A new push to wind down the Middle East wars faces familiar challenges

Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The United States and other mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration’s final months.

Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties have shown any sign of backing down from their demands.

Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein are scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday for talks on possible cease-fires in both Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of hostages held by Hamas. CIA Director Bill Burns will go to Egypt to discuss those efforts.

A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border, two other officials familiar with the talks said.

But Israel is unlikely to trust U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to keep Hezbollah out of a reestablished buffer zone in Lebanon. It wants the freedom to strike the militants if needed. Lebanese officials want a complete withdrawal.

Separately, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have proposed a four-week cease-fire in Gaza during which Hamas would release up to 10 hostages, according to an Egyptian official and a Western diplomat.

But Hamas still appears unwilling to release scores of hostages without securing a lasting cease-fire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even after the killing of its top leader, Yahya Sinwar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on lasting Israeli control over parts of the territory.

In Lebanon, a push to revive the UN resolution that ended the last war

During his visit to Beirut last week, Hochstein met with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. They agreed on a roadmap on how to implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

The resolution stipulates a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory, and withdrawal of all armed forces except for U.N. peacekeepers and the Lebanese army from the area south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah’s newly chosen leader, Naim Kassem, said the group will not “beg” for a cease-fire. “If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” he said during a televised address.

Israel has not publicly commented on the proposal to end the fighting in Lebanon, which started more than a year ago and dramatically intensified in mid-September. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, told a Lebanese TV station that he spoke with Hochstein ahead of his trip to Israel and was “cautiously optimistic.”

U.S. officials say there are competing proposals being discussed for a cease-fire in Lebanon, including one idea calling for an immediate truce followed by two months to fully implement the resolution.

The Lebanese official said that once a cease-fire is reached, a 60-day period will start in which the Lebanese army and the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL would deploy in the border area as Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters withdraw.

The Lebanese official said the roadmap includes increasing the number of U.N. peacekeepers from 10,000 to 15,000 and boosting the number of Lebanese troops south of the Litani from 4,000 to 15,000.

Resolution 1701 also called for “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon,” including Hezbollah, but that is not part of the initial implementation phase under the current proposal.

Another official familiar with the talks said Israel has requested that any deal include measures to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and guarantees that Israel would be able to act in the buffer zone to combat threats from the militant group.

It is unclear if Lebanon would agree to a deal that allows Israel to continue military operations on Lebanese territory. Lebanese officials have insisted there should be no alteration to Resolution 1701, which stipulates a full Israeli withdrawal.

Hezbollah has said it will not halt its rocket fire on Israel unless there is a cease-fire in Gaza. It is not clear whether that stance has changed after the killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several other top commanders in Israeli airstrikes last month.

The U.S. hopes the cease-fire initiatives can prevent the war in Lebanon from becoming as destructive as the war in Gaza, even as it supports Israel’s efforts to clear out Hezbollah infrastructure along the country’s southern border, said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Mediators propose a limited cease-fire in Gaza

The U.S., Egypt and Qatar have proposed a four-week cease-fire in Gaza in which eight to 10 hostages would be released, according to a senior Egyptian official.

Under the plan, humanitarian aid to Gaza would be scaled up, but there would be no guarantees of future talks on a permanent cease-fire, the official said.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children.

Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The latest proposal is based on an initiative by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who proposed a two-day cease-fire in exchange for the release of four hostages last week.

Netanyahu, who has always said he is open to temporary truces for the release of hostages, said in a statement that he had not received a formal proposal based on the Egyptian initiative but “would have accepted it immediately.”

Hamas has said it is open to discussing alternative proposals but has stood by its demands for a lasting cease-fire, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Egyptian official said the mediators were not optimistic.

A Western diplomat in Cairo confirmed that their government had been briefed on the proposal, saying it was being pursued in parallel to the efforts for a cease-fire in Lebanon. Both officials in Egypt spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks.

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Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war