US, France Call For 21-Day Ceasefire In Lebanon-Israel Conflict (X image @sahouraxo)
France and US called for a 21-days temporary ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel seeking for a broader negotiations. The proposal came after UN Secretary General told a UN security council meeting that “hell is breaking loose” in Lebanon. Israel also said that it is preparing for a possible ground invasion into Lebanon.
Israel has been involved in an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon for past three days. More than 600 people were killed, and thousands are inured.
In the joint statement issued by US president Joe Biden and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, it is said that, “It is time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that ensures safety and security to enable civilians to return to their homes. The exchange of fire since October 7th, and in particular over the past two weeks, threatens a much broader conflict, and harm to civilians.”
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The statement was issued at the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York. The two leaders said they had worked on a temporary ceasefire “to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalations across the border”.
The proposal seeking Lebanon and Israel ceasefire was also backed by UK, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
At the same time, the officials in the background briefing also emphasised that the ceasefire proposal does not apply to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, reported The Guardian.
According to Washington, the 21-day period was chosen in order to provide space in order to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement between the two sides to allow residents to return to their homes along the Israel-Lebanon border without fear of further violence or an “October 7th-like attack in the future”.
The proposals came at the end of a heated UN security council meeting, that saw Lebanon’s prime minister accuse Israel of violating his country’s sovereignty. Najib Mikati said Lebanese hospitals were overwhelmed and unable to accept any more victims.
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Israel’s UN envoy told the security council said that his country did not seek a full-scale war and that Iran was the “driving force” behind the instability in the region.
Tension between US and its other European allies rose during the meeting about whether to call for an immediate ceasefire at the security council. The UK foreign secretary David Lammy backed an immediate ceasefire, saying it was time to pull back from the brink, adding “a full blown war is not in the interests of Israeli or Lebanese people”.
However, US said that an unconditional ceasefire call in the form of a joint security council statement could be seen as accepting a moral equivalence between the behaviour of Israel and Hezbollah, a group that is labelled as terrorist by the US.
The three-week ceasefire is expected to provide a platform to reopen stalled talks on the discussions over a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. Hezbollah has said it will stop its strikes only if a ceasefire is agreed on Gaza war. However, no such deals are currently visible either from Hamas or Israel.
