As the fifth round of Israeli-Lebanese talks opened in Washington on Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, struck an unusually bleak tone. He said, “We are in a train wreck,” adding that the process that had been moving toward “full peace” is now at risk of derailing.
Leiter said that in the previous four rounds, “we all got on the same train,” with the United States serving as the locomotive, and the destination was clear, full peace between Israel and Lebanon. In that vision, he said, Iran would be out, its “malign influence” removed from Lebanon, Hezbollah would be dismantled, and both countries would enjoy peace and security. “Today, this train is in danger of going off the rails,” he said. “I hope we can get it back on track.”
He said the original premise was that Iran would be outside the process and that the main discussion would focus on Lebanon and Hezbollah, not on whether Iran could restrain Hezbollah. “That is not Iran’s role,” he said. “Its role is to leave Lebanon.” He added that Lebanon’s government must exercise sovereignty, which he defined as ending Iranian involvement and harmful influence in Lebanese affairs.
His comments came after the fourth round of talks, held about two weeks earlier in Washington, when the U.S. State Department and Israeli and Lebanese representatives issued a joint statement saying the sides had agreed to implement a ceasefire, contingent on a complete halt to Hezbollah fire and the removal of all Hezbollah operatives from south of the Litani River. The statement also said the sides agreed to move quickly on pilot zones where the Lebanese army would hold exclusive control, without any non-state actors, as steps toward a broader peace and security agreement. The participants reaffirmed that the future of Israeli-Lebanese relations must be determined by the two sovereign governments, and they condemned Iran’s attacks in the region and its destabilizing activity across the Middle East.
