Israeli cabinet to approve Lebanon deal Tuesday, US official says
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of the ceasefire agreement and the Israeli Security Cabinet is expected to approve the deal on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official told U.S. news portal Axios on Monday.
The parties have not yet announced an agreement.
An Israeli official confirmed the cabinet would convene Tuesday and the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya channel said “the Israeli Security Cabinet will sign off tomorrow on the Lebanon ceasefire agreement.”
"We think we have a deal. We are on the goal line but we haven't passed it yet. The Israeli cabinet needs to approve the deal on Tuesday and something can always go wrong until then," the U.S. official said.
Four U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios on Sunday that the deal was nearly final.
The draft ceasefire agreement includes a 60-day transition period during which the Israeli military would withdraw from southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army would deploy in areas close to the border and Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River.
The deal includes a U.S.-led oversight committee to monitor implementation and address violations.
The U.S. has agreed to give Israel a letter of assurances that includes support for Israeli military action against imminent threats from Lebanese territory, and for action to disrupt things like the reestablishment of a Hezbollah military presence near the border or the smuggling of heavy weapons, Israeli and U.S. officials say.
Under the agreement, Israel would take such action after consultations with the U.S., and if the Lebanese military did not deal with the threat.
The agreement was nearing completion last Thursday when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, U.S. and Israeli officials say.
The news came while Netanyahu was meeting with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has been mediating for a year between Israel and Lebanon.
Netanyahu was outraged, and grew even more angry after the French Foreign Ministry announced that France would implement the court's ruling.
That threw a wrench into the negotiations, as Lebanon had wanted France to be part of the oversight committee to monitor implementation of the agreement. On Friday, Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron to try to solve the problem.
A U.S. official said Biden told Macron that Netanyahu was right to be angry, and that it was not possible to mediate a deal while also pledging to arrest the head of state of one of the parties.
Macron told Biden he wanted to help but that his Foreign Ministry was only making clear its legal obligations towards the ICC. The French issued second statement to try to tamp down the tensions.
On Saturday, Hochstein sent a message to Netanyahu through Israeli Ambassador to Washington Mike Herzog in which he threatened to withdraw as mediator if Israel did not move towards a deal in the coming days, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The crisis was resolved in the last 24 hours, the U.S. official said on Monday. France agreed to take steps to improve relations with Israel, and Israel agreed that France could have a role in the implementation of the deal.
Netanyahu held a meeting about the ceasefire talks on Sunday that included several senior ministers and intelligence chiefs, Israeli officials say.
A decision was taken to move towards the agreement, according to one senior Israeli official, who said an announcement could come this week.
A second Israeli official who attended the meeting said "the direction is positive" but that several issues remained unresolved.
Two senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the issue said on Sunday that the parties were getting close to a deal, but it was not completed.
On Monday, the Pentagon's top Middle East policy official, Dan Shapiro, will arrive in Israel and meet with Defense Minister Israel Katz and other Israeli officials.
Source: Naharnet
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