More recently, in mid-June, Lebanon rebuffed a suggestion from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the new government follow Syria’s lead and engage in direct negotiations that could lead to a permanent Israeli-Lebanese peace accord. “We will be the last Arab country to start direct talks with Israel,” Chedid declares.“Syria can do whatever it wants, but we are ruling out any direct or indirect contact with Israel for now — none whatsoever.When they solve the Palestinian problem and Syria and Israel solve their own problems, then we’ll think about it.” The ambassador, noting that Lebanon is still home to 450,000 Palestinian refugees, added: “Every single day they continue to make airspace incursions over Lebanon, and we must still deactivate the mines and cluster bombs that Israel put on our lands. And we still have Lebanese detainees in Israel.” The Lebanese government refuses to talk about it, but a German-mediated prisoner swap with Israel appears imminent. According to the Beirut daily Al-Akhbar, Hezbollah is on the verge of releasing the two abducted Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in exchange for jailed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kantar, con•sidered a freedom fighter back home, and four Hezbollah guerrillas captured during the 2006 war.The newspaper, in keeping with Hezbollah policy, gave no indication whether the two Israeli soldiers are alive. Despite Lebanon’s official hostility to the Jewish state, Chedid says, “Obviously, we follow what’s going on in Israel — not only the politicians, but everyone in the street — because we are neighbors and we’re affected by every Israeli decision.” Asked what might happen if Israeli voters replace the scandal-plagued and deeply unpopular Olmert with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s less likely to push for peace talks with Lebanon, Chedid replied: “I don’t have any comment on that. Whoever [in Israel] wants to implement this is their problem. All we care is that Israel is serious about the peace process and withdraws from all Arab territories.” And for the Lebanese, one of the most important territories they want back is Shebaa Farms. This mountainous, hotly contested sliver of land was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, along with the rest of the Golan Heights. It measures about 8 square miles — meaning it would fit comfortably within the city limits of Gaithersburg, Md. The depopulated zone is still occupied by Israeli troops, which is why Lebanon disputes Israel’s claim that it has complied with U.N. Resolution 425 ordering it to withdraw all troops from southern Lebanon. Yet the United Nations also agrees with Israel’s argument that Resolution 425 doesn’t apply to Shebaa Farms because the area is part of Syria, not Lebanon. Chedid calls that nonsense. “Everybody in this city, and in this country, and in Israel and Syria, knows that the Shebaa Farms belong to Lebanon, and we have all kinds of historical documents to prove this,” Chedid insists. “It has nothing to do with size. It’s the principle.” At the same time, the ambassador wouldn’t comment on another U.N. decree — Resolution 1701 — which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, was approved by both countries, and requires the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. But after Hezbollah’s show of strength in both the 2006 war and in early May, any disarmament appears unlikely. In fact, the day after Suleiman’s inauguration, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned the new president not to use military force against his group. Addressing tens of thousands of supporters in a Beirut playground, Nasrallah said “the state’s weapons should not be used to settle accounts with an opposition political party, or in favor of outside parties that weaken Lebanon’s strength and immunity in confronting Israel.” Not only would Chedid not discuss the disarming of Hezbollah, he also wouldn’t talk about Hezbollah’s chief backer, Iran. Nor would he say a word about what effect the U.S. invasion of Iraq has had on the Middle East. He did, however, dispute the widely held belief that the United States is losing influence in the region, given that Turkey is sponsoring Israel-Syria peace talks, Qatar defused Lebanon’s internal crisis, Egypt brokered a truce between Hamas and Israel, and now French President Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to arrange a meeting between Israel’s Olmert and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “I don’t think that’s the case,” Chedid says. “The U.S. is cooperating with Lebanon and it’s the world’s only superpower. Everybody would like to talk to the United States.” In the meantime, Chedid’s number-one challenge is running his embassy here in Washington — which has five diplomats and 20 local staffers — and encouraging foreign investment in his country, which was once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East for its peace and relative prosperity. “We have an image problem, and that’s one of my main concerns. People pretty much identify Lebanon with war. Little by little, we are trying to change this,” he explains. “We are not a rich country, but we do intend to hire some PR firms to project a positive image about tourism and business opportunities in Lebanon.” Unfortunately for Chedid, foreign investment — which had been pouring in from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf states — cooled following the latest political stalemate. So has U.S. investment in Lebanon, despite what the ambassador called “a reservoir of sympathy and goodwill” toward his country, especially on Capitol Hill. But Chedid hopes all that will change with the country inching toward political unity. “Lebanese businessmen love their country and want to invest there because they can make a lot of money, and because it has a lot of sentimental value,” he says, estimating the Lebanese-American community at around 2 million. “But above all, we need stability. We don’t want our people to emigrate from Lebanon. We want them to stay where they are.” Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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