Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told President-elect Donald Trump and Jared Kushner this week that Israel is “rushing” to advance a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing three current and former Israeli officials briefed on the meeting.
According to the report, the aim is to “deliver an early foreign policy win to Trump.”
As YWN reported on Tuesday, Dermer, one of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, met with Trump and Kushner on Sunday to clarify the president-elect’s stance on Middle East issues before flying to Washington to meet with Biden administration officials.
“There is an understanding that Israel would gift something to Trump … that in January there will be an understanding about Lebanon,” an Israeli official said.
Although Trump has said he wants to end the wars in the Middle East, he also told Netanyahu in a phone call last month to “do what you have to do” against Hezbollah and Hamas, the report said.
One of the Israeli officials told the Post that Netanyahu has long been planning for “a new era in Washington” – well before Election Day – with Netanyahu maintaining regular contact with Trump and Dermer with Kushner.
Negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal with Lebanon, with the help of Russia, are ongoing but no plan has yet been presented to Hezbollah. One of Israel’s main conditions for a ceasefire is an allowance for military action in Lebanon in the case of violations of the deal.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, asserts that it will not accept any plan allowing Israel to operate on Lebanese soil.
Kan‘s Arab Affairs Correspondent Roi Kais on Thursday posted a photo of the front page of the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, translating the title into Hebrew: “We have nothing to do with negotiations between Israel and the US. There are no security guarantees for the enemy. The resistance is bombarding the heart of Tel Aviv.”
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is a Hezbollah ally and involved in the negotiations, said on Tuesday: “Is there any sane person who believes that we will agree to a settlement or a solution that serves Israel’s interests at the expense of Lebanon’s interests and sovereignty?”
Another source close to Hezbollah said the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.”
In Israel, newly appointed Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Tuesday denied reports of a ceasefire with Lebanon.
