US special envoy Amos Hochstein urged Israel, Lebanon, and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah to seize the opportunity before them and agree to a ceasefire that would end the war that has raged since October 8.
“We have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end,” Hochstein told reporters in Beirut on Tuesday, adding, “This is a moment of decision-making.”
He spoke amid the Biden administration’s optimism that an opportunity to end the war is close. Both Israel and Lebanon have seen a US proposal for a ceasefire which is based on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006 but was never fully implemented.
That resolution bans the operation of armed non-state actors such as Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon between the Litani River and Israel’s northern border.
A ceasefire agreement is expected to have an implementation mechanism to ensure that Hezbollah cannot re-arm and is likely to create a wider buffer zone such that Hezbollah would be behind the Litani River.
Among Israel’s controversial demands has been the insistence that the IDF must be able to strike Hezbollah military targets as well as arms smuggling routes, including at the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Narrowing the gaps in 'constructive' talks
Hochstein is holding talks in Lebanon to finalize details regarding the ceasefire. He spoke with reporters after meeting Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri but before discussions with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Both men are supportive of the US ceasefire efforts.
The special envoy said his conversation with Berri was “very constructive and very helpful” and “we have continued to narrow the gaps” between all the sides.
His goal while in Beirut, Hochstein said, was to help facilitate decision-making around a ceasefire deal.
“But it’s ultimately the decision of the parties to reach a conclusion to this conflict,” he stressed, adding that the end of the war, “is now within our grasp.”
“As the window is now, I hope the coming days yield a resolute decision,” he said.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) expressed the skepticism felt in Israel about the deal, telling The Jerusalem Post, “It is very far from being finalized.”
The sticking point, he explained, is the IDF ability to continue to strike at Hezbollah in Lebanon should it pose a danger to Israel, by way of ensuring compliance with the deal.
“It’s no wonder that the thing that is most important to us, that should be in the agreement, is most important to Hezbollah not to be in the agreement,” Edelstein said.
“I am obviously talking about the [IDF’s] freedom to act after the agreement is signed,” he said.
“All the rest is negotiable.”
IDF freedom of movement is particularly important should the Lebanese army be tasked with ensuring compliance with the deal.
It’s important, he said, that in case Hezbollah tries to rebuild its military potential, the Israeli army would be able to act, especially against the smuggling of weapons.
Should the IDF’s freedom to act be in the agreement, it’s possible to sign it, Edelstein said.
A top Lebanese official told Reuters on Monday that his government and Hezbollah have agreed to the US ceasefire proposal.
Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, said Lebanon had delivered its written response to the US ambassador in Lebanon on Monday.
“Lebanon presented its comments on the paper in a positive atmosphere,” Khalil said, declining to give further details. “All the comments that we presented affirm the precise adherence to [UN] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” he said.
Berri’s aide said the success of the initiative now depended on Israel, and that if Israel did not want a solution, “it could make 100 problems.”
Israel, he charged, was trying to negotiate while keeping Lebanon “under fire,” a reference to an escalation of its bombardment of Beirut and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. “This won’t affect our position,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blunt about that strategy, telling the Knesset plenum on Monday that Israel was negotiating with Lebanon under fire.
Reuters contributed to this report.