PM: Israeli-Lebanese outstanding issues are not negotiable
The office of Lebanon”s Prime Minster responded to the call by Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert for negotiations between Lebanon and Syria by stating that the "outstanding issues between Lebanon and Israel are not subject to negotiations".
The Lebanese government statement added: "All the issues are governed by international resolutions binding on Israel, especially the 425 and 1701 resolutions."
"I would have liked that after the announcement of the talks with Syria the Lebanese government would have announced its willingness to open direct bilateral talks with Israel," a senior official quoted Olmert as saying on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting.
"I see many advantages in this," Olmert said.
Both Israel and Syria announced last month that they were holding indirect negotiations brokered by Turkey, eight years after their last attempt at peacemaking broke down, when the current Defense Minister Ehud Barak was the prime Minister of Israel.
Israel went to war in Lebanon in July 2006 after Hezbollah militia kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. The war lasted 34 days and ended with a ceasefire and UN resolution 1701. Over 1200 Lebanese were killed and the infrastructure of the country that took former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri 15 years to build was destroyed during the first few days of the war.
Assad made same suggestion as Olmert
Syrian president Bashar al Assad made the same suggestion to Lebanon, by urging Lebanon to start negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. But Lebanon has had a bad experience in negotiating peace treaties with Israel. On May 17 1983 a peace agreement was signed between Lebanon and Israel during the Lebanese Civil War, after Israel invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut in 1982. The agreement was signed by the United States , Israel and Lebanon. Former Lebanese President Amin Gemaye signed the agreement arguing that close relations to the US could help create peace and restore Lebanese sovereignty, which he saw as threatened not only by the Israeli occupation but also by the Syrian occupation of much of the north of the country and the Bekaa valley
The agreement called for the Lebanese Army to take over Israeli positions. Because the army collapsed in February 1984, Lebanon could not keep its side of the agreement. Furthermore Syria opposed the agreement and by refusing to move its troops from Lebanese soil, Damascus effectively torpedoed its implementation, since Israeli withdrawal was contingent on Syria doing the same.
This is precisely why Progressive Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt called Assad”d tip on negotiating with Israel " a trap in which we will not fall".