Judging the framework agreement signed in Washington by the headlines alone, one might think it represents a historic breakthrough on the road to a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon. But a careful reading of the document and its implementation mechanisms shows that it is something quite different: not a peace agreement, but an American attempt to create a new security reality in southern Lebanon — in the hope that a political reality may eventually grow from it.
The greatest achievement of the agreement is not that it brings peace, but that it changes the starting point. For the first time, Israel and Lebanon are publicly signing a joint document under American auspices that speaks of neighborly relations, sovereignty, and even future peace. The fact that the signing took place openly in Washington, and not in a secret meeting or in a tent in Naqoura, symbolizes a deeper shift than any technical clause in the agreement.
Nevertheless, the gap between the declarations and the reality on the ground remains enormous.
The entire agreement rests, in effect, on one assumption: that the...
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