An adviser to Mr Abbas told the Guardian that all Palestinian politicians were united on the need to free the Israeli soldier and stop all violence in Gaza, but the obstacles were the Israeli government and the Hamas leadership in Damascus.

"The problem is that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have to seek the advice of their political bureaux in Damascus and we are waiting for their response," he said.

Ibrahim al-Naja, a Hamas minister in Ramallah, told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz: "This initiative was presented in an attempt to alleviate Palestinian suffering, but now it depends on Israel, which is showing no indication yet of its willingness for a ceasefire."

The ceasefire has yet to take hold completely but there has been a marked reduction in the number of rockets fired at Israel. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said 16 Qassam rockets were fired at Israel on Sunday, seven on Monday and three on Tuesday. None caused any injuries.

Qais Abu Leila, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the Hizbullah rocket attacks had highlighted the futility of Palestinian attempt to build home-made rockets. "Now it is finally clear to everyone that these rockets do more damage to Palestinians than Israelis," he said.

The Israeli army has withdrawn from all areas of the Gaza Strip but is still firing shells and carrying out air attacks. Five civilians, including two children, were killed by Israeli shells on Monday. An adviser to Amir Peretz, the defence minister, said there was still no agreement but added: "There are negotiations going on."

The raid on Israeli positions by Hamas gunmen on June 25 that left two soldiers dead and one in the hands of Hamas plunged Gaza into crisis. Israel destroyed much of Gaza's infrastructure and killed about 120 Palestinians, including 26 children, without achieving its objectives of freeing the soldier or stopping rocket fire.

One Israeli soldier was killed, possibly by friendly fire, and 14 have been injured. Six Israeli civilians have been hurt by Qassam rockets over the same period. Israeli jets have destroyed bridges, Gaza's only power station and public buildings.

However, the Gaza crisis was quickly overshadowed by Hizbullah's attack on Israel's northern border. The depth of the crisis in Lebanon has reduced the pressure on Gaza and made Israel more amenable to a solution, according to Mr Abbas's aide. Earlier this month, Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, met Mr Abbas in Jordan.

According to the aide, Israel is willing to release Palestinian prisoners in return for Cpl Shalit but insists the exchange will not be simultaneous and its release of prisoners will be described as a "goodwill gesture" and not as a direct exchange.

This has been accepted by Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, and the Hamas political movement but not by Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader in Damascus. Mr Meshal wields considerable power because he controls funds donated by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. The military wing of Hamas, which is holding Cpl Shalit, is particularly dependent on the money from Mr Meshal.

Mr Meshal is susceptible to pressure from his host, Syria. "It appears that Syria's main concern is the investigation into the murder of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. If Syria could be assured that the investigation does not continue, there are indications that Syria would be willing to be helpful on many issues, not just the release of Israeli soldiers," Mr Abbas's aide said.

Syrian agents are among suspects in the ongoing United Nations investigation of the murder of Mr Hariri in Beirut last year.

Mayor Abdul Rahman Bizri has set up a command centre at city hall to deal with the human tide that threatens to overwhelm his city. Sidon now hosts 40,000 refugees from the south, he says. It is the highest concentration outside the capital Beirut and a relatively much heavier burden on the population of 100,000.

"I don't get depressed until late at night before I go to sleep. Then I have time to think that maybe another 4,000 or 5,000 people will come," says Mr Bizri. Hisbig worry is an Israeli assault on the city of Tyre, further south, where 10,000 refugees have congregated. Sidon is 43km south ofBeirut and halfway between Tyre and Beirut.

At least half a millionpeople, about a fifth of the population, have been displaced by the violence. South Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut have been hit the heaviest in the 13 days of fighting.

Most of the displaced complain about being targeted as civilians but some reveal that there were fighters in their villages. During the weekend another surge of refugees fled the south, heeding Israeli warnings to get out of the way of the fighting and adding to the strain on resources.

The humanitarian situation has been made worse by an Israeli sea and air blockade and the targeting of roads and bridges that hinder the distribution of aid, both to the refugees and to the people who have stayed behind.

The UN has now established a humanitarian corridor to Beirut and hopes to get Israeli agreement for convoys further into the country later this week, said relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland in Beirut. He launched an emergency appeal for $150m for Lebanon, "to meet the needs of some 800,000 people over the next three months".

The main highway between Sidon and Beirut was made impassable by missile damage on the first day of hostilities. A car ride that used to take 20 minutes on the modern coastal highway now takes almost two hours along winding mountain roads.

Food is not a big problem for now but there are looming shortages of medicines for chronic illnesses and hospitals are starting to get worried about primary care drugs such as painkillers and antibiotics while they have to care for an influx of wounded from the south.

The refugees who make it to Sidon are exhausted by the long and stressful journey. Their stories are often similar and tell of days of Israeli shelling, shortages of water and food, power outages and cut phone lines.

The village of Aytaroun, right up against the border with Israel, has set up an office in Sidon city hall to help families reunite and co-ordinate relief. Of its 5,600 population, 4,100 have left. At least two families, one of 10 people, were killed when their houses were hit by shelling.

Haidar Mawassi, a farmer from Aytaroun, says that he, his wife and his eight children had to walk for kilometres on end to flee the village and they saw death and destruction, including "corpses", on their way out. But it was worth it because "for the last four days we could only give the children one dry biscuit a day."

Many also recount how they were first told by Israel to leave, only to be hit by Israeli shelling on the road to safety.

But one Shia woman who left the village of Srifa, where at least 10 people were killed in air raids last week, says that she and many other people were angry with Hizbollah's tactics. "The Israelis had spies and the moment a Hizbollah fighter would enter a house, it would get hit. They also hit a school where Hizbollah had made a base."

From a nearby hilltop, Hizbollah fired rockets at Israel. "Of course that is not good. I lost my house," she says.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

Drum is missing at least two things, the first being that government officials don't always tell us the truth - shocking! - and I'd bet the ranch American soldiers will be assigned to this international force for the reasons Drum states above. What's the alternative? Besides which, there's something a bit fishy about Condoleezza Rice's official denial of American participation:

"We are looking at what kind of international assistance force makes sense, but I do not think that it is anticipated that U.S. ground forces are expected for that force."

American forces may not be expected, but they may show up anyway. That, it seems to me, is the clear meaning of Condi's convolutions, a classic non-denying denial if ever there was one. Translated into plain English, this means they're going to have to get Israel to okay the plan, before they spring the idea of sending U.S. troops to defend Israel on Congress and the American people. If they hope to get it through without much congressional opposition, the administration must first run it by the Israelis and get them on board. The Israel lobby will do the rest.

Secondly, Drum dismisses the possible participation of troops from our Arab allies - Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia - on the grounds that ... well, just because. Yet there is no reason why the Jordanians, for example, could not provide security - or the Egyptians. I can't see the Israelis agreeing to the presence of Saudi troops, but the others would be preferable to Hezbollah. Let Arabs take bullets meant for the IDF! And don't forget the religious overtones: Arab Sunnis would be fighting Arab Shi'ites, Iraq's civil war would go regional, and the Sunni card would be played.

In the meantime, as I pointed out in today's column, by the time the Western allies agree on the nature and tasks of a multinational army of occupation in southern Lebanon - I give it three to four months, and that's going at warp drive 10 - the Israelis will continue to pound away at the whole of Lebanon. And you can kiss Beirut goodbye....

"All the politicians are saying, 'Great, great' to the idea of a force, but no one is saying whose soldiers will be on the ground," said one senior European official. "Everyone will volunteer to be in charge of the logistics in Cyprus."

There has been strong verbal support for such a force in public, but also private concerns that soldiers would be seen as allied to Israel and would have to fight Hezbollah guerrillas who do not want foreigners, let alone the Lebanese Army, coming between them and the Israelis.

There is also the burden of history. France - which has called the idea of a force premature - and the United States are haunted by their last participation in a multinational force in Lebanon, after the Israeli invasion in 1982, when they became belligerents in the Lebanese civil war and tangled fatally with Hezbollah.

They withdrew in defeat after Hezbollah's suicide bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983, which killed 241 American service members and 58 French paratroopers.

Israel's own public position toward an international force has been welcoming, but skeptical, insisting that it be capable of military missions, not just peacekeeping.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested that the force could be made up of soldiers from both European and Arab states, while his defense minister, Amir Peretz, spoke of soldiers from NATO countries.

But Israel senses no great willingness among leading European countries to take part, and Israeli officials emphasize that they will not accept an end to hostilities until clear policy goals are met.

For the moment, at least, Israel is laying out an ambitious, if perhaps unrealistic, view of what the force would do. Israel wants it to keep Hezbollah away from the border, allow the Lebanese government and army to take control over all of its territory, and monitor Lebanon's borders to ensure that Hezbollah is not resupplied with weapons.

Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, laid out the goals in a meeting on Sunday with senior officials of the British, German and French governments. Ms. Livni told them that Israel's goal was to disarm Hezbollah and that either the Israeli Army or an international force would have to do it, said officials from those four countries who were familiar with the discussion at the meeting.

By contrast, the Europeans, including Britain, France and Germany, envision a much less robust international buffer force, one that would follow a cease-fire and operate with the consent of the Lebanese government in southern Lebanon.

Such a situation would mean that Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, would be part of a decision that led to its own disarming and the protection of Israel, which the Europeans see as far-fetched.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who began a trip to the region on Monday with a quick first stop in Beirut, will hold an international meeting on the crisis in Rome on Wednesday, when a multinational force will be a prime topic. But she has already ruled out the participation of American troops.

On Monday, Germany's defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, said Berlin would be willing to participate if both Israel and Hezbollah requested German participation and if certain tough conditions were met. These include a cease-fire and the release of the captured Israeli soldiers.

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair said he hoped a plan, including an international force, a mutual cease-fire and the release of the captured soldiers, could be negotiated and announced in the next few days.

"If someone's got a better plan, I'd like to hear it," he said.

But Britain has also made clear in private diplomatic exchanges that with thousands of its troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, it could not be counted on to send troops into still another theater.

As for France, which already has troops in Lebanon as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force known as Unifil, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy left his meetings with Israeli leaders on Sunday convinced that the idea of a new international force for Lebanon was "premature," French officials said.

The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Monday in Brussels that an international force would not be "an easy force to deploy," but added that talks were under way about such a force under a United Nations Security Council mandate.

"I think several member states of the European Union will be ready to provide all necessary assistance," he said, but did not name the countries.

Mr. Solana is said to be wary of a NATO-led force, another senior European Union official said. "NATO is too identified with the United States," the official said. "It would be Iraq all over again."

At NATO headquarters, officials said they were taken by surprise by comments of Israeli officials that they would welcome a NATO-led force to secure their border.

"No request has been made to NATO," said James Appathurai, a NATO spokesman. "The possibility, the shape, the structure of any international force - none of them has been seriously addressed."

In an ambitious new mission, NATO is scheduled to take over military operations from the American-led coalition in Afghanistan at the end of the month.

The challenge of creating a viable international force to secure Israel's border with Lebanon was captured by Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot. The European foreign ministers were enthusiastic, he said.

"They only had one small condition for the force to be made up of soldiers from another country," Mr. Barnea wrote. "The Germans recommended France; the French recommended Egypt, and so on. It is doubtful whether there is a single country in the West currently volunteering to lay down its soldiers on Hezbollah's fence."

Elaine Sciolino reported from Paris for this article, and Steven Erlanger from Jerusalem. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

The PM said: "I hope I am a reasonable person. I don't want the killing to go on. I want the killing to stop now. If it is to stop it has to on both sides."

But he warned any ceasefire must have strings attached - that Hizbollah release the two snatched Israeli soldiers that sparked the conflict and stop firing rockets across the border.

And he refused to call on Israel to halt its fierce bombardment of Lebanese towns and cities. At one point he even even suggested its retaliation was expected.

Speaking as the conflict reached its 13th day, he added: "We deeply regret the loss of innocent life in the Lebanon and Israel. I want to make one thing very clear...we are working very hard to put in place a plan that will allow the immediate cessation of hostilities.

"Of course we are all concerned to see this on both sides. It's important that it happens because what's occurring at the present time in the Lebanon is a catastrophe.

"Some will want me to go further to

condemn Israel. If I don't condemn Israel it means I don't really care about Lebanon but none of that means anything." Mr Blair's mood darkened as he was quizzed on plans for a short-term stabilisation force on Israel's northern border.

He said: "If someone has got a better plan I would like to hear it because I am trying to make it happen. You need to get this underway now."

But Mr Blair was embarrassed when Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki condemned Israel for "excessive force" at a joint press conference inside No 10.

The PM has come under sustained attack for failing to join worldwide criticism of the Israeli military tactics, called a "violation of humanitarian law" by the UN.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's peace mission to Lebanon was branded an empty-handed gesture as she arrived in Beirut yesterday.

Her insistence that Hizbollah free the two Israeli soldiers and pull back from the border before any ceasefire appeared to offer nothing new to a war-weary nation.

A source said the tone of her meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was "very negative".

A US official with her said she will pledge aid for the 600,000 people Lebanese displaced by the attacks. Dr Rice, who flew into Israel last night, added: "I am deeply concerned about the Lebanese people and what they are enduring."

Two Israeli pilots were killed yesterday when their Apache attack helicopter crash-landed near the Lebanese border. Officials denied it was shot down by Hizbollah.

And two Israeli soldiers died in fierce clashes near the village of Bint Jbeil, just inside Lebanon. At least 20 others were wounded in the fighting.

The casualties brought the Israeli death toll to 37. In Lebanon, 384 people have died.

Hizbollah has fired around 1,100 rockets into Israel since the conflict began.

Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell yesterday urged the PM to suspend further arms exports to Israel.

I want the killing to stop. I want the killing to stop on both sides TONY BL AIR YESTERDAY

I am deeply concerned about the Lebanese people and what they are enduring CONDI RICE YESTERDAY

PEACEOMETER 013 DAYS 421 AND STILL BLAIR WON'T CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE

Ms Rice's diplomatic tour comes as Israeli forces continue operations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

They have resumed bombing targets in Beirut - after a lull during Ms Rice's visit on Tuesday.

Some 380 Lebanese and up to 40 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of conflict in Lebanon, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July.

Another soldier was seized by Palestinian militants earlier.

Root causes

After meeting Mr Abbas in Ramallah on the West Bank, Ms Rice said: "I assured the president that we have great concerns about the suffering of innocent peoples throughout the region."

Mr Abbas called for an immediate end to "aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank" and for an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon.

Ms Rice said the only solution was a sustainable peace - "one that can deal with the causes of extremism and lead to the establishment of sovereignty for the Lebanese government throughout its territory".

As Ms Rice continued her diplomatic shuffle, Israel maintained its operations in Lebanon, sealing off Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold which has been the scene of a fierce battle since the Israelis took the nearby village of Maroun al-Ras on Saturday.

A number of Hezbollah militants are believed to be holding out in the town.

Israel has been carrying out heavily shelling, but Hezbollah guerrillas are still managing to fire their Katyusha rockets.

A 15-year-old Arab-Israeli girl was killed when a rocket hit her house in the northern Israeli village of Maghar.

Haifa, Israel's third largest city, has been hit by at least a dozen rockets fired from inside Lebanon. An elderly man died of a heart attack as he tried to take shelter.

The Lebanese coastal city of Tyre is seeing heavy Israeli bombardment of the hills south of the city both from Israel and from the sea.

Further north, seven members of one family, including two children, were killed in an overnight air strike in the town of Nabatiyeh.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appealed to the world to stop the Israeli offensive saying that if not it could engulf the entire Middle East in war.

'New' Middle East

In his meeting with Ms Rice, Mr Olmert said he was "very conscious" of the humanitarian needs of Lebanon's civilians, but insisted Israel was defending itself against terrorism.

He said Israel was not at war with the Lebanese people, but with Hezbollah, which he described as a terrorist organisation, insisting that Israel would take the "most severe measures" against it.

Correspondents say that Ms Rice was unlikely to have called for an end to Israel's military offensive during her talks with the Israeli leader.

The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson, in Jerusalem, says it was understood that Ms Rice would tell Israel that the US will allow it more time to continue its military operations.

Ms Rice has, however, also been highlighting the need for Israel to consider the humanitarian needs of both Lebanon and the Palestinian people and the need for a durable peace.

She said: "It is time for a new Middle East, it is time to say to those who do not want a different kind of Middle East that we will prevail; they will not."

Ms Rice arrived in Israel from Beirut, where she met Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Correspondents say there is disappointment in Lebanon that the talks did not result in more concrete action and calls for an immediate ceasefire.