The United States, France and other allies, including the European Union, have launched a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon that would take effect immediately, to allow negotiations to take place that could end the conflict between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah that has left more than 600 dead in the Arab country due to Israeli bombings in recent days.
In a joint statement, the countries said the current situation “is intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of regional escalation. This is in the interest of no one, neither the Israeli people nor the people of Lebanon.”
“The time has come to reach a diplomatic agreement that will allow civilians on both sides of the border to return home safely,” the White House statement said. But it also acknowledged that “diplomacy cannot succeed in the midst of an escalating conflict.”
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for months, in incidents that forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes on both sides of the Blue Line, the demarcation line between southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Now tensions have soared after the detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies distributed by Hezbollah to its own people and the series of Israeli bombings in recent days, which have displaced ten percent of the Lebanese population in an attempt to reach safety. On Wednesday, Israel was preparing the ground for a possible ground invasion of its neighbouring country, although the Pentagon considers that such a possible step is not imminent.
“We call for a 21-day ceasefire on the Lebanese-Israeli border to open up space for diplomacy.” The signatories call on all parties involved in the conflict, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to “immediately support the temporary ceasefire” and “give a real chance for an agreement.” “We are ready to give our full support to diplomatic efforts to conclude an agreement between Lebanon and Israel within this time frame, building on the efforts of the past few months, and to put an end to this crisis.
Countries launching the appeal also include Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
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The statement was negotiated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where US President Joseph Biden delivered his final speech as head of state to the international organisation on Tuesday and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron used his own speech to declare that “there must be no war in Lebanon”. The proposal, according to senior US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, was finalised during a conversation between the two leaders.
Behind the scenes in New York, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other diplomats have been engaged in intense contacts against the clock since Monday to try to stem a crisis that threatens to unleash an open war that could destabilize the region and drag in other actors, including the United States itself or Iran, the country that supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and the radical Palestinian guerrilla Hamas in Gaza.
According to US officials, Blinken has been in constant contact with European and Arab representatives on the sidelines of the General Assembly to try to finalise the ceasefire proposal. On Monday he raised the issue at a dinner with G-7 diplomats. On Wednesday he discussed it with his counterparts from Qatar, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, and Saudi Arabia, Farhad al Saud. He also held talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Makati.
Arriving at the White House aboard the Marine One helicopter late Wednesday, Biden said that “we have been able to get significant support from Europe, as well as from Arab countries… it is important that the war does not spread.”
In its mediation efforts in Lebanon, the United States hopes that stemming the conflict will help persuade Hamas and its leader, Yahya Sinwar, of the need to accept a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel that would allow the war in Gaza to stop as the year-old conflict in which more than 41,000 Palestinians have died approaches. It is an objective that Washington has been trying to achieve since the beginning of the crisis, without success, and which is becoming increasingly pressing for a White House in which Biden is in the final months of his term.
In an interview on the program The View On ABC television, Biden said Wednesday that “it is possible that an indiscriminate war will break out, but I also think there is an opportunity. We are still trying to reach an agreement that could fundamentally change the entire region.” “It is possible and I am using all the energy I have, along with my team, to achieve it,” he said.
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