How Israelis are responding to Trump's Iran peace plan

By — Stephanie Sy Stephanie Sy By — Veronica Vela Veronica Vela Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-israelis-are-responding-to-trumps-iran-peace-plan Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio President Trump says the U.S. and Iran have reached an initial agreement to end the war, the first steps in a deal with the regime. That agreement appears to include a ceasefire in Israeli strikes. But that country’s defense minister says forces will not withdraw from Lebanon. As Stephanie Sy reports, Israelis say they’re caught in the middle of a bad deal and constant fighting. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. William Brangham: The memorandum signed by the U.S. and Iran has little to do with the third combatant in this war, Israel. Top officials there expressed dismay and even derision for the deal and, as we reported, a key part of what is not in this initial agreement, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. There, Israel continues to fight Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, despite a cease-fire that neither side is honoring. Now Israelis say they are caught in the middle between a bad deal and constant fighting. Here's Stephanie Sy. Stephanie Sy: The distant shrieks in the sky from incoming rockets, the air raid sirens, the trudge to below-ground shelters becoming almost mundane in Northern Israel. Israel says nearly 30 of its soldiers and four civilians have died in fighting with Hezbollah. Across the border in Lebanon, nearly 4,000 have been killed. The cycle of violence has become all too familiar, and it's unclear whether the framework agreement for peace struck over the weekend between the U.S. and Iran will end it. Yael Alon, Israeli Citizen: I'm not very happy about it. I think it will last maybe two years until Trump is ending his term, and then we will go back to the same thing. Stephanie Sy: The exact terms of President Trump's deal weren't public before many Israelis had already formed their opinions. The agreement doesn't resolve many Israeli concerns about Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Guy Bar Natan, Israeli Citizen: It's only American interests here, and it's in -- for the matter of national security of Israel, this is the worst, worst agreement that could ever be done. Carmiel Frutkoff, Jerusalem Resident: I don't think the agreement is a good agreement, and I think that trying to sign these kind of agreements with the bully of the neighborhood is not going to bring us long-lasting peace. Stephanie Sy: Top Israeli officials also made their opinions known. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter): Regarding Lebanon, we have created a buffer zone, and we will remain there as long as necessary. Iran wanted us to withdraw from there, but that did not happen. Do you know why it didn't happen? Because I st