US, France working on a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke of the plan during the United Nations Security Council.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 02:02

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on leadership for peace, on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, US, September 25, 2024. (photo credit: BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)

The United States and France are working on a temporary 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.

“In recent days, we have worked with our American partners on a temporary ceasefire platform of 21 days to allow for negotiations,” Barrot told the UNSC during an emergency meeting it held on the Israeli-Hezbollah crisis, which it feared would spark a Third Lebanon War.

“We are counting on both parties to accept it without delay in order to protect civilian populations and allow for diplomatic negotiations to begin,” Barrot said.

Diplomatic efforts to enforce Resolution 1701

“We have worked with the parties in defining the parameters for a diplomatic way out of this crisis under [UNSC] Resolution 1701,” Barrot stated. Resolution 1701 set out the terms of the ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. It mandated that no armed groups, such as Hezbollah, would be allowed to operate in southern Lebanon along Israel’s border. Hezbollah has long been in violation of that resolution.

Israel has sought, through its military activity, to push Hezbollah back to the Litani River.

Israeli forces at the site where a missile fired from Lebanon hit houses and cars in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, September 22, 2024. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Barrot said that the ceasefire proposal would “be made public very soon, and we are counting on both parties to accept it without delay.” 

The proposal set out “a demanding path, but it is a possible path.” Barrot told the UNSC, which met on the sidelines of the high-level opening portion of the 79th General Assembly.

“France stands ready to avoid a regional war. Ladies and gentlemen, let us take advantage of the presence of a number of leaders in New York this week to impose a diplomatic solution and turn around this cycle of violence,” he said.