'Surrender agreement': Northern Israeli leaders slam potential Lebanon ceasefire deal - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Kiryat Shmona mayor Avihay Shtern termed the potential deal "a surrender agreement."

 

Fires in Kiryat Shmona

(photo credit: Eyal margolin / Flash 90)

Heads of localities in the North have criticized in recent days the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon that could be signed in the near future.  

"A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that does not include an arrangement to ensure the security of the communities along Israel's northern border would be a disaster," Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said on Tuesday.

"If a ceasefire agreement is signed between Lebanon and Israel and it does not include a significant arrangement to restore the security of the residents of the front-line communities before they return home — including a buffer zone near the border with a strong international force and the removal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River — it will be a disaster for generations," he stated. 

"We do not want to find ourselves repeating history, facing the same failures as after the First and Second Lebanon Wars with unenforced agreements. I remind the Israeli government that the residents of the North are Israel’s first line of defense, and as such, their security must be ensured."

'October 6 reality'

Kiryat Shmona mayor Avihay Shtern termed the potential deal "a surrender agreement" in a Facebook post on Monday. 

A war between Israel and Lebanon (illustrative) (credit: ING IMAGE, REUTERS)

"When you propose to return us to the reality of October 6 in the North, where our sons could be taken captive, our daughters raped, and our homes burned — we will not agree, we will not return, and we will not cooperate with these surrender agreements," he wrote. 

Later on Tuesday, Walla reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited the heads of regional councils in the North to a meeting regarding the deal.

Tens of thousands of people are still displaced from their homes in the North after they were evacuated following October 7 of last year.

The US-brokered ceasefire proposal outlines a 60-day truce during which Israeli forces would withdraw from southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese military would be deployed, barring Hezbollah from entrenching itself in the area. 

Joanie Margulies, Reuters, and Hannah Sarisohn contributed to this report. 

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-830772

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