Israeli paper and withdrawal from south Lebanon

The Israeli daily Haaretz said on Tuesday that France will urge UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to guarantee Israel's withdrawal to the international borders of 1923 with Lebanon and not to the borders of 1978 in order to keep the Hizbullah Party from having any pretext to continue its operations against Israel.

The Israeli paper indicated that French officials said France studies the possibility of sending forces to south Lebanon in the framework of multinational peacekeeping forces and that France will take Syria's position in this regard into account before taking its decision to this effect.