Israel 'not in hurry' for ceasefire: Olmert

JERUSALEM: Israel is not in a hurry to agree to a ceasefire in its offensive against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday.

"Israel is in no rush to reach a ceasefire before we get to a point where we could say that we have achieved the main objectives we had set forth," Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"And this requires a maturing of the diplomatic process and reaching a detailed agreement on the multinational force," he said.

Olmert spoke a day after holding talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is back in the region to try to find a way to end the conflict in Lebanon, now in its 19th day.

Rice and officials with her did not release any details of the talks, but Israeli media reported that Washington's top diplomat did not pressure Israel on a date for a ceasefire.

According to Israeli government sources cited in the media, the two discussed proposals for a multinational force that Israel wants deployed in southern Lebanon to keep Hezbollah away from its border.