Shaiel Ben-Ephraim
Talks between Israel and Lebanon are going nowhere, largely because Israel is trying to torpedo them. Their conduct in negotiations is clearly set to stall talks and allow Israel to continue to destroy south Lebanon and renew full scale fighting at will:
1) Israel insists that any withdrawal be conditional on Hezbollah disarming, something that will never happen and which Lebanon is incapable of doing to begin with.
2) It refuses to take a phased approach which Beirut wants to help it rebuild capacity. Lebanon's plan is to get US buy-in for gradual disarmament paired with Israeli withdrawal from areas where confrontation would be minimal. Israel's all-or-nothing sequencing blocks it.
3) Israel is refusing to provide an actionable timetable for talks. That is weakening the government and strengthening Hezbollah since it is showing the government cannot get concessions form Israel.
4) Making public statements that show that Israel has no intention of withdrawing at all. Katz said, "The IDF is here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza… under no circumstances will we withdraw from the security zones: not in Lebanon, not in Syria and not in Gaza."
5) Systematically violating the ceasefire. Conduct on the ground. Continuous strikes and assassinations of Hezbollah commanders, described as continuing "as if there were no ceasefire," and read in Lebanon as intent to resume full-scale war.
6) Israel is constantly expanding the "yellow line" in Lebanon and the territory it occupies. It is also demolishing villages relentlessly. It is also building a road network and permanent bases,taken as proof of intent to stay long-term.
Israel is doing in Lebanon what it did in Palestine. Refusing to make deals with moderates, thus strengthening the organizations they supposedly fight. Making an occupation permanent and destroying entire villages and turning talks into a joke.
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