{"id":86571,"date":"2025-03-13T18:34:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T23:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=86571"},"modified":"2025-03-14T07:02:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T12:02:37","slug":"is-israel-about-to-make-peace-with-lebanon-unprecedented-overtures-are-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/is-israel-about-to-make-peace-with-lebanon-unprecedented-overtures-are-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Israel about to make peace with Lebanon? Unprecedented overtures are underway."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SALES<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Six months ago, the notion of peace between Israel and Lebanon seemed remote, if not impossible.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86573\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86573\" class=\"wp-image-86573 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-1024x578.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-1536x868.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-2048x1157.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86573\" class=\"wp-image-86573 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-1024x578.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-768x434.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-1536x868.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Tyre-2048x1157.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The city of Tyre in southern Lebanon is seen from its coastline. (Wikimedia Commons\/Roman Deckert)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>At that point, Hezbollah and Israel had been exchanging fire for nearly a year. The border region between the two countries was ravaged \u2014 with a rising death toll and masses of civilians evacuated. By September\u2019s end, Israeli troops would cross over, marking the third time Israel had invaded Lebanon since 1982.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, Israeli and Lebanese negotiators met this week, in Lebanon, to accomplish a task that feels simultaneously benign and monumental: Agreeing on where, exactly, their border lies.<\/p>\n<p>If the American- and French-mediated talks are successful, it could pave the way for a peace treaty that, in some ways, would be Israel\u2019s most significant in nearly half a century. An Israeli official reportedly said, \u201cThe goal is to reach normalization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s where things stand \u2014 and what could happen next.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and Lebanon are close geographically, but have long been enemies.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86572\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86572\" class=\"wp-image-86572 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-300x167.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-1024x569.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-768x427.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-1536x853.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-2048x1138.webp 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86572\" class=\"wp-image-86572 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-300x167.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-1024x569.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-768x427.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-1536x853.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/10-01-2024-Lebanon-border-2048x1138.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86572\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israeli soldiers seen at a staging area near the Israeli border with Lebanon, Oct. 1, 2024. (David Cohen\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>At first glance, Israel and Lebanon, just to its north, share much in common: Both are small, ethnically diverse Levantine countries with histories stretching back to the Bible that were founded in the 1940s. The Lebanese capital of Beirut and Haifa, Israel\u2019s third-largest city, are only about 80 miles apart, both on the Mediterranean coast. For a brief period around World War II, train tracks ran between the two cities.<\/p>\n<p>But over the past 75 years, the vast majority of Israelis to set foot in Lebanon have been wearing army uniforms. The countries do not have diplomatic relations and have repeatedly experienced war.<\/p>\n<p>There have been three major Israel-Lebanon wars.<\/p>\n<p>Their most major conflict came in 1982, when Israel invaded Lebanon, mounting a broad offensive against the Beirut-based Palestine Liberation Organization with the stated goal of stopping attacks on Israel\u2019s border communities. Lebanon was in the midst of its own civil war, and Israel allied with Lebanese Christian militia forces, which carried out massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.<\/p>\n<p>The PLO decamped to Tunisia, and Israel withdrew from much of Lebanon. But the Israeli military remained in south Lebanon, where it fought a new foe \u2014 the terror group Hezbollah, which took aim at both Israeli and American troops in the country. In the decades since, Hezbollah built up its own expansive militia and weapons stockpile, operating as a so-called \u201cstate-within-a-state\u201d in southern Lebanon and winning seats in Lebanese parliament.<\/p>\n<p>After a string of Israeli casualties&nbsp; \u2014 including a 1997 helicopter crash that killed 73 soldiers, Israel unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86575\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86575\" class=\"wp-image-86575 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86575\" class=\"wp-image-86575 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PMGolan8December3-1-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86575\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and other Israeli officials at the Syrian border on Dec. 8, 2024. (Koby Gideon\/Israeli Government Press Office)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Six years later, Israel and Hezbollah fought again after the terror group raided Israel and kidnapped soldiers. That month-long war is viewed in Israel as a debacle with high casualties and Hezbollah effectively remaining entrenched on the border. The soldiers\u2019 bodies were returned two years later in a prisoner swap.<\/p>\n<p>The border remained relatively quiet until Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which Hezbollah joined shortly afterward, raining missiles on Israel that forced the wide evacuation of civilians from northern Israel. Israel responded with airstrikes and invaded Lebanon last fall, fighting a two-month ground conflict that killed much of Hezbollah\u2019s leadership and left it enervated.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Israel\u2019s adversaries have been weakened.