News Desk
The Cradle / October 22, 2024
Washington and Tel Aviv are pushing for several new additions to UN Resolution 1701 that the Lebanese government has rejected.
The proposal presented by senior White House envoy Amos Hochstein to Lebanese officials for a “ceasefire” in Lebanon is, in fact, an “offer of surrender,” Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on 22 October, citing several diplomatic sources.
According to the Arab diplomatic sources, Hochstein was informed by Israeli officials before arriving in Lebanon that Tel Aviv is not willing to accept any agreement that does not meet its conditions.
The report said Hochstein and his team tried to draft a document to present to officials in Lebanon but were “unable to find a formula” that would make Tel Aviv’s demands acceptable to Beirut.
The sources added that before his visit to Beirut, Hochstein relayed messages to Lebanese officials saying that Lebanon is “not in a position to discuss much, and that its failure to accept the proposal means that the war will continue and will be more severe.”
Hochstein reportedly presented a document outlining the US vision for an amended version of UN Resolution 1701, which was drafted at the end of the 2006 war.
The document calls to change the language of the introduction to the UN Resolution, making it an agreement “aimed at establishing peace on the borders between Lebanon and Israel and preventing any armed presence in the Lebanese areas near these borders,” Al-Akhbar reported.
“It is requested that the geographical scope of the international decision-making authority be expanded to a distance of several kilometers north of the Litani River, at least two kilometers,” the report adds, citing details from the proposal, which also calls for “a significant increase in the number of international forces operating within the peacekeeping forces, and an increase in the number of Lebanese army forces that are supposed to be deployed in that region [as part of Resolution 1701].”
Hochstein’s proposal, according to the sources, includes expanding the mandate of international forces who would be present in Lebanon with the right to carry out “surprise patrols” and inspections of any homes, vehicles, or sites suspected of holding weapons.
The amendments proposed by Hochstein also call for deploying inspection teams to Lebanon’s airports and setting up watchtowers in the north and south of the country.
Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was reportedly “very clear” with Hochstein that he rejects any amendment to UN Resolution 1701, and there “is a Lebanese consensus to implement it, and that any attempt to amend it will destroy the opportunity to implement it.”
Berri told Hochstein that the US should look for ways to implement the resolution in a way that guarantees Israel will respect it, and that nobody in Lebanon would accept what the White House envoy is offering.
According to the information cited by Al-Akhbar, the Lebanese government is generally in agreement on the rejection of any discussion regarding the resistance’s weapons “outside the geographical scope” of the agreement at the present moment. Resolution 1701 calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
“Any discussion or research cannot address the resistance’s weapons outside the geographical scope of Resolution 1701, and that there is no room to expand this scope under any pretext,” Al-Akhbar says, detailing the Lebanese position.
It also rejects the presence of any international forces along the Syrian border, and insists that no representatives of any new countries be added to the international troops already present in Lebanon.
A Lebanese official who spoke with Al-Akhbar said, “Hochstein came to intimidate and to spread terror, and he was clear in everything he said that his country and Israel refuse to return to Resolution 1701 in its current form. He said explicitly that this formula is a thing of the past.”
Hochstein said during meetings with Lebanese officials on Monday that Resolution 1701 is “not enough.”
US and Israeli officials told Axios on 21 October that Israel’s conditions for a “ceasefire” include continued ground operations in south Lebanon and unrestricted access to Lebanese airspace.
After the 2006 war, Israel continued to encroach on Lebanese territory and airspace in violation of Resolution 1701, prompting Hezbollah to establish a strong presence along the border in the years that followed the end of the war.
The Lebanese government says Israel has violated the resolution more than 30,000 times since 2006.
Hezbollah has rejected all western attempts to separate the Lebanese front from Gaza. It vows to continue its operations until a ceasefire is reached in the besieged strip, and refuses any discussion on Resolution 1701 or the border situation until this is achieved.
