Biden Hails Israeli-Lebanese Ceasefire
Hizbollah is portraying the ceasefire as a great victory, but it was Hizbollah that made the key concession: separating its conflict with Israel from Hamas's fight.
Nov. 27, 2024
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday the conclusion of a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.
He explained its main points, as well as U.S. policy more broadly toward the conflict between Israel, on the one hand, and Hizbollah, Hamas, and Iran on the other.
Biden was clear. He laid responsibility for the war on Hizbollah and Hamas, as well as their backer, Iran, even as he expressed great sympathy for those who have been hurt most by their actions—namely, the Lebanese and Palestinian people.
Hizbollah’s Concession Allows for Ceasefire
Although Hizbollah is portraying the ceasefire as a great victory, it was Hizbollah that made the key concession that made the agreement possible.
Hizbollah accepted to separate its conflict with Israel from Hamas’s fight with the Jewish state. Various commentators have explained that with the observation that Hizbollah is much weakened. That is certainly the case–but what is lacking is any consideration of internal Lebanese politics.
Hizbollah has brought a disaster upon Lebanon. Most probably, Hizbollah conceded, because there was also significant pressure from within Lebanon on Hizbollah. There was no point, from a Lebanese perspective, to that fight. .
Nonetheless, Lebanon has suffered grievous losses. According to the Health Ministry, over 3,800 Lebanese have died since Hizbollah began attacking Israel. Over one million Lebanese have been made homeless, and many regions, particularly the Shi’ite-inhabited areas, including in southern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, have been reduced to rubble.
So just what was the point? John Bolton, who served as America’s U.N. ambassador under George W. Bush and National Security Advisor during Trump’s first term, provided an answer already last January. Bolton wrote then in The Hill, a newspaper oriented toward the U.S. Congress, that Iran was behind this.
It was Tehran’s ‘ring of fire’ strategy for war against Israel, he said. Iran attacks Israel through proxies, while it maintains a certain distance, sparing itself the potentially devastating consequences of such a conflict.
Biden Describes the Challenges and the Agreement
As Biden noted on Tuesday in announcing the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah, their conflict began just one day after Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border assault into Israel.
“Hours later, at 2:00 AM in the morning, Hizbollah and other terrorist organizations backed by Iran attacked Israel in support of Hamas,” Biden stated.
That timing suggests, almost certainly, that there was prior coordination between Hamas and Hizbollah.
The brutality of Hamas’s attack—which Hizbollah immediately supported—should not be forgotten: some 1,200 Israelis were killed; another 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages; while women were raped en masse.
It was a brutal attack and provoked a brutal response. And, perhaps, more was planned.
When Israeli troops entered Gaza, they discovered that Hamas had constructed a large, elaborate tunnel system that was used to facilitate its attack.
Hizbollah had done the same in Lebanon, as Biden explained.
“Israel has destroyed Hizbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon,” he stated, “including miles of sophisticated tunnels, which were prepared for an October 7th-style terrorist attack in northern Israel.”
Biden was firm: Hizbollah was responsible for the war in Lebanon, which he described as “the deadliest conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in decades.”
“Let’s be clear,” he said. “Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either, nor did the United States.”
Terms of Ceasefire Agreement
The ceasefire essentially re-establishes the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which established the ceasefire to the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah.
The problem was that Hizbollah did not observe those terms. It was supposed to withdraw north of the Litani River, while the area south of the river was to be policed by an international force—UNIFIL.
But UNIFIl was ineffective. Hizbollah returned and built the military infrastructure that Biden described and which it used, starting on Oct. 8, to attack Israel.
This time, there is to be a monitoring committee, headed by the U.S. and France, to ensure that Hizbollah leaves the south and does not return.
As Biden stated, “If Hizbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense consistent with international law.”
Moreover, Donald Trump will become U.S. president in less than two months. He is very sympathetic to Israel. He will be unlikely to restrain Israel, should it determine that Hizbollah, again, poses a serious threat.
“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden stated, but it will take 60 days to implement.
In those 60 days, Israeli forces will withdraw from Lebanon, while “the Lebanese Army and State Security Forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again,” Biden explained.
“Hizbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt,” Biden affirmed.
Indeed, in 60 days, Trump will be president. Again, if Hizbollah does not abide by the terms of the accord, Israel will have a much freer hand.
Expanding the Ceasefire to Other Areas
After detailing the ceasefire in Lebanon, Biden explained that he would renew U.S. efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
As with Hizbollah in Lebanon, Biden held Hamas responsible for the carnage in Gaza.
“The people of Gaza have been through hell,” he said. “Their world is absolutely shattered. Far too many civilians in Gaza have suffered far too much.”
Yet “Hamas has refused, for months and months, to negotiate a good-faith ceasefire and a hostage deal,” Biden continued.
So, now, Hamas has a choice to make,” he added. “Their only way out is to release the hostages, including American citizens, which they hold, and, in the process, bring an end to the fighting, which would make possible a surge of humanitarian relief.”
Biden announced that “over the coming days,” the U.S. would make “another push,” working with “Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Beyond that, “for the broader Middle East region,” Biden suggested a far-reaching peace that would involve a Palestinian state “that fulfills its people’s legitimate aspirations.”
“To that end,” he continued, “the United States remains prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with Saudi Arabia to include a security pact and economic assurances, together with a credible pathway for establishing a Palestinian state and the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” which, significantly, he described as “a desire they both have.”
It is doubtful this could happen in the brief time left in Biden’s presidency. However, during Trump’s first term, his administration adopted an innovative approach to defusing regional tensions.
It pursued what it called the Abraham Accords, reference to the common ancestor of Jews and Muslims. The accords were not peace treaties, but they “normalized” bilateral relations between Israel and a number of Arab states, including Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates.
Thus, possibly, it could fall to Trump’s second term to expand the Abraham Accords to include additional Arab states.