US President Donald Trump has said that Israeli and Lebanese leaders will meet for direct talks on Thursday, marking their first such contact in 34 years.
The last time leaders from the two countries sat together to discuss a broad peace framework was at the 1991 Madrid Conference, according to Al Jazeera.
Bilateral negotiations continued in Washington until 1993, but those efforts stalled without producing a peace treaty.
Since the early 1990s, communication between Lebanon and Israel has been almost entirely indirect, shaped by hostilities and Lebanon’s 1955 law still technically in force that bans contact and commercial dealings with Israel. Hezbollah’s political influence has also reinforced the divide.
Dialogue has typically been conducted through the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL or via US mediators.
