World leaders yesterday sought to present a unified position on the escalating violence in the Middle East, with the US urging Israel to show restraint.
On the first full day of a G8 summit, delegations from the world's eight major industrialized nations worked on a joint statement on the worsening situation in Lebanon, diplomats said.
The US was pressing for a summit statement identifying Hezbollah as the main culprit, said Stephen Hadley, national security adviser for US President George W. Bush.
Despite differing views of who is to blame, there was hope the leaders would emerge from the G8 summit with a consensus.
French diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make a public statement on the issue, said the G8 countries were working on a text calling on all sides to create the conditions for a ceasefire. The main points would be the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, avoiding pressure on fragile political systems and engaging in a de-escalation of violence.
Bush yesterday urged Israel to show restraint -- a softening of what has been strong US support of Israel's right to defend itself.
"Our message to Israel is, `look, defend yourself but as you do so be mindful of the consequences,' so we've urged restraint," he said after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the sidelines of the summit.
He was still adamant that the blame lay with Hezbollah, however.
Leaders of the G8 nations -- the US, Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada -- began their formal discussions yesterday. The violence in the Middle East dominated the summit that host Russia had hoped would focus on climate change, education and the fight against infectious diseases.
Still, the eight issued joint declarations that called for bolstering energy security, fighting infectious diseases and improving education. All three statements contained sweeping generalities but few specific details on how the broad goals could be achieved.
The leaders also agreed to order their negotiators to break a deadlock in world trade talks within a month.
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