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US envoy Amos Hochstein will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday in a fresh push by Washington to negotiate a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US blueprint for the deal includes an initial 60-day ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group, and is based on a UN resolution that ended the last major round of hostilities between the two sides in 2006. was Any deal requires Hezbollah. to withdraw its forces from the disputed border.
But there are differences on key details, including how any agreement would be implemented. Israel has demanded the ability to take military action to enforce the deal – something Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have rejected.
Hochstein, who has spent the past year trying to broker a deal, arrived in Israel on Wednesday night after two days of talks with Lebanese officials, saying in Beirut that there had been “further progress” and that he would “try to Will and will make it here. One stop if we can”.
On Wednesday night, he met with Netanyahu’s close associate, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, according to Israeli media. Netanyahu’s Likud party said Hochstein was due to meet with the prime minister on Thursday afternoon.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since the Lebanese militant group fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas following the October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian militant group on Israel.
Fighting has escalated in recent months, with Israel launching a devastating bombing campaign and launching a ground invasion of Lebanon in October.
More than 3,500 people in Lebanon and more than 120 Israelis have been killed in the fighting, according to officials from both countries.
Before Hochstein’s arrival, Israeli officials had insisted that Israel would demand freedom to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon if Israel violated an agreement.
“A prerequisite for any political settlement in Lebanon is the protection of intelligence capabilities and the right of the Israel Defense Forces to operate and protect Israeli civilians from Hezbollah,” the country’s new Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
However, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have made it clear that they will reject any agreement that gives the Israeli military freedom of movement in Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s new secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Wednesday that Hezbollah had received and commented on the latest U.S. proposal, adding that through Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabiah Bari. He has had “detailed discussions” with Hochstein.
But he insisted that negotiations “must protect Lebanon’s sovereignty, meaning that the Israeli enemy has no right to violate, kill or enter at will”.
Lebanese officials have said the ceasefire talks are based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between the two sides and allowed Israeli troops to leave Lebanon and Hezbollah to about 30 kilometers from the border. needed to return north of the Litani River at a distance of
The resolution was never implemented, with Hezbollah maintaining a military presence in southern Lebanon. Both sides accuse each other of violating the resolution.
There is also deep distrust in Beirut about whether Israel will abide by the ceasefire. “We are facing decisive days,” Berri told the Lebanese daily Aleva on Wednesday. “Either Netanyahu accepts and the war is over, or he refuses as usual and we go from bad to worse.”
Diplomats hope the deal between Israel and Hezbollah will make it easier to secure a separate deal to end the fighting with Hamas in Gaza. Those negotiations are deadlocked. On Wednesday, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.
