US, France and allies call for 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah – National
The US, France and other nations jointly called on Wednesday for an immediate 21-day ceasefire to allow talks in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.
The joint statement, which was negotiated on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, said the latest fighting is “unbearable and presents an unacceptable risk of regional escalation.”
“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for negotiations,” the statement said. “We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to ratify the temporary suspension as soon as possible.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli or Lebanese governments – or Hezbollah – but senior US officials said all sides were aware of the call for a ceasefire. Earlier, representatives of Israel and Lebanon reiterated their support for the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed terrorist group.
The US hopes that the new agreement could lead to long-term stability on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Months of firefights between Israel and Hezbollah have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes, and a spate of attacks last week has renewed fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
US officials said Hezbollah would not sign the ceasefire but believed the Lebanese government would coordinate its acceptance with the group. They said they expect Israel to “accept” the proposal and possibly formally adopt it when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly on Friday.
Although the deal only applies to the Israel-Lebanon border, US officials say they are looking to use the three-week pause in hostilities to restart stalled talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, one backed by Iran. terrorist group, after a year of conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s Office said that the cease-fire made by America and France was just a proposal and the Prime Minister, who is currently on a flight to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, has not responded to this proposal.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, acting prime minister during Netanyahu’s trip abroad, said there would be no ceasefire in the north, vowing to continue fighting in the north “with full force until victory” and bring back tens of thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes in the north.
The Prime Minister’s Office added that Israeli forces continue to strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and the Gaza conflict.
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United States, Australia, Canada, European Union, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar are among the countries that want to stop the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Work on this proposal met quickly this week with President Joe Biden’s security team, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, meeting with world leaders in New York and urging other countries to support the plan, according to the US. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic talks.
Blinken first raised the proposal with the French foreign minister on Monday and expanded his communication that evening at a dinner with foreign ministers from the rest of the Group of Seven advanced democracies.
In a meeting Wednesday morning with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Blinken approached Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan to ask for their approval and received it. Blinken and White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein then met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who signed the agreement.
Sullivan, Hochstein and senior adviser Brett McGurk have also been in contact with Israeli officials about the proposal, one of the US officials said. McGurk and Hochstein have been the White House’s main liaisons with Israel and Lebanon since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas started the conflict in Gaza.
The officials said the agreement was reached on Wednesday afternoon during a discussion on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Blinken expects to meet with Netanyahu’s top adviser in New York on Thursday before the prime minister’s arrival.
An Israeli official said Netanyahu has given the green light to pursue a potential deal, but only if it includes the return of Israeli citizens to their homes. The official’s name was not revealed because they were discussing a communication issue.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the UN Security Council during a special meeting that “we count on both sides to accept it without delay” and added that “war is inevitable.”
At the meeting, Mikati, the Lebanese prime minister, came out in support of the French-US plan that “enjoys international support and will end this dirty war.”
He called on the Security Council to “guarantee Israel’s withdrawal from all areas occupied by Lebanon and violations of the law that are repeated every day.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told reporters that Israel would like to see a ceasefire and the return of people to their homes near the border: “It will happen, either after the war or before the war. We hope it will be sooner.”
Speaking to the Security Council later, he did not mention a temporary ceasefire but said Israel “does not want a total war.”
Both Danon and Mikati confirmed their governments’ commitment to the Security Council resolution that ended Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah. Never fully implemented, it called for an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon to be taken over by Lebanese forces and UN peacekeepers, and the disarmament of all armed groups including Hezbollah.
Earlier Wednesday, Biden warned on an appearance on ABC’s “The View” that “an endless war is possible” but said he thinks there is an opportunity to “find a solution that can change the whole region.”
Biden suggested that getting Israel and Hezbollah to agree on a ceasefire would help end hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
That conflict comes close to a year after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hostages. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who did not provide a breakdown of civilians and fighters by number.
“It’s possible and I’m using all the power that I have with my team … to do this,” Biden said. “There is a desire to see change in the region.”
The US government has also stepped up the pressure with additional notices against more than a dozen vessels and other entities it says were involved in the illegal export of Iranian fuel to finance Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.
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AP reporters Zeke Miller and Darlene Superville in Washington, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Edith M. Lederer in the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
