CNN
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The United States is urgently working on a plan to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to three sources familiar with the matter, as officials watch with growing concern the prospects of a spreading conflict.
U.S. officials are working with French officials and other countries to try to reach a diplomatic agreement that would end fighting along Israel’s northern border while resuming the cease-fire and hostage talks in Gaza, the sources said.
Senior U.S. officials working hard to craft a framework hope to announce a proposal as early as Wednesday evening, sources told CNN.
One of those sources also said that efforts to negotiate a ceasefire began in earnest for the Biden administration after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with senior Israeli official Ron Dermer on Monday.
The proposed ceasefire plan, once announced, would have to be worked out by the United States and other countries. It would then require the agreement of Israel and Hezbollah.
Biden discussed the escalating hostilities in the Middle East with several world leaders this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. On Wednesday, he discussed the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said.
The efforts come as Israel’s top general said Wednesday that the Israeli military was preparing for a possible ground incursion into Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his government the green light to engage in the U.S. effort, an Israeli official told CNN.
The official said Netanyahu gave his approval on the understanding that any deal would allow Israeli civilians to return to their homes in northern Israel.
Amos Hochstein, a senior White House adviser, is involved, the source said, adding that the Americans are not talking directly to Hezbollah.
U.S. officials have declined to provide details of the proposed plans, but the issue is the subject of intense discussions among diplomats in New York ahead of the U.N. General Assembly meetings this week. It is unclear to what extent an agreement has been reached.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spent the past few days on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, shuttling between Arab and European partners to work out the details of a proposal to end the fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a senior State Department official said.
On Monday night, a US official told CNN that the administration was extremely close to finalizing a plan to ease tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas, but that officials were trying to keep the negotiations as private as possible to avoid upsetting the fragile talks involving several countries.
But officials say the ceasefire efforts in Lebanon and Gaza must now be decoupled. Hezbollah has long said it will not stop its rocket fire until calm returns to Gaza, while Israel has tried to treat the two conflicts as separate ones. The White House has also consistently argued that a ceasefire in Gaza would unlock much more, including a diplomatic agreement with Hezbollah that would allow Lebanese and Israeli civilians to return home.
Faced with fears of escalation, U.S. and international officials are pushing for a deal first to end the escalating fighting in Lebanon, so that stalled ceasefire efforts in Gaza can then be resumed.
Biden and his top national security officials have regularly expressed optimism and hope that a deal could be reached for both sides, but they have ultimately failed. Recently, U.S. officials have said they do not know whether Netanyahu or Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar have the political will to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.
A European diplomat expressed skepticism about the chances of success of these efforts, saying he saw “no reason to be optimistic at the moment.” The diplomat added that the ongoing talks were progressing but that “the situation is deteriorating and getting worse by the hour.”
The plans could be at the center of discussions at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council scheduled for later Wednesday and called by France.
At a separate meeting of the UN Security Council earlier Wednesday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for “an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah and the implementation of a political plan that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return home and live in peace and security.”
A British official stressed that it was time to move up a gear and call for an immediate end to the fighting. He also suggested that diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza should be separated from efforts in Lebanon to achieve an immediate ceasefire on both sides of the Blue Line.
Speaking on ABC’s daytime show “The View,” Biden hinted at ongoing talks to reach a cease-fire in Lebanon that would pave the way for further peace talks elsewhere in the region.
“There is a way to do this, and they have a possibility – I don’t want to exaggerate it, but a possibility – if we can achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon, that can translate into a deal with the West Bank, but we also have to deal with Gaza,” he said.
“But it is possible,” he said, “and I am using all the energy I have with my team … to make it happen. There is a desire to see change in the region.”
Blinken said in interviews Wednesday that the United States was working on a plan that would allow displaced Israeli and Lebanese citizens to return home.
“It would be through a diplomatic agreement that would remove forces from the border, create a safe environment and allow people to return home. That’s what we’re working toward. Because while the problem is absolutely legitimate, we don’t believe war is the solution,” he told NBC News.
