Israel Open to Deal With Lebanon on Disputed Land

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/world/middleeast/19lebanon.html?hp
By ETHAN BRONNER and ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: June 19, 2008
JERUSALEM — Israel offered on Wednesday to start direct peace talks with Lebanon, saying all issues would be negotiable including a tiny piece of Israeli-held land on the countries’ mutual border that Israel has long argued does not belong to Lebanon but that the Lebanese say is theirs.

Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Mr. Olmert had spoken of his desire to start such talks in an internal Israeli meeting and had decided to make that desire public.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Israel at the weekend and made a surprise stop in Lebanon on Monday. On her trips, she spoke to both the Israeli and Lebanese governments about Washington’s desire to find a solution to the land dispute as a catalyst for solving bigger issues in the region, including strengthening the Beirut government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a senior Israeli official said, and Mr. Olmert agreed to this.

The announcement comes amid intense regional diplomatic activity, including the planned start on Thursday of a six-month truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, which the Israeli government confirmed on Wednesday, and the end of a second round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria for a comprehensive peace treaty.

Since Syria has such strong influence in Lebanon, Mr. Olmert argued that the talks with Syria should lead logically to discussions with Lebanon, Mr. Regev said.

Israel is also very close to a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that it fought a war against two years ago.

The disputed piece of land that will be under negotiation is known as the Shabaa Farms.

When Israel withdrew from the occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, the United Nations Security Council stated that the withdrawal was complete despite its holding onto the disputed area of land because Shabaa, the United Nations said, was part of the Syrian Golan Heights occupied by Israel.

But Lebanon and Hezbollah say the land is Lebanese and Syria has not contradicted them. Moreover, Hezbollah has used the Israeli hold over Shabaa as a pretext for keeping its men under arms despite United Nations resolutions calling for the disarming of all Lebanese militias.

Hezbollah says that as long as part of the Lebanese homeland is occupied, it needs its weapons because the national army is weak.

But the West, especially the United States and France, wants to reduce the power of Hezbollah, a client of both Syria and Iran, and has been looking for ways to strengthen the pro-Western government of Lebanon. Neither the Lebanese government nor Hezbollah made any immediate official statement on Wednesday. However, Al Manar television, which is run by Hezbollah, said “the real target behind Rice’s position on Shabaa Farms is the resistance’s weapons.”

Next month, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to brief the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. In that report, it is likely that he will announce a revised or clarified stand on the sovereignty of Shabaa.

For Israel, the main concern in Lebanon is Hezbollah’s increasing power. Israeli military officials say that Hezbollah has far more rockets and far deadlier ones today than it did two years ago when the two fought a month-long war after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the border to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers.

It is unclear whether Shabaa and Hezbollah have been discussed by Israeli and Syrian officials negotiating in their talks, which are being mediated by Turkey. But the Israelis and Syrians say their latest round of talks went well and there is now the possibility that Mr. Olmert and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, will find themselves at a table together in France next month. Both men have accepted an invitation to a regional conference there on July 13 on immigration, security and the environment, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said they will be seated at the same table.

In the past, the Lebanese government has consistently ruled out negotiations with Israel.

Last week, it issued a statement saying there were “pending bilateral issues between Lebanon and Israel which are governed by international resolutions which Israel must respect, and which cannot be the object of political negotiations."

Specifically, it said, Israel must “respect Lebanon’s sovereignty over its territory and its water, release prisoners, and provide maps on mines and cluster bombs” left over from the 2006 war.

Ethan Bronner reported from Jerusalem and Robert F. Worth from Beirut, Lebanon