Israeli opposition leader, former short-term Prime Minister Yair Lapid, presented a comprehensive Middle East peace proposal on Thursday. The plan includes an end to the fighting with the Iranian terror proxies Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
While Lapid has backed Israel’s right to defend itself against the Iranian and its regional proxies, he claimed that the Israeli government “is extending the war needlessly, because of the prime minister’s political problems, and the fantasies of annexation and the return to Gaza from the messianic wing.”
Some of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have called for the establishment of new Jewish communities in Gaza. Israel unilaterally withdrew all IDF soldiers and civilian Israelis from Gaza in 2005.
“There is no victory without a diplomatic maneuver,” Lapid told the attendees of the “Strategies of Hope Conference” hosted by the Mitvim Institute in Tel Aviv, referring to a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and its primarily Muslim Gulf neighbors.
Lapid’s regional peace proposal consists of five main points:
- Hezbollah would retreat 9-10 kilometers (5-6 miles) from Israel’s northern border and be replaced by the formal Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), trained and supported by Western militaries.
- An international civil administration, composed of Arab, European, and American officials, would be established to govern Gaza.
- A regional coalition would be formed to address Iran’s regional aggression and ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, utilizing both diplomatic and military measures.
- Israel would boost its ties with Abraham Accords Arab partners, as well as with potential diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.
- An official call for “future separation” between Israel and PA-held areas would be made as part of a broader peace strategy. […]
— Read More: allisrael.com
