Diplomatic Cease-Fire Efforts Intensify

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Saturday night with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as diplomatic efforts to reach an overall agreement in Lebanon intensified and Thursday loomed as a possible deadline for the IDF to meet its military objectives.

Diplomatic sources in Washington said that the US will attempt to hammer together a cease-fire deal and the deployment of a multinational force in Lebanon and present the plan to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. A vote is expected Thursday.

"Thursday is a very important bus stop," a senior diplomatic official in Jerusalem said when asked if this day would likely mark the end of the large-scale military operations.

Brokering the cease-fire deal, which is different from the immediate cease-fire that many international leaders are clamoring for, is the overarching goal of Rice's visits, her second to the region within a week. Rice is slated to meet Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Amir Peretz in separate meetings on Sunday. As of Saturday night it was not yet clear whether she would make another trip to Beirut or return to Washington following her Sunday talks in Jerusalem.

According to US officials, Rice's talks will focus on the terms in which a cease-fire can take place, and the conditions under which the international force would operate, once deployed in Lebanon.

US President George Bush set the parameters of an overall agreement during a press conference Friday following a meeting in Washington with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The overriding goals include extending the authority of the Lebanese government throughout Lebanon, deploying an international force and disarming Hezbollah.