The ceasefire agreement which went into effect today is good news.
The agreement is between Israel and the Government of Lebanon, not between Israel and Hezbollah. It seems that Hezbollah has been weakened enough to end the war in Lebanon before the war in Gaza has ended, despite Hezbollah’s previous position that linked the two wars. The people of Lebanon have let Hezbollah know that they want the war to end. It is now the Lebanese army that will soon be deployed on the Israel-Lebanon border, not Hezbollah and Israel needs to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. There is a (small) chance that Lebanon could be looking at a future in which the state of Lebanon can hopefully assert its sovereignty over the whole country and no longer be subservient to Hezbollah.
It is even possible to imagine that in the future, indirect Lebanon-Israel talks could resolve the 13 points of dispute between the two countries on the border. There is no real conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The real conflict that is at the root of all of Israel’s conflicts in the region, is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now, the war in Gaza must come to an end, quickly, in which all of the hostages are released, Israel leaves Gaza permanently, a new responsible Palestinian government takes over in Gaza that will work for the benefit of the people of Palestine.
Then the Israeli government will be finally brought down and new elections will take place. The Israeli National Commission of Enquiry will be established and will bring to justice all of those who were responsible for leading us to October 7, those who were responsible for failing to protect Israel on that day, and all of the failures of the Israeli government since October 7. The Israeli occupation over the Palestinian people must come to an end and the two-states solution needs to be negotiated and implemented. Israel needs to become a state where all citizens enjoy full equality.
All of the people living between the River and the Sea must enjoy the same right to the same rights. There are no other options if Israel wants to survive and live in peace in the Middle East.
