Hezbollah Rejects Negotiations Amid Ongoing Gaza Conflict: Insights on US Mediator Hochstein's Proposals

A report by Nada Andraos, English adaptation by Nadine Sassine

US mediator Amos Hochstein brought to Lebanon ideas to stop the confrontation in the south. However, the principle that Hezbollah has adhered to since the beginning of the war will not be changed by any current equations, and its title is: "The confrontation in the south will not stop as long as the war continues in the Gaza Strip."

This stance, which sources repeated to LBCI, was added upon to say: "The ideas that Hochstein brought to Speaker Nabih Berri in previous rounds and which the party heard have not received answers from the Lebanese side and will not receive them, nor will they undergo any modification."

The sources explained that Hochstein initially spoke about a readiness to discuss the issue of Ghajar and its northern part, and the 13 disputed points. However, he overlooked Point B1 in Naqoura and the Israeli aerial violations of Lebanon, and certainly kept the Shebaa Farms out of the discussion.

This proposal evolved later, as Hochstein realized that for Lebanon, the 13 reserved points had been previously settled, and that it was Israel that re-encroached on them after the July 2006 war. Lebanon will not accept anything less than the cessation of aerial violations of Lebanon or from it. Despite Hochstein informing Berri that Israel does not accept this demand because it needs wide airspace and considers itself surrounded by enemies in the north, he presented a compromise: Israel would transfer its aerial violations of Lebanon or from it to Syria at an altitude of 5000 meters to 10000 meters.

"In other words, Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and Resolution 1701 continue, and the danger of reconnaissance and assassination continues, but the only change would be that the roar of Israeli aircraft and sonic booms are not heard or visible. In the end, it remains a violation and aggression against Lebanon," the sources commented.

As for the Shebaa Farms, which Lebanon insists on their Lebanese identity, they remain absent from Hochstein's ideas for a solution and out of the discussion. According to American logic, the farms are not Lebanese; Israel occupied them from Syria, and any solution regarding them involves Syria and Israel as partners.

"It is true that Hezbollah has heard about the proposal, and certainly has responses," the sources clarified. But the party reiterates: No responses or negotiations before the war in Gaza stops.

In Hochstein's return to the region today, he saw an US need to de-escalate the tension that the Hezbollah-Israel front witnessed since the assassination of the Hezbollah commander in charge of the Victory Unit, Talib Sami Abdallah, known as Abou Talib, and the ignition of several fronts in the north and the occupied Golan in response to this assassination.