Israel and Lebanon will hold a second round of talks in Washington on Thursday, an Israeli source confirmed on Monday, as the United States seeks to extend a fragile cease-fire between the two countries. The talks will be the first since a ten-day U.S.-brokered cease-fire took effect after weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Who Gets Managed From Above
The next round of talks is being staged in Washington, with the United States again positioned as the broker trying to keep a fragile cease-fire from collapsing. The arrangement keeps the process in the hands of state officials and diplomatic intermediaries, while the people living through the consequences of the fighting remain on the receiving end of decisions made elsewhere. A regional source said a potential meeting between Netanyahu and Aoun could take place in a month, pending both parties' consent.
That meeting, if it happens, would depend on the consent of both parties, underscoring how the process remains locked inside elite channels. The source did not say the meeting was certain, only that it could take place in a month. The talks themselves are the first since the ten-day U.S.-brokered cease-fire took effect after weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Gaza Talks Stall in the Diplomatic Maze
Senior Hamas officials said no progress was made in talks with Israel on implementing the second phase of a Gaza cease-fire after meetings in Cairo with mediators including Egyptian officials and envoys linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's initiative. Hamas officials said the talks were at deadlock.
That deadlock leaves the second phase of the Gaza cease-fire stuck in the same machinery of mediation, with Egyptian officials and envoys tied to Donald Trump's initiative in the room but no movement reported. The source language is blunt: no progress, deadlock. The people living under the terms of the cease-fire are left waiting while the apparatus of mediation shuffles papers and schedules.
The article did not report any grassroots or community-led response in the Gaza talks, only the familiar choreography of officials, mediators and initiatives. The process remains top-down, with the terms of life and death negotiated by those with institutional power.
Peace Confabs and the Language of Stability
In Brussels, the European Union hosted Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa and dozens of countries in a confab about Israeli-Palestinian peace to discuss stability, security and long-term peace in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
The gathering in Brussels brought together the European Union, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa and dozens of countries, all speaking the language of stability, security and long-term peace. The framing is familiar: institutions convene, leaders pose, and the people most affected by the conflict are discussed as objects of management. The article did not describe any direct action or mutual aid from below, only another conference room full of official voices.
War by Another Name
Live updates said the United States and Israel launched Operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury on February 28, with the stated aim of creating conditions for regime change. The updates said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed by an Israeli strike on a Tehran bunker, Iran's defense minister and several IRGC generals were also killed in the largest-ever aerial attack by the IAF, and Iran retaliated by firing across the Middle East at Gulf nations and U.S. military bases in the region.
The updates said 12 IDF soldiers and 23 civilians have been killed, and at least 7,693 more injured in ballistic missile attacks across Israel since February 28. They also said 13 U.S. soldiers were killed, according to CENTCOM. A ceasefire deal was announced on April 7 and went into effect on April 8.
The stated aim of creating conditions for regime change lays bare the logic of the operation: violence launched from above, justified as strategy, and paid for by ordinary people, soldiers and civilians alike. The casualty figures show the human cost of decisions made by states and militaries, with injuries and deaths spread across borders while officials continue to speak in the language of security and order. The ceasefire announced on April 7 and put into effect on April 8 has not ended the broader machinery of domination that produced the fighting in the first place.