gillerman appealed to the council not to play into the hands of Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers by pressing for an immediate cease-fire.

Lebanon's envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud, accused Israel of prosecuting its war with no concern for the loss of civilian life. "Israeli shells do not recognize the innocence of children or the sanctity of life," he said.

After the public debate in the council, the Security Council went behind closed doors to draw up a statement reacting to the Israeli strike.

Qatar introduced a draft statement condemning "the deliberate targeting" of civilians in Qana, calling for an "immediate and unconditional cease-fire" and an international investigation.

Bolton said it would be more appropriate to adopt a milder council statement that would "express our profound regrets and condolences to the families of those who have died, and things along that line."

Still, Annan pressed the United States and Security Council members to go further, saying the "authority and standing of the council are at stake" in Lebanon. "People have noticed its failure to act firmly and quickly during this crisis," he said.

Annan said both Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which continued its daily missile attacks on northern Israeli towns, "bear heavy responsibility" for the rising toll on civilian life and may be guilty of war crimes. He said there is "strong prima facie evidence that both have committed grave breaches of international humanitarian law."

The French resolution calls on Israeli forces and Hezbollah to retreat to positions outside a U.N.-established buffer zone along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The Lebanese military, supported by about 2,000 U.N. peacekeepers, would send its troops to southern Lebanon.

The French resolution also calls for the demarcation of Lebanon's disputed international borders, including the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, which Hezbollah has used to justify its attacks on Israeli forces and civilians.

Such a settlement would require Lebanon to fulfill earlier U.N. resolutions demanding that Hezbollah be disarmed and require the country to secure the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by the militia during a raid, which triggered the current fighting. Israel would be obliged to resolve a dispute over Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel.