EU head calls Israel's Lebanon action unacceptable

BRUSSELS, Aug 1 (Reuters) European Union foreign ministers were set to call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon as they began emergency talks on the crisis today, a draft statement obtained by Reuters showed.

The draft, circulated as ministers of the 25-nation bloc began a rare August meeting, also warned of violations of international law in the three-week-old fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas without naming one side as perpetrator.

''The (EU) Council called for an immediate ceasefire,'' the statement drafted by current EU president Finland said.

''Disregard for necessary precautions to avoid loss of civilian life constitutes a severe breach of international humanitarian law,'' it said, expressing ''utmost concern'' at Lebanese and Israeli civilian casualties.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, chairing the meeting, branded Israel's decision to step up military action against Hizbollah unacceptable and said it was unlikely to succeed and would only fuel support for West Asia extremists.

''It is unacceptable for Israel to continue with its current policy,'' he told reporters, adding the 25-nation bloc must take a united stance at the risk of spelling out its difference with the United States, which backs Israel.

It was not immediately clear whether Britain, which has so far backed the US line that a ceasefire must be ''sustainable'' -- seen as a green light for Israel to go on bombing Hizbollah -- would sign up to the statement, which requires unanimity. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, arriving for the meeting, declined to be drawn on differences within the EU.

''What we all have to achieve today is to get an agreement to call for an end of violence, to get the basis of a political agreement, to see whether we can get common ground on what could be the mandate and what could be the approach to deploy an international force,'' she told reporters.

More Reuters BDP GC1909