Israel deal is not peace treaty but ‘process to end hostilities’ — Lebanese official
BEIRUT: The newly signed US-brokered framework with Israel does not amount to a peace agreement but is intended solely to end hostilities between the two countries, a senior Lebanese official told Arab News on Saturday.
Speaking after Lebanese and Israeli delegations signed the trilateral framework in Washington on Friday, the official, who has closely followed the negotiations, said the document should be understood as “a process to end the state of hostility, not a peace agreement.”
“It can be regarded as a non-aggression agreement,” the official said, stressing the framework did not alter Lebanon’s longstanding position on normalization with Israel.
Lebanon, the official added, remains committed to the Arab Peace Initiative launched by Saudi Arabia and adopted by the Arab League at the 2002 Beirut Summit, which conditions full Arab normalization with Israel on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue in line with international resolutions.
