What Israeli and Lebanese officials are saying before Washington talks

The United States has announced that a new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Washington, DC, from Tuesday to Thursday this week.The announcement came shortly after Israel and Hezbollah announced a renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, where ongoing attacks have threatened to derail the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end the war. Iran, which backs Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a key condition in its ongoing negotiations with the US.Israel has occupied about one-fifth of Lebanon and continued near-daily attacks on southern Lebanon and Beirut since early March, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the first US-Israeli attacks on Tehran on February 28, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several senior officials.More than 4,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, and more than one million have been displaced from their homes as Israeli forces have advanced northwards.Here is a recap of the statements that Israeli and Lebanese leaders have made in the lead-up to this meeting.(Al Jazeera)What have the US and Iran said about the Lebanon talks?On Monday, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said the US and Iran agreed on a new roadmap towards reaching a final deal following what they described as “encouraging progress” during the first day of high-level talks in Switzerland.Sixty-day talks triggered by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by US President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday last week had been due to start on Saturday, but were delayed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon.Following the announcement of the MoU last week, however, several Israeli officials declared that Israel would not withdraw from Lebanon. However, Iran has stated it must see signs of the MoU, which includes a ceasefire in Lebanon, being implemented before it would engage in direct talks.The new joint statement issued on Monday, following the delay, includes the creation of a “de-confliction cell” aimed at ending Israel’s military operations in Lebanon, alongside a high-level committee and direct communication channels designed to support further negotiations. The de-confliction cell is intended to support efforts to “ensure the adherence of the termination of military operations in Lebanon”.On Monday, US Vice President JD Vance said the US and Iran will establish “coordination mechanisms”, one to oversee the ceasefire in Lebanon and one to de-mine the Strait of Hormuz.Vance said technical negotiations on other sticking points for a US-Iran peace deal will follow over the “weeks and days to come”.“We do believe … that we can get to a place where Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are protected, Israel’s security is protected,” Vance said on Monday.“That’s going to require some coordination with the Lebanese armed forces, and also it’s going to require the Iranians to rein in Hezbollah,” he added.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailed “major progress” towards ending the war in Lebanon. However, he cautioned that the first real test of the agreement would be the effectiveness of the de-confliction cell.What have Lebanon and Hezbollah said before the talks?In a phone call on Monday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun discussed the “deconfliction” mechanism for the country with Vance and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.The phone call focused on consolidating the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.Hezbollah, however, has condemned the upcoming talks, demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon first.What is Israel saying before the talks?Israel has stated several times over the past month that it will not withdraw from Lebanon.On Monday last week, following the news that the MoU was imminent, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and