Israel Proposes Peace Talks With Lebanon

A Palestinian man in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, gazes out from a building heavily damaged in the long-running conflict with Israel. (By Eyad Baba -- Associated Press)

The United States had recently come around to supporting the truce. On Wednesday, a State Department spokesman indicated that Israel's efforts to reach out to its foes could help U.S.-backed talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, whose influence is limited to the West Bank. Those negotiations were launched last November in Annapolis, and there has been little public progress since.

"The Israelis want to take steps forward to deal with some of the issues in the region, and that's positive and good," said the spokesman, Tom Casey. "There's a sense out there that we're not supportive of, or aren't saying enough positive things about, Israel reaching out [to its adversaries]. But that's the plan. That's what we tried to do in Annapolis."

Hamas had its own reasons for wanting the truce. The deal has the potential to elevate the movement's status in the Middle East and also gives it time to regroup.

"Israel has managed to kill Hamas operatives quicker than Hamas can replace them," said Jonathan Rynhold, senior research fellow at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies outside Tel Aviv.

Israel is already deep into talks with the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, mediated by Germany, over a prisoner exchange. Under the expected terms, Israel would set free a notorious Lebanese gunman, Samir Kuntar, and perhaps others, in exchange for the two Israeli soldiers whose capture in the summer of 2006 set off a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. The captured soldiers were badly injured at the time, and there has been no indication since then that they are still alive.

That deal could be completed as early as next week, according to those familiar with the talks.

Mark Regev, spokesman for Olmert, cited a "changed constellation" in the Middle East as the reason Israel renewed its offer Wednesday to open talks with Lebanon.

"Israel can negotiate with the Palestinians. It can negotiate with the Syrians. There's no logical reason whatsoever why we shouldn't be negotiating with the Lebanese," Regev said.

But Lebanon responded coolly.

"There's no room for bilateral negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese position is unchanged," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a statement.

In the past, Siniora has said Lebanon -- a weak state that is heavily influenced by Syria -- would be the last country to make peace with Israel. A broad spectrum of Lebanese politicians on Wednesday also denounced the Israeli call for talks.

Israel has fought two wars in Lebanon, and it occupied a stretch of southern Lebanon for nearly two decades ending in 2000. The two nations remain in dispute over a relatively small patch of land along their border that is controlled by Israel. Regev said that Israel was interested in holding "direct, bilateral" talks with Lebanon and that all issues would be on the table.