Efforts to wind down wars in the Middle East face familiar challenges

By BASSEM MROUE, JULIA FRANKEL and SAMY MAGDY

BEIRUT (AP) — The United States and other mediators are stepping up efforts to halt wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the wars. the regional conflict during the final months of the Biden administration.

Negotiations on both fronts have been standing still for months and neither of the warring parties has shown any sign of backing down from their demands.

Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein will visit Israel on Thursday for talks on a possible ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of hostages held by Hamas, according to a US official who was not identified was authorized to comment publicly and spoke. on condition of anonymity. The official also said CIA Director Bill Burns went to Egypt on Thursday to discuss those efforts. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border, two others said officials familiar with the conversations.

But Israel is unlikely to trust UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to keep Hezbollah out of the re-established buffer zone in Lebanon. It wants the freedom to attack the militants if necessary. Lebanese officials want a complete withdrawal.

Separately, the US, Egypt and Qatar have proposed a four-week ceasefire in Gaza in which Hamas would release up to 10 hostages, an Egyptian official and a Western diplomat said.

But Hamas still appears unwilling to release dozens of hostages without securing a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even after the assassination of its top leader, Yahya Sinwar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on this continued Israeli control over parts of the territory.

In Lebanon an attempt to revive the UN resolution that ended the last war

During his visit to Beirut last week, Hochstein met with Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament. They have agreed on a roadmap for its implementation UN Security Council Resolution 1701that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

The resolution stipulates a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory, and withdrawal of all armed forces, except UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese Army, from the area south of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles). ) north of the border.

On Wednesday, the newly elected leader of Hezbollah, Naim Kassemsaid the group will not “beg” for a ceasefire. “If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say we accept it, but under the conditions we deem appropriate,” he said in a televised address.

Israel has not publicly responded to the proposal to end their latest war, which began more than a year ago and intensified dramatically in mid-September.

Two U.S. officials say competing proposals for a ceasefire in Lebanon are being discussed, including an idea calling for an immediate ceasefire followed by two months to fully implement the resolution.

The Lebanese official said that once a ceasefire is reached, a 60-day period would begin during which the Lebanese army and peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL would deploy to the border area while Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters withdraw .