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Israeli invasion also weakened Hezbollah in other ways. For years, the terror group had helped prop up the Bashar Assad regime in Syria. Israel has also battered Iran, Hezbollah\u2019s chief sponsor and a key Syrian ally. Without that help, Assad\u2019s regime \u2014 which once occupied part of Lebanon \u2014 quickly collapsed last year.<\/p>\n<p>Israel began withdrawing from Lebanon under a ceasefire in late November, and the border has been largely quiet since then. The ceasefire calls for the Lebanese army to take control of southern Lebanon, replacing Hezbollah. But Israel contends that that has not happened and says it needs to retain troops in Lebanon because Hezbollah is still operating in the area.<\/p>\n<p>The election of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in January \u2014 ending two years of deadlock in the political system, which is divided between the country\u2019s Christians and Muslims \u2014 was seen as a further sign of Hezbollah\u2019s weakness. The group\u2019s preferred candidate dropped out of the election.<\/p>\n<p>Aoun wants Israel to withdraw from his country. But his administration also marks an opportunity for building relations between the two longtime foes.<\/p>\n<p>Talks are focusing on technical issues \u2014 and on Israel leaving Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n<p>There have been bids at Israeli-Lebanese peace before. During the 1982 war, Israel made a failed attempt at a treaty that went nowhere. More concretely, in 2022, Israel and Lebanon negotiated a maritime border \u2014 which was seen as a step toward relations.<\/p>\n<p>These talks could be even more significant. While Israel and Lebanon have always had a border \u2014 for a while it was called the \u201cGood Fence\u201d owing to the quiet that prevailed \u2014 there have also been disputes along the route.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86576\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86576\" class=\"wp-image-86576 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-300x168.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-300x168.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-1024x573.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-768x430.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-1536x860.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-2048x1146.webp 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/168;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86576\" class=\"wp-image-86576 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-300x168.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-300x168.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-1024x573.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-768x430.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-1536x860.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/04-21-2022-Morgan-Ortagus-2048x1146.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86576\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Morgan Ortagus speaks at the 2021 Concordia Annual Summit in New York City, Sept. 21, 2021. (Riccardo Savi\/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This week, Israeli, French, U.S. and Lebanese negotiators met in Naqoura, Lebanon for talks that Morgan Ortagus, the American deputy presidential special envoy, said would focus on \u201cdiplomatically resolving several outstanding issues.\u201d Among them:<\/p>\n<p>Releasing several Lebanese prisoners held by Israel<\/p>\n<p>Resolving the remaining border disputes<\/p>\n<p>Agreeing on an Israeli military withdrawal<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s prime minister\u2019s office announced that Israel was releasing the five prisoners \u201cin coordination with the US and as a gesture to the new President of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The road to peace has pitfalls and promise.<\/p>\n<p>A land border is not a peace treaty, and establishing relations between two countries that have seen each other as enemies for more than 75 years is not simple.<\/p>\n<p>If the remnants of Hezbollah resume attacks on Israel, or if Israel doesn\u2019t withdraw from Lebanon, negotiations could easily be tanked. Hezbollah has previously cited disputed border areas to justify its attacks on Israel, and The New York Times quoted Beirut-based analyst Mohanad Hage Ali, who said, \u201cIf a deal on the border is done, Hezbollah\u2019s alibi will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_86577\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86577\" class=\"wp-image-86577 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-2048x1140.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86577\" class=\"wp-image-86577 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-1536x855.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/F240710AVS02-scaled-e1739355783460-2048x1140.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-86577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The damage caused to the Biriya Forest in northern Israeli city of Tzfat, following missile attacks from Lebanon, July 10, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But Israel as well as the United States have had their eyes set on accords with other countries in the region for a while. The focus thus far has been on a treaty with Saudi Arabia. But in some ways, a treaty with Lebanon is far more significant.<\/p>\n<p>Israel signed normalization deals with four Arab countries in 2020, but none with which it had ever really fought a war. The same is true for Saudi Arabia: They don\u2019t have official relations, but they\u2019ve never fought a major conflict.<\/p>\n<p>That is not the case with Lebanon. A peace treaty with Lebanon, if it were to hold, would be an actual peace \u2014 an end to decades of attacks, bombings and invasions.<\/p>\n<p>It would also be Israel\u2019s first treaty with a country on its border since the 1994 treaty with Jordan, which had also not fought Israel for years at that point. The last time Israel went, within the span of several years, from fighting a country to making peace with it happened with the Israel-Egypt treaty in 1979.<\/p>\n<p>An Israeli-Lebanese deal would also mean that Israel would have relations with three of the four countries bordering it.<\/p>\n<p>So will Israelis be able to board a train to sip coffee in Beirut? Not anytime soon. But this week\u2019s talks may open the door.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Is%20Israel%20about%20to%20make%20peace%20with%20Lebanon%3F%20Unprecedented%20overtures%20are%20underway.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[453,8781,8790,8795,1041,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86578,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86571\/revisions\/86578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}