Political sources warn that negotiations with Israel lack grounding in the 1949 armistice agreement and the Taif accord, risking Lebanese sovereignty and national consensus.
Lebanon marks the anniversary of Grand Lebanon's declaration this year amid mounting security threats and the risk of territorial and existential change, according to political figures and observers. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt has repeatedly called for preserving the unified Lebanese state and its pluralist character against fragmentation.
The party supports negotiations with Israel in principle but insists on returning to the 1949 Armistice Agreement, which underpinned UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Taif accord, to establish Lebanon's international borders. A political source told this outlet that the framework agreement does not reflect these foundations.
Israeli forces continue to destroy territory in the south, including the Ali al-Tahir heights, and a monitoring source reported Israeli claims of a new situation there. The source expressed alarm at evidence of Israeli road-building in the area, suggesting an intent to remain and likening it to demolishing the memory of Jabal Amel itself.
A political observer noted striking alignment between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on the framework agreement, but said this reflects the absence of Lebanese-Lebanese consensus rather than national agreement. He said negotiations are the president's prerogative, but their continuation requires standards and government discussion that have not yet occurred in detail.
President Joseph Aoun said on Sunday that Lebanese people are exhausted by war and that the goal of talks with Israel is to end enmity. A source cautioned that ending enmity differs from ending hostilities and that such language requires explanation. He drew parallels to the cold peace between Israel and Egypt, and between Israel and Jordan, which never became genuine peace.
The observer suggested Lebanon could return to arrangements resembling the 1949 armistice, with Lebanese military disengagement conditional on full Israeli withdrawal and an end to Israeli combat operations. However, he warned that language about ending enmity risks altering the Lebanese army's doctrine, which the Taif accord carefully established to include hostility to Israel as a core principle.
