Snubbing Rice's initiative for Cease Fire, Olmert Will Widen Ground War

A forty-eight hour cease fire is supposed to allow civilians to escape. But of course there are no passable roads left and the young and infirm have no way to do so. So there will be more civilian casualties. While the number is at over 500, time will find many more under the debris.
Rice adds lip service to cease fire talks, while Israelis call up more troops. I suspect Olmert knows he has Bush in his pocket, that Rice won't get support from the President.
WaPo

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed Monday that there "will be no cease-fire in the coming days," and his top security officials unanimously approved a widening of Israel's military operations on the ground in southern Lebanon after a four-hour meeting that ended early Tuesday morning, government officials said.


The decision followed Israel's agreement Sunday to suspend air attacks on south Lebanon for 48 hours. About 12 hours after the suspension took effect, Israeli planes launched strikes in support of ground operations near Taibe. Israeli officials said they reserved the right to continue attacks to prevent an immediate threat. [Israel launched airstrikes against southern Lebanese border villages early Tuesday, hitting Bayyada and Mansoureh, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Lebanese security sources.] Hezbollah launched only four rockets into northern Israel on Monday, police and military officials said, a day after firing more than 150.


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to Washington Monday evening after vowing to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution this week aimed at ending the fighting. State Department officials traveling with her said the resolution would include a cease-fire and the "nearly simultaneous" deployment of international troops to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.