BEIRUT, June 8 (Reuters) – Lebanese President Joseph Aoun made a rare direct appeal to the Israeli government and its people to come to the negotiating table to end the war, warning in a CNN interview aired Monday that a military solution “will never provide you with security and safety.”
“We are ready, we are willing, we are committed. Are you? If you are, let’s sit and talk,” said Aoun.
The Lebanese government is in direct talks with Israel, mediated by Washington, to reach a full cessation of hostilities, despite opposition by armed group Hezbollah, which is fighting Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
Aoun said he would not meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before reaching an agreement to end the war. He said any deal would be a non-aggression pact and not a full peace deal.
“We need to end the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel. Forever. And this (pact) could be a path forward for a just and lasting peace,” Aoun said.
Aoun said Lebanon would move in line with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers normalization with Israel across the Arab world in exchange for Palestinian statehood and Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
“But we cannot jump from A to B directly. We have to go through different steps,” Aoun said.
LEBANESE DYING FOR IRAN’S INTERESTS, AOUN SAYS
The war erupted on March 2 when Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of its ally Tehran. Israel responded with an air campaign and ground operations that have left swathes of southern Lebanon occupied.
More than 3,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and more than one million Lebanese are displaced. The U.S. declared a ceasefire on April 16 but fighting has continued, and Lebanon says Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 strikes since the truce was announced.
Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday in retaliation for Hezbollah fire on northern Israel, triggering a 24-hour direct exchange of fire between Iran and Israel that threatened to wreck Washington’s efforts to reach an agreement with Tehran to end their more than three-month-old war.
Aoun told CNN that Lebanon sought a good relationship with Iran based on mutual respect and non-interference, and said Lebanon’s people were being killed to serve Iran’s interests.
In an earlier clip from the interview aired on Friday, Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its talks with the United States, in some of his toughest criticism yet of Tehran.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; editing by Barbara Lewis and Sanjeev Miglani)
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