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It is impossible not to welcome a halt to the bloodshed in Lebanon – Israel has killed around 4,000 Lebanese, destroyed dozens of villages, and left tens of thousands with devastating injuries in an alarmingly short period.

However, the terms of the ceasefire brokered last week more resemble a surrender: imposed by the imbalance of powers, the absence of the Lebanese state, Arab silence, and complicity with Israeli aggression. 

The prevailing analysis among many — that Hezbollah’s decision to open a “support front” in solidarity with Gaza gave Israel the pretext to carry out its agenda in Lebanon, inflicting its terror and crimes on the Lebanese — holds some truth. 

This is because there was no deterrent to prevent Israel's response: Lebanon lacks a functioning state and all Arab armies have been rendered incapable of fulfilling their traditional role of protecting the nation.

The very concept of Arab national security has effectively vanished, such to the extent that some Arab states have been falling over themselves to grovel before Israel, desperately seeking its approval at any cost.

In this context, Lebanese officials rushed to greet US envoy Amos Hochstein, who is both a declared Zionist and a former Israeli soldier, as though he were Lebanon's saviour.

This is not Hochstein's first time mediating between Israel and Lebanon; he was also the architect behind the 2022 maritime borders agreement between the two countries.

Although that deal was deeply unfair to Lebanon, forcing it to cede territory and relinquish its claims to the "Karish" gas field, the Israelis were still dissatisfied. They had sought to control all the "blocks" identified as potential hydrocarbon exploration sites, particularly those within Lebanon's territorial waters in the Mediterranean.

In October, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the government needed to find a to invalidate the 2022 agreement and allow renegotiation so Israel could acquire the other blocks.  

This aspect of Hochstein's role isn't about defending Israel itself, but about paving the way for it to become a significant oil and gas producer and exporter. This isn’t a purely Zionist or Israeli ambition. Israel’s transformation into a natural gas exporter is part of a joint US-Israeli strategy, as US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz revealed immediately after the 2016 Jordan-Israel gas and pipeline construction deal was signed — by which Israel would sell Jordan gas looted from the Palestinians.

The sacrifice of Lebanon

Fast forward to today and, following the ceasefire deal in which Israel and the US blackmailed Lebanon into preventing Hezbollah from crossing south of the Litani River, Israel is demanding, according to Israeli reports, that this area become a demilitarised and uninhabited buffer zone. 

French newspaper Le Monde a map on November 29 showing the villages, numbering around 26, destroyed by Israel in south Lebanon. The vast destruction has paved the way for Israel’s buffer zone demands, which translate to imposing Israeli control over the area. 

If this happens, what will stop Israel from later transferring Jewish settlers there, in the light of the (or, more accurately, darkness) of the continued, shameful, and humiliating Arab surrender? It's clear, therefore, that Amos Hochstein has certainly performed his duty in imposing the terms of surrender, the needed leverage provided by Israel’s crimes, and at the expense of Lebanese lives and Lebanon. 

Why are we calling it a surrender deal? Firstly, because of the acquiescence to Israel’s terms, in particular, the provision that no weapons can be purchased or acquired without Lebanese government approval. 

Although in terms of normal principles of state sovereignty and law, this would be a necessary component, in this case, the restriction will be imposed by Israel and the US, and their implicit meaning is obvious: no weapons from Iran and no weapons for any movement that might try to resist Israel. 

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And what about other militias in Lebanon? The objective is clear and has nothing to do with strengthening the Lebanese state.  Rather, what it does is officially bring Lebanon, indirectly, under US and Israeli rule.  

Here it's necessary to clarify Amos Hochstein's long-standing role in the region. He served in both Obama administrations, working on energy affairs under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and later as a Special Presidential Envoy for Climate under Joe Biden. 

Hochstein's role in Lebanon is consistent with the US energy strategy in the region that supports Israeli energy dominance and the excavation and exporting of natural gas. 

Before becoming part of the US government, Hochstein worked at corporate lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates, whose clients included oil and gas companies seeking to influence US government policy, and whose slogan was: “We make Washington work for you”.  

Despite Hochstein’s love for Israel, and his actions in part stemming from his view that this role is part of his patriotic duty, he is also the ideal choice for big capital: he understands the language of energy companies, profits, finance and “business”.  

Even if President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t pick him as an advisor in the proposed “National Energy Council”, Hochstein will still serve him and his plans, especially as Trump has announced this council is being formed to secure — a direct quote, marking a departure from deceitful terms like “international or regional cooperation” as have been used by other US presidents to camouflage the same aim. 

We have no information on what Hochstein achieved in his trips between Saudi Arabia and Israel before the Al-Aqsa Flood cut the ground from under him when he’d believed normalisation was in touching grasp. 

However, though it’s now too late for Biden to realise what he viewed as a “historic” achievement, Hochstein — along with Kerry’s team and the Biden administration — has undoubtedly laid the groundwork that could prove very important for this US goal.  

Moreover, the surrender deal he’s brokered will ease the situation for Trump — the Americans understand that returning to the normalisation roadmap has been complicated by the destruction in Lebanon and Gaza.    

And ex-Israeli army recruit Hochstein appears to be the ideal candidate for continuing his role as “high commissioner” to the benefit of both Washington and Tel Aviv. 

Lamis Andoni is a Palestinian journalist, writer and academic who launched ������ as its editor-in-chief.

This is an edited and abridged translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click 

Translated by Rose Chacko

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