The 48-Hour Cessation of Violence That Never Happened

This doesn't sound like a cessation of violence to me, which leads one to ask why Israel - and the U.S. - lied yesterday after the world reacted in horror to the Qana massacre:

METULLAH, Israel, July 31 — Israel rejected the possibility of an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon as it poured soldiers and artillery shells across the border here today, vowing to press ahead with its ground war before diplomacy forces it to stop.

And despite Israel’s announcement of 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes, bombs continued to fall across Lebanon, albeit at a slower pace and at more limited targets than earlier in the offensive.

During a special session of the Knesset, Defense Minister Amir Peretz declared that the Israeli army “will expand and deepen its operations against Hezbollah.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to convene a meeting of his security and diplomatic cabinet Monday evening that is expected to approve a widening of Israel’s military operations.
Mr. Peretz suggested that the fighting wouldn’t stop until a multinational force was ready with a mandate to use its weapons against Hezbollah if the group breached any eventual cease-fire agreement. He said Israel would demand that any multinational force also supervise the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon.

President Bush appeared to back the Israeli position on Monday, repeating his administration insistence that any cessation of hostilities must be “sustainable.”