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No Jerusalem-Beirut Peace Deal in Near Future

On Wednesday, the Arab country of Lebanon flat-out rejected the notion that there would be the possibility of a lasting peace with Israel being reached with Jerusalem in the near future. This announcement out of Beirut came despite the statements and efforts of key international leaders visiting the region, including United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who have tried to achieve a more stable situation that will lead to peace.

"Lebanon will be the last Arab country that could sign a peace agreement with Israel," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told a news conference in Beirut this week, even as Israel has publicly expressed hopes that the diplomacy following the end of the latest Middle East war would lead to a permanent peace deal. "There will be no agreement with Israel before there is a global peace deal that is just and lasting," Siniora said.

The head of Lebanon`s government, in which sits members of the terrorist group Hizballah who led the country into a devastating war in which over 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed, said that there had been no contact of any kind between the two states concerning a peace agreement. A fragile cease-fire, imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah on August 14.