Israeli opposition leader Lapid unveils comprehensive Middle East peace proposal; includes Gaza and Lebanon ceasefire

Israeli opposition leader, former short-term Prime Minister Yair Lapid, presented a comprehensive Middle East peace proposal on Thursday. The plan includes an end to the fighting with the Iranian terror proxies Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

While Lapid has backed Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and its regional proxies, he claimed that the Israeli government “is extending the war needlessly, because of the prime minister’s political problems, and the fantasies of annexation and the return to Gaza from the messianic wing.”

Some of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have called for the establishment of new Jewish communities in Gaza. Israel unilaterally withdrew all IDF soldiers and civilian Israelis from Gaza in 2005.

“There is no victory without a diplomatic maneuver,” Lapid told the attendees of the "Strategies of Hope Conference" hosted by the Mitvim Institute in Tel Aviv, referring to a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and its primarily Muslim Gulf neighbors.

Lapid’s regional peace proposal consists of five main points:

·      Hezbollah would retreat 9-10 kilometers (5-6 miles) from Israel's northern border and be replaced by the formal Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), trained and supported by Western militaries.

·      An international civil administration, composed of Arab, European, and American officials, would be established to govern Gaza.

·      A regional coalition would be formed to address Iran’s regional aggression and ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, utilizing both diplomatic and military measures.

·      Israel would boost its ties with Abraham Accords Arab partners, as well as with potential diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.

·      An official call for “future separation” between Israel and PA-held areas would be made as part of a broader peace strategy.

Lapid said he welcomed the recent victory of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as a potential blessing for Middle East peace efforts.

“This is an administration that is not afraid of grand initiatives,” he said.

In 2020, under the Trump administration, Israel signed the Abraham Accords, a historic peace agreement with four Arab states – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Addressing the future, Lapid envisioned a gradual regional peace settlement in the Middle East, which would begin with a six-month truce in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, alongside the release of all remaining Israeli hostages, and an end to the fighting against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

The opposition leader proposed that a multinational Arab force, comprising representatives from the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, and the Palestinian Authority, along with Western officials, should take on the administrative control and reconstruction of Gaza following the war. This joint Arab force would also oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza's civilian population.

He also stated that while Israel would retain its right to self-defense, it would formally declare that it has no territorial claims in Gaza or southern Lebanon.

Lapid proposed that once stability is restored in Gaza and Lebanon, a regional peace conference could be held in Saudi Arabia within a month, bringing together key players such as the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Lebanon and the UAE.

“The only reason this doesn’t happen is that the current government is unwilling to accept that the PA will be part of any agreement, even in the most minimalistic and non-committal fashion,” Lapid argued. “Why? because Smotrich and Ben Gvir are opposed,” he added.

In February, Netanyahu reportedly called for the eventual establishment of a new Gaza administration, consisting of local officials without affiliations to Hamas or the Fatah party, which runs the PA, as both organizations promote terrorism against the Jewish state.

However, Lapid argued that the Netanyahu government is nevertheless engaging with the PA administration in Ramallah.

“Even today, the ‘full-on right wing’ government works full-on with the PA,” Lapid claimed.