Hezbollah MP says direct talks 'free concessions' to Israel
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar reiterated Thursday his group's rejection of the direct talks, as Lebanon and Israel are to hold new peace talks in Washington starting Thursday.
Ammar said direct talks amount to "free concessions" to Israel.
Earlier this week, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem called for indirect negotiations. He said his group would cooperate with the state to end the war and the occupation, through indirect negotiations, but added that Hezbollah's weapons remain a domestic matter and should not be part of negotiations with Israel.
"Nobody outside Lebanon has anything to do with the weapons, the resistance... this is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy," Qassem said.
- Disarmament push -
Lebanon has repeatedly called for Israel to withdraw its troops from the south, and insists on extending state sovereignty over all its territory as part of a commitment last year to disarm Hezbollah.
Washington has endorsed Beirut's commitment to do so, while pressing it to take more action against Hezbollah.
Lebanese and Israeli representatives last met on April 23 at the White House, where U.S. President Donald Trump announced a three-week ceasefire extension and voiced optimism for a groundbreaking agreement between the countries, which have technically been at war for decades.
Trump at the time made the bold prediction that during the three-week extension he would welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to Washington for a historic first summit between the countries.
The summit did not happen, with Aoun saying a security deal and an end to Israeli attacks were needed before such a landmark meeting.
A ceasefire, which began on April 17, lasts through Sunday. Still, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 people during the truce.
Thursday's meeting will be the third round of talks between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
Unlike the previous two rounds, neither Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Trump will participate as both are on a state visit to China.
The U.S. mediators for the two-day meeting at the State Department will include the ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon -- respectively Mike Huckabee, an evangelical pastor and staunch supporter of Israel's regional ambitions, and Michel Issa, a Lebanese-born businessman and golf partner of Trump -- as well as Mike Needham, a close aide to Rubio.
Lebanon will be represented by special envoy Simon Karam, a veteran lawyer and diplomat who has fiercely defended Lebanon's sovereignty, as well as its ambassador in Washington.
Israel's team will include its ambassador in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, a Netanyahu ally who is close with the Israeli settler movement in the occupied West Bank.
Source: Agence France Presse
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