[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: OK. Let's understand this threat. President
Obama wants Israel to withdraw to fundamentally indefensible borders and
that includes an end to Israeli control of the Old City and other areas in
Jerusalem. But if we refuse to halt settlement construction he threatens
that he won't sponsor the talks where he will pressure us to agree to do
this.]

France: U.S. gave Israel six months to freeze settlements
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press Last update - 16:42 11/07/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099301.html

The United States has given Israel a six-month deadline to accede to its
demand to freeze all construction in West Bank settlements, France's foreign
minister told his Lebanese interlocutors during an official visit to Beirut.

Israel Radio cited a report which appeared Saturday in the Lebanese daily
newspaper an-Nahar.

According to the report, Bernard Kouchner told Lebanese officials that the
U.S. could extend the six-month deadline, though Washington will not provide
sponsorship to a renewed peace process if Jerusalem continues settlement
construction.

On Friday, Kouchner held talks with a Hezbollah legislator in the latest
European outreach to the Iranian-backed militant group.

The European Union and Britain have also sought to engage Lebanon's
Hezbollah in recent months to encourage the group to abandon violence and
play a constructive political role in the deeply divided country. The U.S.,
however, shuns the group, which it considers a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah suffered a setback in Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary election at
the hands of a Western-backed coalition that held onto a majority in the
legislature.

The prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, however, is trying to form a
government that could include Hezbollah and its partners, though some of
Hariri's allies are vowing to strip Hezbollah of the veto power it had in
the outgoing government.

Hezbollah had negotiated the power to veto government decisions after
Shi'ite gunmen overran Sunni neighborhoods in Beirut in May 2008.

Kouchner discussed the efforts to form a new government in his meeting with
Hezbollah lawmaker Nawaf Musawi and in separate meetings with senior
Lebanese officials.

Kouchner defended his meeting with Hezbollah, which fought the 2006 Second
Lebanon War with Israel and is armed and trained by Iran.

"Hezbollah is part of the parties that participated in the recent
parliamentary elections. It is natural to meet with its representatives,"
Kouchner told reporters.

Last month, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, held
talks in Beirut with another Hezbollah legislator in the first meeting
between a senior EU diplomat and an official of the militant group.

On Thursday, visiting British lawmakers met with the head of Hezbollah's
12-member bloc in parliament, Mohammed Raad.

Britain's Foreign Office announced in March that it has contacted
Hezbollah's political wing in an attempt to reach out to its legislators. It
said its ultimate aim is to encourage the militant group to turn away from
violence and become a positive force in Lebanon's politics.

During Friday's meeting, Musawi said he briefed Kouchner on what he said
were Israel's almost daily military flights over Lebanon in breach of a UN
resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

He also spoke of the alleged Israeli spy networks in Lebanon. Lebanese
authorities have reportedly arrested about 100 people suspected of spying
for or collaborating with Israel in recent weeks.

Kouchner was to visit neighboring Syria on Saturday.