Holy Crap, There's (Still) A War Going On!

Here's a depressing, if not at all surprising, headline:
'U.N.'s Mideast diplomatic efforts falter'

Diplomacy is understandably tough when negotiating between two groups bent on each other's complete annihilation. I remain hopeful that some temporary ceasefire can be reached, but understand this is far from over. From the article-

Diplomatic efforts to reach quick agreement on a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the escalating Israeli-Hezbollah conflict faltered Wednesday over differences between the United States and France on the timing of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon...

...The U.S.-French draft circulated Saturday calls for "a full cessation of hostilities," with Hezbollah immediately stopping all attacks and Israel ending offensive military operations. But Israel would still be allowed to take defensive action and there is no call for the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon, which is Hezbollah's stronghold....

And that is apparently been the issue behind the holdup (surprise, surprise).

The U.N.'s also considering a peacekeeping force to enforce agreements/protect the border.

Americablog has a good entry up skeptical about all this.

Here's a headline, perhaps a sign of how long this is dragging on, I didn't expect to read:
'U.S. directs criticism at Israel'

The White House said Wednesday neither Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their month-old war, a pointed comment after Israel decided to widen its ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Although White House press secretary Tony Snow said the message was for both sides, his remarks came as Israel's Security Cabinet voted to expand the war effort in an attempt to deal further blows to Hezbollah. The criticism was among the administration's strongest concerning longtime ally Israel since the fighting began...

So that's where that stands. Tony Snow also added that "I think at this point it's beyond any of us to come up with a firm prediction about when you get a resolution." Okay then. Even more depressing... Yesterday was the deadliest day for Israeli casualties since this war began; Monday was the deadliest for the people of Lebanon.

UPDATE: A friend on my LiveJournal community blog defends the Israeli point of view.

While another points me to this blog taking a deeper look at the conflict.

[See also previous entries for my personal thoughts on all this:
-Ceasefire?
-Holy Crap, There's A War Going On!

Finally, Yahoo News has a special subsection for the latest news on the conflict.]