Lebanese Attitudes Shift Towards Peace with Israel

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The ongoing conflict between Lebanon and Israel has left the Lebanese population exhausted, with decades of armed conflict taking its toll on the country. As the situation reaches a boiling point, the Lebanese have become increasingly open to pursuing peace with Israel, but a majority remain opposed to normalization and unwilling to establish close ties with the country.

The Israeli-Lebanese conflict has a long and complex history, with the most recent escalation occurring in 2023. On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a support front for Gaza, leading to a significant increase in violence. The conflict has resulted in the deaths of 4,346 people and the injury of 12,301 others since March 2, 2026, with the reduction of some 70 border villages in southern Lebanon to rubble and their rendering uninhabitable.

According to Sami Nader, Middle Eastern affairs analyst and director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, the situation in Lebanon has become increasingly dire. ‘At first, the war was every 10 years, and now it is practically every year,’ Nader explained. ‘When we talk about ending the war and achieving peace, it doesn’t mean that we are sacrificing the Palestinian cause… Israel is an entity that has usurped Palestinian rights. This is not up for discussion.’

Nader noted that Israel is not ready for peace and is unwilling to ‘pay a price’ for it, at least under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government. This has left Lebanon facing two bitter choices: risky negotiations or a return to war. ‘There is no third option,’ Nader emphasized.

Hezbollah, a powerful militant group in Lebanon, has long been opposed to peace with Israel. The group, which is armed and funded by Iran, views its armed resistance as necessary to protect Lebanon. However, the group’s support has waned in recent years, with many Lebanese increasingly viewing the conflict as a burden. Imad Bazzi, a municipal council member from Bint Jbeil, one of dozens of villages reduced to rubble in southern Lebanon, stated that ‘it would be something wonderful’ if the framework agreement could result in a settlement with Israel that ends the state of war, secures the return of the displaced, and paves the way for reconstruction.

However, Bazzi emphasized that Israel must respect the agreement and stop seeking pretexts to continue its campaign against Lebanon. ‘We are paying the price at their negotiating table,’ he explained. ‘Most southerners are opposed to the war, support the Lebanese state, and want to return to their villages under the protection of the Lebanese Army and not any other armed group’ — a reference to Hezbollah.

Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, a civic organization promoting freedom of expression, noted that calls for peace and/or normalization have become more visible online, alongside a division that has grown ‘more acute.’ Mhanna explained that one side sees peace as a pragmatic way to end a cycle of destructive wars, restore state sovereignty, and remove Hezbollah’s justification for retaining its weapons, while the other views peace amid continued Israeli occupation and military attacks as a form of capitulation to Israel.

The mood has changed in certain circles, with some Lebanese newspapers, television stations, and websites beginning to challenge longstanding taboos by engaging with Israeli journalists, despite a Lebanese law prohibiting such contact. Mhanna described this as ‘the erosion of a taboo,’ arguing that once the Lebanese state itself entered direct negotiations with Israel, it became increasingly difficult to maintain an absolute barrier around journalistic contact.