France to ask Israel to lift Lebanon blockade

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Thursday he planned to ask his Israeli counterpart to lift her country's air and sea blockade of Lebanon. Tzipi Livni was to meet with Douste-Blazy in Paris to discuss the implementation of a UN Security Council resolution that called for an end to more than a month of fighting between Israel and Hizbullah. "I am going to tell her to lift the blockade of ports and airports because this cannot go on," Douste-Blazy said in an interview on France-2 television. "If Lebanon is going to be reconstructed, if Lebanon is going to take off economically, the blockade must be lifted." Livni's visit to Paris comes less than a week after the French disappointed the United Nations by pledging only 200 new troops to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon.