Direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week, a senior Israeli official has confirmed, a landmark development that marks the first formal talks between the two countries in decades.
The opening meeting will take place at the State Department in Washington © Mena Today
Direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week, a senior Israeli official has confirmed, a landmark development that marks the first formal talks between the two countries in decades.
The information was first reported by Israeli journalist Barak David, who is widely regarded as well-sourced on Israeli government affairs.
According to the official, the opening meeting will take place at the State Department in Washington. The American side will be led by Michel Issa, the US Ambassador to Lebanon. Israel will be represented by its Ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, while Lebanon will send its own Ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh-Moawad.
The choice of Washington as the venue, and the State Department as the host, signals strong American involvement in shepherding what could become a historic agreement. The US is clearly not content to play a background role.
The talks come at a moment of dramatic convergence. Lebanon's government has just declared Beirut a Hezbollah weapons-free zone and tasked its army with enforcing a monopoly on arms in the capital. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had earlier stated that Israel wanted peace talks with Lebanon to begin "as soon as possible." Both governments now appear to mean it.
If the negotiations succeed, they would produce something that has eluded the region for more than seventy years: a formal peace between Israel and Lebanon, and the removal of the Iranian proxy that made that peace impossible for so long.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that Lebanon is waiting for the United States to set a date for the start of formal negotiations with Israel, as the two countries navigate a delicate diplomatic process that has already yielded two rounds of preparatory talks in Washington.
Ukraine has requested that Israel seize a vessel carrying grain it says was stolen from areas occupied by Russia, its top prosecutor said on Wednesday, after the shipment sparked a diplomatic tussle between the countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to 'get smart soon' and sign a deal, following days of deadlock in efforts to end the conflict and a media report that the U.S. would extend its blockade of Iran's ports.
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