Israel says ready to negotiate with Lebanese government

Jun 15, 2011, 9:43 GMT

Jerusalem - In a surprise move, Israel said Wednesday it was ready to negotiate on certain conditions with the new Hezbollah- dominated government in Lebanon.

A Foreign Ministry statement said Israel hoped the formation of the new government in Beirut would bring more stability and the rule of law and order inside Lebanon and along its borders.

Israel expected the new government to respect all United Nations resolutions relating to the two countries, and called on it to solve all outstanding issues through peace talks.

'Israel calls on the Lebanese government to solve all the outstanding issues that stand between the two countries through negotiations and mutual respect,' said the statement.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor clarified that the statement was not an immediate call for negotiations.

But if the new government recognized Israel, Israel would talk to it.

'The way to solve everything, one day, is through negotiations,' he told the German Press-Agency dpa.

'We call on the Lebanese government to adopt the negotiating approach. If they agree to negotiate, than yes, of course we would.

'If the other side agrees to recognize Israel and to negotiate with Israel and to solve problems through negotiations, then yes, we will negotiate with them,' he said.

Israel and Lebanon have not negotiated since 1994, with Israel citing Syrian control over Lebanese policies.

The two countries have fought numerous wars and conflicts, the last of which was the second Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, in which Israel and Hezbollah engaged in 33 days of heavy fighting, sparked by a cross-border raid by the radical, Iranian-backed Shiite movement in which it captured two Israeli soldiers.

Israel regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, as it does of Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement ruling Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will not talk to the new Palestinian interim government being formed with Hamas and the secular Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, unless the Islamists recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past peace agreements.

Answering reporters' questions, Palmor said Wednesday's statement meant no change in Israeli government policy toward the Hezbollah-dominated government in Lebanon, and the unity government being formed in the Palestinian areas.

'We have said in the past that should Hamas agree to negotiate and recognize Israel it (too) would become an interlocutor,' he said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Naqib Mikati announced Monday the formation of a 30-member cabinet, in which Hezbollah and its allies have a majority.

In the new cabinet line-up, formed after five months of political vacuum, Hezbollah and its allies have 19 seats. The other 11 portfolios are divided between the parties of Mikati, President Michel Suleiman and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

The European Union Tuesday called on the new government to respect the UN tribunal over the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, thought to likely to indict some Hezbollah members.

Israel's biggest-selling daily, quoting Western intelligence officials, reported Wednesday that Hezbollah has deployed long-range Scud-D missiles in a way that threaten strategic sites deep into Israel, and even the southern-most Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Hezbollah reportedly obtained from Syria some 10 of the missiles which have a range of about 700 kilometres.

Yediot Ahronot quoted Israeli experts as saying that Hezbollah may be aiming the missiles in the direction of the southern Israeli vacation resort, to signal that in case of a future war, no place in Israel will be out of reach.

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