Photo source: Gulf News By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war, but an American-mediated deal for their maritime operations has been reached permanently. It aims to cease the future conflict. The deal was struck days before the Israeli election in October 2022. The debate regarding it had been highly politicised, with some questioning its motives and timing. The deal was signed in restrained ceremonies in the respective countries. The occasion provided a rare occasion of harmony, but it also showed some limitations, as the Lebanese government believes that it is far less momentous than agreements reached between Israel and three Arab states in 2020, or Israel’s earlier peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. It signals that Lebanon is certainly a bit conservative and realistic about it. But, in Israel, the deal, in general, is regarded as a historic achievement that will bring prosperity, and stability, or as a fall of Hezbollah’s thr...