Tue 11 October 2022:
Israeli and Lebanese negotiators claim to have reached a “historic” agreement to resolve a prolonged maritime border dispute in the gas-rich Mediterranean Sea.
After delivering President Michel Aoun the deal’s final draft on Wednesday, Lebanon’s deputy speaker Elias Bou Saab declared that a compromise had been reached that satisfies both parties.
Israel and Lebanon have reached a U.S.-brokered agreement to settle their long-disputed maritime border, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Tuesday, potentially unlocking significant offshore gas production.
“Israel and Lebanon have reached an historic agreement settling the maritime dispute,” said a statement from Lapid’s office, in which the premier hailed “an historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security”.
Lebanon’s presidency had said earlier that a proposed final text submitted by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was “satisfactory to Lebanon,” and voiced hope that “the agreement on the demarcation will be announced as soon as possible”.
While limited in scope, an agreement might ease security and economic concerns in both countries, whose shared history is rife with conflict.
The deal would resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean Sea in an area where Lebanon aims to explore for natural gas, and near waters where Israel has already found commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons.
Talks on resolving the border dispute between the neighbouring countries which remain technically at war began in 2020 but have faced repeated roadblocks.
Momentum towards a final deal suffered a setback last week when Israel said it planned to reject Lebanon’s proposed changes to Hochstein’s final draft.
But negotiations continued in recent days, culiminating in acceptable terms for a final deal, both sides said.
“In the last few hours, Israel received a draft agreement that meets all of its security, economic and legal demands,” the statement from Lapid’s office said.
The premier will “convene a security cabinet meeting, followed by a special government meeting at which the agreement will come before the government for approval before it is presented to the Knesset (parliament),” it added.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, said intermittent negotiations between the two sides have been taking place for more than a decade.
“But now Lebanon is in crisis and if it is able to start exploring and drilling [for gas reserves], it could have revenues from gas production to help it with its financial meltdown,” she added.
Khodr said that in the past, international companies refused to begin the exploration process over security concerns in the absence of the deal. “In fact today, a delegation from Total is in Beirut; they met the caretaker prime minister who told them to start immediately exploring and drilling the area once the maritime border deal comes into force,” Khodr said.
Officials from both countries were in close contact via US mediator Amos Hochstein over the past few days in an effort to resolve outstanding differences. A major source of friction was the Karish gas field, which Israel insisted fell entirely within its waters and was not a subject of negotiation.
The US text has not been made public but under terms leaked to the press all of the Karish field would fall under Israeli control, while Qana would be divided but its exploitation would be under Lebanon’s control. Total would be licensed to search for gas in the Qana field, and Israel would receive a share of future revenues.
Bou Saab said Lebanon will “get its full rights from the Qana field”, and Israel might receive compensation through Total. There will be no direct partnership in gas exploration or exploitation between the two enemy states, he said.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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