Senior officials from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office met with the UN delegation after their arrival in Israel after spending time in Lebanon, to discuss the situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border today. Olmert himself joined the meeting at the end, reversing an earlier decision not to meet with them, and emphasized that Israel would continue fighting Hezbollah and would continue to strike at its targets until the kidnapped soldiers are returned and the security of Israeli citizens is assured.
Olmert also stressed that Israel demands that the G-8's principles be implemented in full: The unconditional release of the soldiers and their return to Israel and the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, including the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the border with Israel and the disarming of Hezbollah.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also met with the UN team, saying that while Israel would prefer the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country, "we will consider other solutions put forward... If there is a need to strengthen the Lebanese army somehow, so that the military in south Lebanon is effective, and prevents Hezbollah from returning, we will consider ways to do achieve this." She stressed that the current UN peacekeeping force "is ineffective and irrelevant."
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