...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....will hold talks next week in Washington after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct talks, a U.S. official said Thursday.
"We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon," a State Department official said, confirming an earlier account from a source familiar with the diplomatic efforts.
Israel has said that the Lebanon invasion, in which it is targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah, is not affected by a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
The first in-person meeting in the expected negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will take place on Tuesday in Washington,
…does that mean they’ll actually meet face to face instead of the usual separate rooms with the intermediary walking up and down the hall to tell each what the other said, lest the Moslem party be polluted by having to see and hear a real, live Israeli?
a US official familiar with the details told The Times of Israel on Friday, following reported pressure on Jerusalem from the Trump administration to start peace talks and scale back strikes against Hezbollah. They always report that President Trump is putting heavy pressure on Bibi, or is mad about Bibi’s recalcitrance, but repeatedly it has turned out that the two of them had together carefully plotted their approach, probably giggling madly at the thought of how they were fooling everyone.
The talks, which will be hosted at the US State Department, come amid reports of alarm from the White House over the scale of Israel’s massive wave of strikes in Lebanon following the ceasefire announcement between the US and Iran on Wednesday.Ahead of next week’s meeting, which both countries later confirmed, Washington and Beirut are pushing Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon as a demonstration of Jerusalem’s seriousness about reaching an agreement, according to a Friday report, though Israel has insisted that talks take place under fire.
Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Hamadeh, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and US Ambassador to Beirut Michel Issa – respectively leading the Lebanese, Israeli and US delegations – will be in attendance.
A preparatory phone meeting between the three officials was held later Friday, marking the first ever call between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors.
A statement from Lebanon’s presidency on the call said it was part of diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire and launching negotiations, adding that the two sides agreed to hold the first meeting on Tuesday at the US State Department under Washington’s mediation.
Leiter meanwhile said he told his Lebanese counterpart that Israel is not prepared to cease fighting against Hezbollah, which continued to fire rockets at northern Israeli communities into earlier Saturday morning, setting off sirens but resulting in no injuries.
“In the conversation earlier today in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington, together with US ambassador to Lebanon, and under the auspices of the US State Department, Israel agreed to begin formal peace negotiations this coming Tuesday,” Leiter said in a statement.
“Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries,” he added.
There was no direct comment on the meeting from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the premier said a day earlier that Israel would begin negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” aimed at disarming Hezbollah and reaching a full peace agreement between the countries.
According to Channel 12, the US is continuing its pressure on Israel to agree to a truce ahead of the negotiations, arguing that the ceasefire would be framed as an achievement by the Lebanese government, as opposed to a win for Iran, which has been demanding its truce with the US cover Lebanon, to no avail.
Israel hasn’t yet made a decision on the matter, but there are some senior officials in Jerusalem arguing in favor of agreeing to a ceasefire, as it would merely return the sides to the terms of the previous truce from November 2024, under which the IDF is allowed to carry out attacks against Hezbollah threats deemed imminent.
Such strikes have taken place in southern Lebanon over the past year and a half on a very regular basis.
For its part, Hezbollah urged Beirut to stand firm, with terror group chief Naim Qassem telling the Lebanese government to stop giving “free concessions” to Israel.
“We will not accept a return to the previous situation, and we call on officials to stop offering free concessions,” Qassem said in a written message broadcast on the party’s Al-Manar TV, in which he also denounced the “bloody criminality on Wednesday,” referring to Israel’s major strikes.
Dozens of supporters of the Iran-backed group protested outside the Lebanese prime minister’s office in central Beirut on Friday, calling the move towards talks a surrender to Israel.
“Our blood has been spilled on this land, and our state is conspiring against us,” said protester Hassan Shuaib. “Our state wants to kill us; our state wants to strip us of our weapons.”