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‘Normalization Talks’: Lebanon No Longer Has A Government

By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | April 15, 2026

The Lebanese state no longer has even the semblance of sovereignty, stooping lower than any previous administration. Immediately after Israel committed one of the most violent civilian massacres in Beirut’s history, the government’s top officials begged to normalize ties with the killers and implement a plan that could drag their country to civil war.

Former Lebanese President, Bachir Gemayel, once sought to achieve a silent agreement with Israel, while many speculated that a full normalization agreement was his end goal. In the end, he only lasted 21 days in office before a fellow Maronite Christian assassinated him with a remotely detonated bomb.

Despite Gemayel clearly maintaining close ties to the Israelis and having been a leader of the fascist Kataeb militia, upon taking office, he adopted a “no vassal” policy to at least make it appear as if he wasn’t working on behalf of Tel Aviv. Conscious of the fact that in 1982 the Israelis were launching a war of aggression against Lebanon and were on their way to slaughtering 20,000 people, he understood the need to try and present the image of independence, not that of a traitor as many were accusing him of being.

Fast forward to 2026, the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun are openly begging for direct government meetings with Israel. At a time when Israel has murdered over 2,100 people in Lebanon – targeting journalists, hospitals, emergency workers, and countless other civilian targets – the government is entering normalization talks.

While protesters quickly took to the streets, in opposition to the scheduled talks, labeling the government as traitors and stressing the need to reject normalization, the administration attempted to mislead the people into believing that a ceasefire was set to be discussed. Then came a bombshell article from Axios News, followed by a series of statements from Israeli officials, confirming the suspicions of the Lebanese population.

Israel has explicitly stated that it will not even discuss a ceasefire, but is entering into talks to reach a “peace deal”, while Axios reported that, during a phone call last Friday, the Lebanese government requested “that the Israelis go back to the understandings of the Nov. 2024 ceasefire and conduct strikes only against imminent threats from Hezbollah.”

This means that the Lebanese government has desperately pleaded for direct talks, without even setting a demand that Israel stop bombing their country first or even sit down to discuss that possibility. The maximum request was that Tel Aviv agree to return to the “ceasefire” predicament prior to the current war, where it committed 15,400 violations and concentrated most of its firepower on the south.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam even summoned the commander of the Lebanese Army, Rudolphe Heikal, during the war, because he was not willing to stand against Hezbollah and implement the US-Israeli demand to disarm the one group protecting the country.

President Aoun gave a speech earlier this month, in which he told the people that he was waiting for Israeli approval so that the State would be able to repair a water pipe in the south of the country, almost as if he was willingly participating in a humiliation ritual.

Last Friday, scenes were filmed as protesters in Beirut stood across from disarmed members of the Lebanese Armed Forces, who were deployed with riot shields to the area. A man screamed at the soldiers, urging them to join the resistance in the south and asking them how they could continue to serve an army that doesn’t even pay their salaries. One of the soldiers even broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably as the demonstrator spoke.

Israel has killed dozens of Lebanese security force members and army personnel, yet the government in Beirut refuses to allow them to fire a single bullet back. Instead, they flee any area Israel orders them to, as if they are receiving their commands from Tel Aviv and not their own Capital city.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are waging fierce ground battles to defend the country from invading Israeli soldiers, who are attempting to place south Lebanon under an illegal occupation, returning the situation to the pre-2000 predicament.

Israel Katz, Tel Aviv’s defense minister, openly asserts that the displaced civilians from southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return and that the land will be seized by the Israeli military. Meanwhile, the Israeli government demands that Lebanon order the violent disarmament of Hezbollah, a move that would lead to certain civil war.

Not even a week after Israel launched over 100 attacks in only 10 minutes, killing around 300 people and demolishing entire high-rise buildings in the Lebanese Capital, Nawaf Salam and Joseph Aoun are seeking normalization. A move that breaks from the Lebanese government’s long-held position of requiring a Palestinian State prior to engaging in such negotiations.

Although the Lebanese government has a long history of abandoning the people of south Lebanon, pretending as if a whole segment of their country doesn’t even belong to them, this is perhaps the most shameful chapter yet.

Neither the President nor the Prime Minister was actually directly elected by the Lebanese people. Instead, they seized their positions with US backing, riding on the political predicament that Israel’s war against the country in 2024 had created to obtain power. Now they take a position that not only breaks from the Arab Peace Initiative, but they also seek to talk “peace” with an Israeli government that won’t even consider pausing dropping bombs on their country.

All of this begs the question: What legitimacy does such an administration have with its people? And if little to none, then how is it even considered a Lebanese government? The behavior of its officials appears more in line with that of the Lahad Army than of a Lebanese national administration.

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.

April 15, 2026 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Zionism