Winning peace in Lebanon is harder than winning war

Resolving the conflict in Lebanon necessitates taking into account its long, layered history and new geopolitical realities.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon. The aim of the ongoing operation, as declared by Defense Minister Israel Katz, is to establish a “security zone” over the entire area south of the Litani River – which represents 10 percent of Lebanon’s national territory.

The civilian population has been barred from returning to their homes while Israeli forces have continued bombing and mass demolition. Netanyahu appears to be using the narrative of “destroying Hezbollah” to cover up what is really a campaign of mass destruction and human relocation.

It is important to note that the occupation of lands south of the Litani River is not just a military objective for Israel. It is a historical aspiration.

In 1918, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the future second and longest-serving Israeli president, and David Ben-Gurion, the future first Israeli prime minister, published a book entitled The Land of Israel in which the two authors described “our country” as stretching from the Litani River to the Gulf of Aqaba.

In 1919, during the Paris Conference, the formal meeting of the victorious Allied Forces to set the peace terms following the end of World War I, a delegation of the World Zionist Organization led by Chaim Weizmann presented a memorandum for a Jewish state extending to the Litani River, as well as over the Sinai and other territories beyond the borders of today’s Israel.