Washington Post: Israel Prepares Lebanon Ceasefire Plan as a 'Gift' for Trump

One day after meetings between Israel's Strategic Minister and Donald Trump and his team, three current and former Israeli officials told the Washington Post that Israel is eager to reach a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon as a 'gift' to the incoming U.S. President. The American newspaper reported on Wednesday, November 23, citing three Israeli sources familiar with the content of the Israeli minister's meetings in the U.S., that Ron Dermer told Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, that Israel wants to achieve a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon as soon as possible to present the first success in foreign policy to the elected President as a 'gift.' Mr. Dermer met with Trump and his senior advisor, who was a former advisor to Trump, at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's personal residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday and Tuesday of this week. After the meetings with Trump and Kushner, the Israeli Strategic Minister went to Washington and met with senior White House officials, including Amos Hochstein, the special representative of Joe Biden in negotiations between Israel and Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Minister stated that there will be no ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah. One source of this report told the Washington Post that an agreement regarding Lebanon will be reached by January (the official start of Donald Trump's term). Another Israeli official added that the ceasefire proposal focuses on cooperation between the West and Russia. Israeli media reported last week that Ron Dermer had traveled to Moscow on a mission from Benjamin Netanyahu before his trip to the U.S. and met with senior Kremlin officials. Shortly before Dermer's trip to Moscow, Israeli media reported the landing of a Russian plane in Israel, which apparently brought an official on a mission from the Kremlin for negotiations with the Israeli government, a matter that both Jerusalem and Moscow remained silent about. Reports from Israeli media indicated that after Donald Trump's victory was confirmed, Russia, which has a military presence in Syria and can play a significant role in preventing Hezbollah from rearming through cooperation against the transfer of Iranian weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, showed readiness to enter negotiations with Israel and the U.S. regarding Syria and Hezbollah due to its interests concerning Ukraine. One Israeli official told the Washington Post that senior Russian officials met two weeks ago to discuss Moscow's role in preventing Hezbollah from rearming from Israel. Frank Lowenstein, a former American diplomat who was involved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians during Barack Obama's presidency and collaborated with the White House during the transition from Obama's administration to Donald Trump's first cabinet in 2016, told the Washington Post that the Russians had no role in this matter under the Biden administration but would have a 'significant role' under Trump. Mr. Lowenstein also stated that Netanyahu has 'no loyalty to Joe Biden but may be looking for a temporary agreement with Biden - who is still in power - regarding a ceasefire in Lebanon to leave the finalization of the agreement to Trump.' One Israeli official told the Washington Post that the country is now 'counting on Russia to pressure the Syrian President to cut Hezbollah's supply lines.' Retired General Yisrael Ziv, a former senior Israeli army official, also told the Washington Post that the agreement being prepared is 'something Netanyahu has been waiting to present to Trump.' An American official also stated that all work on the potential agreement is still being organized by Joe Biden's team, and progress has been made. The office of Benjamin Netanyahu and spokespeople for the elected U.S. President and Jared Kushner declined to comment on this news. Mr. Kushner has not yet received an official mission from Donald Trump for the new government and apparently is not interested in playing the role of advisor again, but according to the Washington Post, he, who helped mediate normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries during Trump's first term, may still have a 'consultative role' in potential negotiations for Israel's normalization with Saudi Arabia without holding an official position in the White House. Israeli media reported simultaneous with Mr. Dermer's trip to the U.S. about 'progress' in efforts both with Joe Biden's team and in negotiations with Donald Trump's team regarding a ceasefire in Lebanon, but at the same time emphasized that the new Israeli Defense Minister has ordered to expand ground operations of the army in Lebanon so that in case of failure in negotiations, the army would be prepared to intensify attacks on Hezbollah. Last month, during the final weeks of his election campaign, Trump stated in a phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should take any actions it deems necessary against Hezbollah and Hamas. Hassan Nasrallah, the then Secretary-General of Hezbollah, said a few days before his death in an Israeli bombing in Dahieh that his group would only cease attacks on Israel when Israel ends the war in Gaza and withdraws from the strip. However, after suffering heavy blows recently, Hezbollah has delegated its representation to Nabih Berri in negotiations among Israel, the U.S., and Lebanon. Mr. Berri, the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, stated on Tuesday that his country would not agree to a solution that would be detrimental to Lebanon's interests and sovereignty, referring to Israel's strict condition that in any agreement, it demands that in case of a ceasefire violation by Hezbollah, the Israeli army should be able to conduct operations throughout Lebanon again. Hezbollah, in support of the extremist group Hamas, began its offensive campaign with rocket and drone attacks on Israel one day after the start of the Israeli army's war with Hamas. The Israeli army initially intensified its response to Hezbollah by conducting explosive operations against their pagers and other communication equipment two months ago and began ground operations against this group in a strip of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah and Hamas are recognized as terrorist organizations by the U.S. 'Biden Ready to Work with Trump Team for Hostage Release Agreement' In the meantime, Joe Biden, on Wednesday, November 23, during a meeting with the families of several American-Israeli hostages still held by the extremist group Hamas in Gaza, stated that an agreement regarding a ceasefire in Lebanon would also help in the release of these hostages. The White House announced in a statement after the meeting between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Wednesday that the Biden administration is ready to cooperate with the elected President's team for a solution regarding the release of hostages. General Nitzan Alon, a senior Israeli army officer responsible for the remaining 101 Israeli hostages in Gaza, warned the Netanyahu government on Wednesday that with the arrival of winter, the lives of the hostages are in serious danger and they may not survive another winter under the conditions in Gaza. He stated that information from the living hostages indicates a 'deterioration' in their situation. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group released a three-minute video on Wednesday of Sasha Troppanov, a young Israeli man, in which he urged the people of Israel to expand protest actions to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a deal. Sasha Troppanov, an Israeli young man of Russian descent and one of the Israeli hostages, stated in his remarks that Netanyahu wants to attack Lebanon and then Iran, 'to bury us here.' Israeli media reported that the video of Sasha Troppanov was recent as he referred to the Israeli army's recent operations in Lebanon in his speech. This hostage, who turned 29 this week while being held captive, added that Netanyahu wants to attack Lebanon and then Iran, 'to bury us here.' Media reports indicated that the Islamic Jihad organization had initially provided the footage of Sasha Troppanov to Russia about ten days ago. Mr. Troppanov and his family have Russian origins. His mother has asked Moscow to work for her son's release from the hands of Palestinian armed groups. The extremist group Hamas had released another Israeli man of Russian descent last year as a 'gesture of goodwill' towards Russia. The video released by the Islamic Jihad is the third video of Mr. Troppanov in the 405 days of his captivity, but this group or Hamas has not released footage of other Israeli hostages recently. It is estimated that more than half of the hostages are still alive.