“Optimism” is a deceptive term no less than the terms “productive,” “positive,” or “significant progress,” terms bandied about in recent days as descriptive of talks being held in Lebanon by American envoy Amos Hochstein. “Optimism,” one should note, has less than encouraging connotations after the term was linked to American efforts at attaining a deal for releasing the hostages, as well as to the dozen forays of Hochstein to Lebanon and Israel in recent months, all ending fruitlessly. But, after this cautionary note, it appears that the deal taking shape between Israel and Lebanon, whose rightful caption should be “an agreement between Hezbollah (and Iran) and Israel,” is actually providing grounds for “optimism.”
