First round of direct Israel-Lebanon talks concludes in Washington, DC

[0:00] talks between israel and lebanon have just concluded in washington dc these u.s brokered [0:06] negotiations mark the two sides first direct diplomatic contact in more than three decades [0:11] the lebanese government is hoping that the talks will pave the way towards an [0:15] end to the war between israel and hezbollah after weeks of devastating israeli strikes on lebanon [0:21] israel is focused on ensuring the group's disarmament u.s secretary of state marco [0:26] rubio says that tuesday's meeting is about laying the ground for future negotiations and just in the [0:32] past few minutes we've been hearing from the israeli ambassador to the united states he's been a part of [0:38] those talks take a listen talks began with a statement uh very encouraging statement secretary [0:45] of state rubio i was honored to sit around negotiating table with his excellency michelle isa united states [0:54] ambassador to lebanon and to her excellency nada hamadi the lebanese ambassador to washington we [1:04] discovered today that we're on the same side of the equation and that's the most positive thing we [1:10] could have come away with we are both united in liberating lebanon from an occupation power dominated [1:20] by iran called hezbollah lebanon is under their occupation and we are suffering from their constant [1:33] barrages of missiles and terror attacks trying to cross our border we talked about a number of [1:40] things most importantly the vision the long-term vision where there'll be a clearly delineated [1:47] border between our countries and uh where the only reason we'll need to cross each other's territory [1:55] will be in business suits to conduct business or in bathing suits to go on vacation we made it very [2:04] clear that the security of our civilians is not up for negotiation that is understood by the government [2:14] of joseph aun and i must say this was a victory for sanity for responsibility and for peace because the [2:28] head of hezbollah warned the government of lebanon yesterday not to participate in these talks and the [2:39] president of joseph al and bravely said no to hezbollah and this is the beginning of a very strong [2:48] and fortified consistent battle against hezbollah they are weakened as they've never been and together [2:57] we'll continue to rid the threat of this iranian proxy which is so maligned and so malignant in the [3:06] region now israel is still attacking southern lebanon even as those talks were occurring strikes [3:14] have killed more than 2 000 people in lebanon since the beginning of march and more than a million [3:18] more people have been displaced from their homes al-jazeera's obeda hito is live in southern lebanon [3:24] we'll go to obeda in just a second nida abraham is in ramallah in the occupied west bank first we speak [3:30] to mike hannah mike is at the u.s state department in washington dc where those talks direct talks have [3:36] been happening the first in decades mike what are you able to tell us at this very early stage i mean we [3:42] know the talks only just ended a short while ago but do we know with any level of detail what the [3:48] ambassadors actually talked about well we do not know precisely what was talked about what the exact [3:58] tones of the discussion were what we do know is that these were very much preliminary discussions aimed [4:04] at building a base to continue attempting to get some kind of agreement together between lebanon [4:11] and israel a process that could take months if not indeed years but we heard there from the israeli [4:17] ambassador leher leiter uh sounding somewhat optimistic and interestingly enough saying that [4:22] we discovered today that we he means lebanon are on the same side of the equation that's the most [4:29] positive thing we could have come away with the israeli ambassador implying that lebanon shares [4:35] israel's desire to curb the activities of hezbollah what is one of the issues that may well have been [4:41] discussed is how the lebanese government can regain full sovereignty over its country no doubt israel [4:48] would have been talking about the need for security guarantees on its northern border but the exact nuts [4:54] and bolts of the discussion we do not know what we do know is that this is just the beginning [4:59] it is at an ambassadorial level relatively a low-key diplomatic level though it was chaired by the [5:05] u.s secretary of state marco rubio showing how important this agreement would be to the u.s in its [5:12] broader efforts to tampen down the atmosphere the violence in the middle east let's go to al jazeera's [5:19] obeda hito who's live in tyre in southern lebanon obeda i we're going to talk about these talks and how [5:25] they're perceived in lebanon in just a second but before we do that i understand that there's been a [5:29] strike not very far from where you are an israeli strike that is what can you tell us that's right [5:38] cyril just a few minutes before getting online with you there was a violent attack by a drone [5:46] on a vehicle we understand now that was driving very close to where we are inside the city of tyre [5:54] there are injuries reported we've been hearing ambulances coming and going since that strike [5:59] happened and it's a it's a very concerning strike because the area where we are in currently has [6:07] a lot of women and children families that are displaced from some of these areas where israeli [6:13] troops are present near the near the blue line and people are here in this city thinking that they're [6:20] going to be safe from these kinds of strikes but that's quickly turning out to not be the case [6:26] for thousands of people that are still here in tyre many of them don't have any anywhere else to go [6:33] some of them were in beirut after the beirut strikes they tried to rejoin some of their families people [6:38] are moving around constantly here in southern lebanon trying to find a place that they can consider safe but [6:46] for most people here in lebanon they can't seem to find that place and everybody that i've spoken to [6:51] tells me they don't feel safe anywhere so beta we have two things happening in lebanon at the same [6:56] time two realities unfolding simultaneously one is the one that you just described and that is the war [7:03] between israel and hezbollah israel has invaded southern lebanon occupies parts of the lebanese [7:09] territory has displaced more than a million people killed more than 2000 and at the same time the lebanese [7:16] ambassador is as we said talking with the israeli ambassador so at the same time there is the [7:22] beginning of a some kind of negotiating process or some kind of discussion between the two countries [7:28] how do lebanese people feel about that people are having really mixed emotions about this point [7:37] this is a a very important point for lebanese people for lebanon as a country it's been decades [7:44] since there were talks between israel and lebanon currently the lebanese constitution doesn't [7:51] recognize israel as a state and it actually recognizes the lebanese people's right to resist [7:57] the occupation of lebanese territory and now that the government has reached out to israel asking for [8:05] an opportunity to discuss things people are reacting in different ways people want a ceasefire [8:11] uh people don't want to be able don't want to be want to be able to continue living their lives [8:17] without having to worry about being attacked without having to worry about rockets falling over their [8:23] heads but at the same time they don't want to accept a de facto occupation of their land and this is a [8:32] conflict that goes back for decades remember from 1982 to 2000 israel was actually occupying this [8:40] territory while lebanese citizens were still living here in tyre and the surrounding areas uh there [8:48] were actually uh israeli troops israeli intelligence uh and israeli institutions occupying this land it [8:56] wasn't until 2000 that that ended people don't want to go back to that and they want to be able to live [9:03] freely and safely uh but they're not sure many people here in lebanon are not sure if this is something [9:09] that israel can guarantee them even if lebanon carries out this disarmament campaign that israel is [9:18] so adamantly asking for asking for the lebanese government to actually fight hezbollah which is going [9:25] to drag the country uh according to many people that i've spoken to towards a civil war which they don't [9:31] want as well so lebanese people feel like they're stuck between a rock and a hard place they don't have [9:37] really good options right now but what they really want is a stop a stop to this violence a cessation [9:43] of hostilities but even that so far is nowhere near in sight that's the lebanese perspective let's [9:50] try and get the israeli perspective nita ibrahim is in ramallah in the occupied west bank uh covering [9:55] israeli affairs from there nita so israel as we said two things are happening at the same time israel's [10:01] talking with the lebanese government but at the same time they are waging a a very kinetic war against [10:07] hezbollah which is just a another way of saying they're dropping bombs every day on southern lebanon [10:11] what does israel want out of its talks with the lebanese government well israel wants one thing [10:20] sir and one thing only which is the disarmament of hezbollah and they want the lebanese government [10:27] and the lebanese army to take on that responsibility and take on that role as we've been hearing from [10:33] certain military officials talking to israeli journalists they were saying that maybe that would [10:40] be difficult without conquering all of lebanon without occupying all of the country but that [10:45] is not something that is easily done that's why we've heard israeli defense minister and others [10:51] talking about the importance of occupying lands in southern lebanon saying that they will continue [10:59] with their efforts to disarm hezbollah even if that is proven difficult but now we see the pressure [11:06] on the lebanese government that as we've heard just now from abada it's not something that is easily [11:12] done in a country that has so many sects that has so many complexities but israel knows the complications [11:19] and how costly the pushing of more troops into southern lebanon is so it tries to keep that front open [11:26] it tries to keep that war being waged specifically that netanyahu did not achieve all the war goals [11:32] he promised the israelis to do he promised a great victory in iran he promised to change the regime [11:39] to to do so many things that he could not eventually commit to when president trump announced the ceasefire [11:47] and the talks so he needs this front to keep going although there are many analysts warning of a fatigue [11:52] in the army because this war as the troops keep pushing further and further into lebanon these [11:59] troops are incurring losses just today we've heard the announcement of the injury of 10 soldiers three [12:05] of them critically so this is a battle that the israeli forces are trying to maneuver first they have the [12:12] communities in northern israel to appears they have to tell them that they are working towards achieving [12:17] the goal of minimizing the threats coming from hezbollah against these communities but at the same [12:22] time that is proving more difficult so they're hoping that these talks will achieve that without [12:28] committing to a ceasefire whatsoever al-shazeera's nida abraham reporting live from romala in the [12:34] occupied west bank obeda hito entire southern lebanon and also mike hannah at the u.s state department [12:40] in washington dc thank you very much to all of you