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Lebanon and Israel, neighbors officially at war, signed an agreement on Thursday to demarcate their maritime border after months of difficult negotiations through the United States, which ensures the distribution of…
Lebanon and Israel, neighbors officially at war, signed an agreement on Thursday demarcating their maritime border after months of tough negotiations through the United States, which secures the distribution of prized offshore gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean. .
The border agreement constitutes a de facto “recognition” of the Jewish state by Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said at the start of a Council of Ministers that formally approved the text.
“This is a political achievement, it doesn’t happen every day that an enemy state recognizes the state of Israel with a written agreement and this in front of the entire international community,” he added.
US President Joe Biden hailed the imminent signing of this “historic” agreement on Wednesday, stressing that “it took a lot of courage to commit to it and do it.”
The agreement will be signed in the afternoon, in the presence of the American mediator Amos Hochstein and the special coordinator of the UN in Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka.
Beirut insisted that its delegation had no official contact with that of the Jewish state during the signing, insisting that the ceremony be held in two separate rooms at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). ), on the Lebanese border, the city of Naqoura.
For Lebanon, mired in a deep economic crisis, the deal comes just days before the end of President Michel Aoun’s term, without finding a successor for him and for Israel just before legislative elections on November 1.
“The maritime boundary agreement will take the form of two exchanges of letters, one between Lebanon and the United States and the other between Israel and the United States,” explained UN Secretary-General’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The Lebanese delegation will have the sole mission of “sending the letter in the presence of Amos Hochstein and the UN representative and will not meet in any way with the Israeli delegation”, underlined the spokesman of the presidency, Lebanese Rafic Chelala.
“Eliminate a War”
The agreement, which will allow both countries to exploit gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, was reached thanks to years of American mediation.
According to the agreement, the Karish offshore field lies entirely within Israeli waters.
Lebanon, for its part, will have all the rights to explore and exploit the Cana field, located further north-east, part of which is in Israel’s territorial waters. But “Israel will be compensated” by the firm that operates Cana “for its rights to any deposits,” according to the text.
Amos Hochstein, who negotiated the deal, hailed the press as a “historic day” and said the deal helped “create hope and economic opportunity” and bring “stability” to both sides.
He expressed confidence that the deal could constitute “an economic turning point” for Lebanon and open “a new era of investment” that could revive the economy.
The mediator, who met with President Aoun on Wednesday, also held talks with two other power poles, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, before traveling to Naqoura and then to Israel.
Without even waiting for the company, the energy group Energean started the production of natural gas at the Karishi field on Wednesday. The Israeli government had given the company the final green light a day earlier to start production at the site.
Lebanon, for its part, asked TotalEnergies to quickly begin exploration work in the Cana field.
“The purpose of the agreement (…) is to eliminate as much as possible the possibility of a naval war between Israel and Lebanon,” said former US negotiator Frédéric Hof on Wednesday.
The deal could not be signed without the consent of the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, which had threatened over the summer to attack Israel if the Jewish state began extracting gas from the Karish field before a deal was reached.
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Map showing the proposed US-brokered maritime border between Lebanon and Israel
• Omar KAMAL
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) deployed along the border with Israel, October 27, 2022
• MAHMOUD ZAYJAT
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