An Open Letter to Lebanese Officials: On 'Negotiating' With Your Occupier
To the esteemed officials within the Lebanese government currently considering an excursion to Washington for 'talks' with your Israeli counterparts, a gentle, if pointed, reminder from Sheikh Naim Qassem: these endeavors are utterly and profoundly pointless. On Monday, Sheikh Qassem publicly called for the immediate cancellation of a Tuesday meeting between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in the
US capital, a sentiment echoed across much of the resistance movement. Lebanon’s foreign minister claims these talks would press for a “ceasefire,” a rather peculiar objective for a nation whose southern border has been under continuous, often devastating, assault. Instead, as Sheikh Qassem clearly stated, the focus remains on confronting the relentless Israeli attacks. Mainstream outlets like
Reuters, even when citing Al-Monitor, frame these as standard diplomatic engagements, implying a parity that simply does not exist. They carefully omit the context of an occupying power dictating terms, perpetuating a narrative where negotiations proceed as normal even as one party relentlessly bombs the other. The term 'ceasefire' itself, when bandied about by an aggressor and its enablers, often
means 'cease resistance' rather than a genuine cessation of hostilities. This charade of 'negotiation' echoes historical precedents where a stronger power leverages its military might to extract concessions under the guise of diplomacy. One need only look to the 1989 US invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause, which ousted General Manuel Noriega. After 27,000 US troops were deployed to 'restore