Hizbullah, Amal Object to Composition of Lebanese Border Talks Team
Hizbullah and the Amal Movement of Speaker Nabih Berri released a joint statement early Wednesday expressing reservations that the Lebanese team to the border talks with Israel includes civilians, calling for the delegation to be reformed so that it only includes members of the military.
"This harms Lebanon's position and interests... and amounts to giving in to the Israeli logic that seeks some form of normalization," they said.
The same delegation that the two groups objected to later concluded the first round of indirect negotiations with the Israeli side at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura.
American officials are mediating the talks that both sides insist are purely technical and not a sign of any normalization of ties.
The U.S. has been mediating the issue for about a decade, but only earlier this month a breakthrough was reached on an agreement on a framework for U.S.-mediated talks.
The development comes against the backdrop of Lebanon's spiraling economic crisis, the worst in its modern history, and following a wave of U.S. sanctions that recently included two influential former Cabinet ministers allied with Hizbullah group.
The Israeli delegation was led by the director-general of the Energy Ministry, Udi Adiri, while the Lebanese four-member team was led by Brig. Gen. Bassam Yassin, the army's deputy chief of staff.
The Lebanese team met President Michel Aoun on Tuesday who stressed the talks "are technical negotiations that only deal with marking the maritime border."
Hizbullah said last week the talks do not indicate a reconciliation with Israel. The Hizbullah bloc in parliament said that defining the border of "national sovereignty" is the job of the Lebanese state.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press, Naharnet
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