This is not the first time Lebanon has entered into direct negotiations with the Israelis. The experience of negotiations that ultimately led to the May 17 Agreement in 1983 is still still vivid in people's minds as a milestone in contemporary political history, both in terms of its process and its results and implications.

But the ruling structure that approved it with great difficulty failed to provide the means for its protection and continuity, so the council that had approved it ultimately repealed it, as if it had never been.

Among the differences, according to some, was that the strength of the opposition to the agreement was very strong at that time, providing grounds to overturn it, especially since Hafez al-Assad’s Syria withdrew its initial support for it and incited its downfall, while some parties of the “National Movement” had just launched an actual resistance, and at the same time, a necessary alliance emerged between the leader of the Amal Movement, Nabih Berri, and the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, who decided to begin a political and military confrontation against the government. At a higher level, the “National Salvation Front” was formed, which included prominent figures such as Sleiman Frangieh, Rashid Karami, and Adel Osseiran, and it began political opposition to the government and its performance.

However, notably, the “Anti-Hezbollah” front, which strongly supports the negotiation process as the only option to end the party’s dominance, quickly organized a firm response to this threat, with the broad headline “The old circumstances have changed,” meaning that the time when the party could bring about change through various forms of objection has passed, and the facts and circumstances that combined to defeat the May 17 Agreement and “achieve a victory” for its opponents have completely changed. In their view, there is no “cross-sectarian and regional resistance front,” nor is there Hafez al-Assad’s Syria supporting the opposition trend. Additionally, there is no “general Arab-Sunni mood against understandings with the Israelis.” More importantly, the leaders who previously took on the call to overthrow the May 17 Agreement, Speaker Nabih Berri and Walid Jumblatt, are now in a different place and hold alternative views that some see as, in essence, “a regret over what was done back then.”

Moreover, there is confidence that the Presidency of the Republic and the Prime Minister's Office, which firmly adopt the option of direct negotiation, are not open to “maneuver and compromise.”

With these opposing visions and calculations, the advocates of negotiations proceed with their option, while dissenters continue on their path of objection. The irony is that both sides are quietly confident that their choice will ultimately prevail, as neither shows any willingness to retreat toward middle-ground solutions.