Tobias (Toby) Siegal is editor and contributor to The Times of Israel.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun expressed optimism Monday that a deal with Israel on a maritime border between the countries will be finalized, after a troubled week for efforts to secure a deal.
“We hope to complete all similar arrangements to mark the southern maritime border [with Israel] in a matter of days,” Aoun told an assembly with clerics in Beirut.
“Negotiations have progressed and gaps have been closed over the past week,” he added, offering additional information.
The Lebanese president presented this potential agreement as the first step in Lebanon’s recovery from an ongoing economic crisis that paralyzed much of the country for more than 3 years.
Aoun said Sunday after a phone call with U. S. mediator Amos Hochstein that the Lebanese side would thoroughly analyze the proposal before issuing its response.
The Lebanese side’s optimism comes after days of intense disagreements and rising tensions between the parties over new demands made through the Lebanese side, which Israel has rejected.
The Hezbollah-linked Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday that a Lebanese official told Hochstein that “Lebanon does not aim to withdraw” the adjustments it had requested to the maritime agreement, despite pressure from Biden’s management to drop some of its demands.
Still, unnamed Lebanese quoted through Qatari media outlet Al-Arathrough said on Monday that arrangements were already underway for an official border demarcation announcement. October 20.
There is no external confirmation of these claims.
While the precise issues of dispute over the deal have yet to be confirmed, Al-Akhbar reported Tuesday that Beirut had agreed to recognize the border marked through an Israeli buoy, which Jerusalem unilaterally placed five kilometers (3. 1 miles) from the northern city of Rosh. Hanikra in 2000. — as a foreign border.
It was not transparent without delay if either party had abandoned its demands on the matter.
Lebanon, however, is willing to make a deal and start extracting fuel in hopes of emerging from an economic recession, and even Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appears in the negotiations.
A deal would end a long-standing dispute over some 860 kilometers (330 miles) of the Mediterranean Sea, which covers the Karish and Qana fuel fields.
On Saturday, Israeli security gave Energean the green light to begin testing the fuel pipeline of the fuel platform, and full operations are expected to begin in a few weeks. Israel has insisted it will not wait for a deal, but has so far only allowed Energean to take the first steps.
Israel and Lebanon never agreed to demarcate their land border, respecting a ceasefire line imposed by the UN, leaving their exclusive economic zone on the high seas in dispute. The lack of a maritime border had not been a major challenge until a decade ago, when a fuel discovery providence began in the eastern Mediterranean, which could reshape the region’s economic future.
After years of stalemate, Israel and Lebanon began US-brokered talks in 2020 aimed at resolving the dispute.
Ash Obel contributed to this report.
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