A third round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon has kicked off in Washington, DC, days before the expiration of a \u201cceasefire\u201d that hardly halted Israeli attacks and Hezbollah\u2019s response to them.<\/p>\n
The talks, which began on Thursday, represent a step towards more serious negotiations, with higher-level envoys from Lebanon and Israel taking part after the initial preparatory sessions were headed by the ambassadors of the two countries to Washington.<\/p>\n
Lebanese officials are hoping that the two-day negotiations will yield a new ceasefire deal and pave the way for tackling a series of thorny issues, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who attended the first Israel-Lebanon meetings in Washington in April, was with US President Donald Trump on a visit to China and did not attend Thursday\u2019s session.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s envoy heading up Thursday\u2019s talks, Simon Karam, is an attorney and well-connected former Lebanese ambassador to the United States who recently represented Lebanon in indirect talks with Israel over implementation of the ceasefire that preceded the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
On the Israeli side, Deputy National Security Adviser Yossi Draznin was set to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want to downplay the significance of these talks, but they are ambassador-level talks, excluding top leadership from Israel, Lebanon and the US,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Manuel Rapalo, reporting from Washington, DC, adding that there is no diplomatic relationship between Lebanon and Israel.<\/p>\n
Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage \u2013 a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah, meanwhile, is not part of the talks and has been vocally opposed to Lebanon engaging in direct negotiations with Israel.<\/p>\n
A lawmaker from the Iran-backed group, Ali Ammar, on Thursday reiterated his group\u2019s rejection of the direct talks, saying they amounted to \u201cfree concessions\u201d to Israel.<\/p>\n
Still, \u201cthere is optimism\u201d, said Al Jazeera\u2019s Rapalo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cessation of hostilities agreement is due to expire on Sunday, so there is an expectation that this will be front and centre in discussions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, the immediate objective is to prevent the situation along the border from escalating into a broader regional conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cautious optimism<\/p>\n
The United Nations earlier on Thursday expressed hope for the new round of direct negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that the latest round of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, planned for today and tomorrow, will contribute to an effective and durable ceasefire and open a path towards lasting peace,\u201d deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told the reporters.<\/p>\n
Haq said the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to observe \u201csignificant\u201d aerial and military activity across its area of operations, including multiple air strikes on Wednesday by Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reiterate our call on all the parties to exercise maximum restraint, ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel and fully respect their obligations under international humanitarian law,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In Lebanon, people also hope for an end to violence as the diplomatic efforts continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people here in southern Lebanon are cautiously optimistic about the possible results from these meetings,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Obaida Hitto, reporting from Tyre, Lebanon.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone understands that Lebanon is not ready for normalisation, legally speaking. There is a part of the constitution that prevents Lebanon from actually having normalisation with Israel. People realise this might be a huge obstacle to move forward and find a way to live in peace with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the Lebanese population wants the violence to stop, said Hitto.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been more than two months of ongoing Israeli strikes, artillery strikes, air strikes, drone strikes, coordinated, systematic demolitions of entire towns and villages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army continues daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire that was announced on April 17 and later extended until May 17.<\/p>\n
Three people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese media reported.<\/p>\n
Since March 2, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 2,896 people, injured over 8,824, and displaced more than 1.6 million, about one-fifth of the country\u2019s population, according to Lebanese officials. In that time, at least 200 children in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli attacks, the UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A third round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon has kicked off in Washington, DC, days before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5348,24689,37,79,849,24690,93,973,1705],"class_list":{"0":"post-114208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-dc","9":"tag-direct-talks","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israeli-attacks","12":"tag-joseph-aoun","13":"tag-lebanese-officials","14":"tag-lebanon","15":"tag-southern-lebanon","16":"tag-washington"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116574907446670775","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}