Lebanon on Tuesday delivered its response to a US proposal to settle its dispute over the maritime border with Israel, which should allow the two countries to move forward in the exploitation of large gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean. “The response was delivered today to the United States Ambassador,” indicated Tuesday evening during a television program the vice-president of Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, mandated by president Michel Aoun to supervise the negotiations. “I think (the answer) is now in the hands of the American mediator”he added, noting that this response included “amendments” to the proposal submitted by Washington.
An agreement on the “right track”
The agreement, which would give a glimmer of hope to the country in the grip of a terrible economic crisis, is “on track to assert Lebanon’s rights over all of its waters”, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Tuesday. Lebanese leaders had met the day before to craft a unified response to the US proposal, the content of which has not been made public, and said they were confident of reaching an agreement quickly, echoing optimism similar from the Jewish state. The two neighboring countries, officially in a state of war, have been negotiating for more than two years, through the United States, the delimitation of their maritime border.
On Monday, Elias Bou Saab, mandated by President Aoun to oversee the negotiations, said that Lebanon’s response would contain “Remarks” and “amendments”. “The amendments requested by Lebanon aim to make the text clearer and not subject to interpretation”told AFP and on condition of anonymity a Lebanese official involved in the negotiations. “In practice, we got everything we asked for”, he continued. He added that the route proposed by the United States grants Beirut the entire Qana gas field. “whose operation now falls entirely to Lebanon.”
The French company TotalEnergies should start drilling in the area as soon as a deal is announced, he said. Talks had been suspended in May 2021 over disputes over the surface of the disputed area, and powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah had threatened to attack Israel if it begins gas extraction before an agreement.