Lebanon Should Take a Cue from Sharaa, Talk to Israel

Beirut continues to toe a self-defeating line by putting Palestinian interests ahead of its own

Hussain Abdul-Hussain

This Is Beirut

A joke has it that Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Ahmad el-Chareh, offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus to make up for the two New York towers that Al-Qaeda, Chareh’s former organization, destroyed on 9/11, killing 2,753 Americans. Times are changing.

Since October 7, Iran has been begging America for a nuclear deal that would mothball its nuclear program until better conditions allow Tehran to revive its ambition for nuclear weapons.

Qatar, the world’s biggest sponsor of Islamist rhetoric and organizations, is now planning to build a Trump golf course for $5.5 billion. A significant portion of this investment will be spent on the Trump trademark franchise.

Despite the change in the policy and rhetoric of Islamist Iran and Syria – becoming friendlier toward America and Israel, respectively – and despite Qatar’s two-faced policy of sponsoring terrorist Islamist organizations while befriending the US, Lebanon continues to toe a self-defeating line, calling Israel “the enemy” and putting Palestinian interests ahead of its own.

It is high time Lebanon abandoned its outdated policy on Israel. The first step should be to decriminalize dialogue with Israelis, detach itself from the deadlocked Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and engage in a frank conversation with the Jewish state regarding land border demarcation—laying the groundwork for eventual peace.

But make no mistake: Israel is not eager to normalize relations with Lebanon at any price. Until Hezbollah is fully disarmed, until the rhetoric of “resistance” is stripped from Lebanon’s political lexicon, and until the country stops pretending that a long-term truce is a sufficient substitute for real peace – when it clearly is not – peace with Israel will remain elusive.

Syria’s Chareh seems to have a plan, the same plan that drove the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Morocco to sign the Abraham Accords and normalize ties with Israel. This is the same plan – the one that elevates trade and commercial interests over useless land disputes and old vendettas – that has kept Islamist Turkey from severing ties with Israel, despite Ankara’s populist bombastic rhetoric.

The same motive that has driven Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel – and persuaded Turkey to preserve diplomatic relations with the Jewish state – is now prompting Syria’s Chareh to reach out to the Israelis.

No one knows whether Chareh is sincere in his overtures to Israel or not. No one knows whether Chareh’s lieutenants talking to Israelis is a tactical move – aimed at bolstering his image and winning recognition – or a strategic one that sees in peace a net gain for Syria.

Whatever Chareh’s true intentions are, he has opted for a pragmatic approach toward Syria’s relations with Israel, thus going against Islamist populist rhetoric.

That Islamist Chareh has become pragmatic on Israel while Lebanon religiously maintains its animosity toward the Jewish state is the biggest irony. Beirut should wake up and smell the coffee. Lebanon should be jealous of Syria and pursue peace with Israel.

A Lebanese-Israeli peace agreement would bring Lebanon a windfall of diplomatic and economic benefits. Imagine President Trump – or future US presidents – making a stop in Beirut as part of their Middle East tours. Imagine the Beirut International Airport earning the trust needed to establish direct flights to the United States, tapping into a lucrative air travel corridor connecting North America and Europe to India. Direct diaspora flights to and from Lebanon would further boost the country’s aviation sector – and that’s just one example.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has proven to be a disappointment – a bookish intellectual with little charm, charisma, or grasp of realpolitik. He continues to cling to the outdated notion of neither waging war on Israel nor pursuing peace with it, passively waiting for the ever-divided and paralyzed Palestinian leadership to strike a deal so Lebanon can follow suit.

By contrast, President Joseph Aoun has thus far been a breath of fresh air, cutting through layers of ossified Lebanese rhetoric about “no peace” with Israel and the perpetual delay while awaiting the Palestinian Godot of peace.

Aoun has shown resolve in leading Lebanon toward normalcy. When he ran into Druze Israeli spiritual chief Mouafac Tarif in the Vatican, during Pope Francis’s funeral, Aoun did not shy away from a handshake. His move stirred a storm of accusations of treason among the few Lebanese who continue to behave as if Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, who once tyrannized Lebanon through his televised speeches, is still alive.

Times are changing. The region is changing. The world is changing, and so should Lebanon. Just as Iran and Syria have begun charting paths that serve their national interests – be it through closer ties with the United States or with Israel – Lebanon must also pursue a policy grounded in self-interest, one that includes strategic alignment with both the United States and Israel.