The State Department announced on Friday that Israel and Lebanon “agreed upon a framework for negotiations to advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border,” during two days of talks in Washington. “Over the two days, significant progress was made on the political track which will reconvene on June 2 and June 3 to continue those political conversations,” spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
The reality, however, is that the existing so-called ceasefire has been a fraud, and the genocide continues. The Israeli war to flatten southern Lebanon and remove its population has continued unabated since Friday. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported strikes on at least five villages in the south on Saturday, while the Israeli army issued new forced displacement orders for nine villages in southern Lebanon near Sidon and Nabatieh, reported Al Jazeera. Multiple twins have been bombed by air or artillery.
The duplicitous State Department announcement went on: “The security track will be launched at the Pentagon on May 29, with military delegations from both countries. To that end, the parties have agreed to a 45-day extension of the April 16 cessation of hostilities agreement to allow the security track to meaningfully improve the communication and coordination between Israel and Lebanon, facilitated by the United States.”
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tyre reported IDF artillery strikes in that city, as well, showing that the ceasefire exists in name only for the people of southern Lebanon. “Unfortunately, for people here in southern Lebanon, the ceasefire announcement has brought little respite, he said. “People remain concerned about further escalation, particularly given that Israel used the previous phase of the ceasefire to escalate and increase its attacks, and that is what many are now expecting again.”
