Israel raises absurd new demands over Lebanese Jewish graves as Lebanon weighs ending talks

What began as negotiations ostensibly aimed at ending Israel's military presence in southern Lebanon and securing the release of Lebanese prisoners has become increasingly weighed down by a widening list of Israeli demands, some reaching back decades into Lebanon's turbulent history.

In the latest round of talks, Israel has asked Lebanon to facilitate the removal of the remains of Lebanese Jews buried in historic cemeteries in Beirut and Sidon and transfer their remains to Israel, according to reports citing sources familiar with the negotiations.

The proposal was raised during talks in Rome as part of what the Israeli delegation reportedly portrayed as a potential "civilian prisoner exchange".

Israel suggested that the remains of relatives of Israeli citizens whose families once lived in Lebanon could be transferred in exchange for the release of some Lebanese civilian prisoners held by Israel.

The demand comes as negotiations are already struggling over far more immediate questions, including Israel's continuing occupation of Lebanese territory, its near-daily attacks on the south and the fate of Lebanese prisoners.

Lebanon has been seeking the release of 34 Lebanese prisoners whose cases have been documented by the authorities. Israel, however, has sought to divide those it holds into two categories, according to reports of the negotiations.

The first consists of people Israel identifies as Hezbollah fighters, whose release it has reportedly refused to discuss. The second consists of civilians whom Israel claims posed a threat to its forces when they were detained.

Israel has also continued to refuse requests for the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the Lebanese detainees or independently establish their identities and conditions.

Israel seeks Lebanese Jewish graves

Against that backdrop, the introduction of Lebanese Jewish burial sites into the negotiations has bewildered Lebanese officials and added another layer to talks that were already showing signs of faltering.

Israeli negotiators reportedly referred specifically to Jewish cemeteries in Beirut's Wadi Abu Jamil district and in Sidon, saying Israeli citizens of Lebanese Jewish origin wanted the remains of relatives transferred to Israel.

But the demands did not stop there.

Israel has also raised the cases of 11 Jews who disappeared or were killed during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s and again sought information about Ron Arad, an Israeli airman who disappeared after his aircraft went down over Lebanon in 1986.

Lebanese sources following the negotiations have described to The New Arab the demands as unrealistic and unserious, arguing that Lebanon does not possess records establishing where people who disappeared during the civil war nearly half a century ago were buried.

For Beirut, the growing list of demands has reinforced concerns that the negotiations are drifting further away from the issues for which they were established.

Those concerns have also been sharpened by Israel’s position on the so-called pilot zones envisioned as part of the negotiations.

Washington has informed Lebanon that Israel does not want to discuss establishing a second pilot zone in southern Lebanon, according to reports citing sources familiar with the talks.

Simon Karam, who heads Lebanon’s negotiating delegation, had gone further, telling associates after returning from Rome that he would not take part in another round unless Israel first committed to serious concessions on withdrawal and the pilot zones, according to leading Al-Akhbar newspaper.

Karam had also demanded that Israel halt demolitions in occupied villages and engage seriously on a prisoner deal, the paper added.

Instead, Israel wants to focus on direct coordination with the Lebanese army and on selecting a third party that would verify whether the army had fulfilled the requirements imposed on it in the first pilot zone.

Will Lebanon suspend talks with Israel?

The refusal represents another obstacle to a process under which Lebanon has sought Israeli withdrawals alongside deployments by the Lebanese army.

Official Lebanese sources told TNA that Beirut was still committed to negotiations and considered them "the only path to a solution", but warned that "it is not possible to continue holding rounds without tangible results".

The sources said Lebanon had delivered a clear message to Washington that "negotiations cannot continue in this way, without any Israeli response on the ground", and called for pressure on Israel to make the process reciprocal.

Beirut is now discussing several possibilities with the United States, including suspending the talks, demanding concrete Israeli steps before a tentatively planned eighth round in early September, or securing guarantees that such measures will be carried out as a condition for continuing negotiations.

Lebanon also rejects Israel’s attempt to make withdrawal conditional on first verifying Hezbollah’s disarmament.

"It must withdraw so that the Lebanese army can deploy and carry out its duties," the sources said, adding that a verification mechanism would then supervise the process.

President Joseph Aoun has nevertheless continued to defend the negotiating track.

Beirut Bar Association head Imad Martinos said after meeting Aoun on Monday that the president had been clear that the negotiations were "proceeding as they should", despite political and diplomatic obstacles.

Martinos said Aoun believed the talks would allow Lebanon to "preserve the land and recover its occupied territory", while stressing the need for Lebanese officials and citizens to remain united behind state institutions.

That defence of diplomacy is increasingly being tested on the ground, where Israel has continued military operations across southern Lebanon even as negotiations have proceeded, leaving Lebanese officials increasingly sceptical about what the talks are actually delivering

Overnight into Monday, Israeli forces carried out a series of explosions in Kfar Tebnit, Haddatha and between Taybeh and Deir Seriane, while artillery fire struck several areas and Israeli drones flew over the south.

On Monday morning, further Israeli explosions were reported in Majdal Zoun and Zawtar al-Sharqiya. Israeli soldiers were also reported to have infiltrated the western outskirts of Meis al-Jabal, while artillery fire sparked woodland fires between Bani Hayyan and Markaba.

In Khiam, Israeli troops were reported to be setting fire to homes on Monday.

Elsewhere, residents of Mansouri gathered near a Lebanese army position demanding to return to their village after being kept out following an Israeli evacuation order.

"We protest against the fact that the Israeli enemy is preventing us from entering our village and returning to our homes," said the head of Mansouri municipality.

He further called on the ceasefire monitoring mechanism to pressure Israel to allow residents back.