ISRAEL continued to bombard Lebanon and Hizbullah guerrillas fired more rockets into Israel yesterday as intense diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire continued without success.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, arrived in Jerusalem late last night and will have further talks with Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, this morning.
US officials said progress had been made towards a deal to end the fighting but success was not assured.
Mr Christopher spent yesterday in Damascus in talks with President Hafez al-Assad of Syria as Israel's air, land and sea bombardment of south Lebanon neared the end of its second week.
Israeli jets and gunboats extended their targets yesterday bombing an area south of Beirut where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has bases.
They also continued the shelling and air raids on south Lebanon. Meanwhile Hizbullah guerillas in south Lebanon fired more rockets into northern Israel wounding two people.
Senior US, Russian, Syrian, Israeli, Iranian and French politicians were involved in a third day of intense talks yesterday in Damascus and Israel yesterday.
However, the US and Israel have angered Lebanese and Syrian leaders by insisting that only US mediation can end the conflict and suggesting that European initiatives are irrelevant.
Two outline peace plans were put forward last week, one originally proposed by the US and the other by France.
The French plan would involve a halt to Israeli attacks on south Lebanon in exchange for a halt to Hizbullah's firing of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. The US plan would require Hizbullah also to cease attacks on Israeli occupation forces within Lebanon's borders.
The US proposal is also believed to suggest that Israel would begin discussing a complete withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon within nine months if the Lebanese government had shown that it could police the peace successfully.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister, Mr Bouez, yesterday accused Mr Peres of closing the door to serious European mediation. He said that Lebanon favoured the French peace proposal rather than that of the US. The French plan was "very realistic" he told reporters in Beirut.
Lebanon fears that accepting the US proposal that Israeli troops occupying part of Lebanon be guaranteed safety would be seen as a recognition of their right to be there.
A US spokesman said yesterday that difficult discussions on achieving a ceasefire still lay ahead.
The 185 member UN General Assembly is to meet in New York this evening, following a request from the 113 member nonaligned group, of which Lebanon is a member. A resolution is expected to be circulated in the Assembly condemning Israel, calling for the withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon and for the payment of reparations. A similar draft, backed by Arab countries, was opposed by the US and failed to win approval last Thursday at the 15 nation Security Council.
At least 155 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel's bombardment of Lebanon to date. Some 50 people were injured in Israel as a result Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israel. At least 300,000 people have fled northwards since the campaign was launched April 11th.
There were demonstrations in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt yesterday against the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.