Israel could be holding peace talks with Lebanon within a year, Israel’s U.S. envoy told JTA.
Pointing out that Israel’s talks with the Palestinians are continuing despite the political upheaval in Jerusalem, Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said the Lebanon track could be in place within a year.
“I don’t think it would be a sin to hope for peace with Lebanon,” he said. “Hopefully we will be able in the next year, rather than having two focuses [the Palestinians and the Syrians], we will be able to have another one with Lebanon.”
Meridor made his comments in an interview with JTA to deliver a Rosh Hashanah message two years into his stint in Washington.
The ambassador noted the irony of recent progress on the Israel-Palestinian and Israel-Syria tracks while Iran apparently edges closer to obtaining a nuclear bomb.
By this time next year, he said, the Iranians could be even further along toward obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“We must make every effort from the individual to the state level to prevent this nightmare from happening,” Meridor said.
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