Siniora: Lebanon will be last country to make peace with Israel

[bemildred]

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Wednesday that he refused to have any direct contact with Israel, and that Lebanon would be the last Arab country to ever sign a peace deal with it.

"Let it be clear, we are not seeking any agreement until there is just and comprehensive peace based on the Arab initiative," he said.

Siniora was referring to a plan that came out of a 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut. It calls for Israel to return all territories it conquered in the 1967 Six-Day War, the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem - all in exchange for peace and full normalization of Arab relations with Israel.

Israel has long sought a peace deal with Lebanon, but Beirut has hesitated as long as Israel's conflicts with the Palestinians and Syria remained unresolved.

Haaretz

[MercutioATC]

1. Gee, ya think?

Amazing how a little month-long bombing campaign can rub some people the wrong way...

[bemildred]

2. Livni: There is no conflict between Israel and Lebanon

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said during her visit to Denmark that Israel would be interested in peace talks with Lebanon at some point.

"There is no conflict between Israel and Lebanon and thus, with time, we will be able to achieve this. The reason there is not peace between the two countries does not derive from a lack of desire by the Israeli government, but rather from a lack of desire by the Lebanese government," Livni said in Copenhagen. (AFP)

Ynet

[lumpy]

4. Certainly understandable why

Lebanon might be reticent to have any useful dialogue with Israel after years of attack and occupation by Israel. How in the world could you trust anyone who has continuely been in the process of destroying and tampering with your right to be independent from outside aggression.

[furman]

7. Lebanon has not been fulfilling their responsibility as a sovereign state

UN Resolution 1559 adopted in 2004 clearly called for the disarmanent of Hezbollah.
The Lebanese central government utterly failed at this.
Most likely, they turned a blind eye towards it and let Hezbollah build up their armaments even more.

In practice, the Lebanese central government is weaker than Hezbollah.

Who is really calling the shots in Lebanon now, their Prime Minister or Hezbollah/Syria/Iran ?

[breakaleg]

5. Of course Israel sees it this way...

They bombed Hezbollah, not Lebanon. It's just unfortunate for Lebanon they were inside Lebanon at the time - this what Israel has chosen to believe, anyway.

I think most people in Lebanon think more simply - they see a bomb falling on their head, which they know came from Israel, and choose to hold Israel responsible. It seems pretty simple to me. Why can't Israel see this?

[newyorican]

3. screwed the pooch

n/t

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Mazel Tov

I guess the "bomb the A-rabs into submission" plan has backfired unexpectedly :sarcasm: