JERUSALEM, March 12 (JTA) — The secretary-general of the United Nations is denying reports that he has a plan for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Speaking in New York, Kofi Annan was quoted as saying that there already is a mediator for the Middle East — the United States. His remarks followed an Israeli media report that Annan planned to bring with him a proposal for resolving the dispute over southern Lebanon when he visits the region this month. Israel’s Channel Two television reported this week that the five-point plan had a decent possibility of being accepted by Israel, Lebanon and Syria. According to the report, the plan includes: * Israel’s acceptance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, which calls for a troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israel maintains a nine-mile-wide security zone in southern Lebanon to protect its northern settlements; * immediate deployment of Lebanese army troops in the areas from which Israel pulls out; * continued monitoring of the agreements reached after the 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath, in which Israel launched an assault in order to stop Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks; * widening the U.N. peacekeeping mandate in South Lebanon; and * the opening of talks among the parties. In response to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had not received any details of such an initiative. The U.N. secretary-general’s trip, scheduled from March 17-26, includes stops in Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian autonomous areas.
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