by Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel on Thursday rejected amendments requested by Lebanon to the draft maritime border agreement between the two countries drawn up under the aegis of the United States, casting doubt on the outcome of the long discussions on this project which should make it possible to organize the distribution between the two countries of the income derived from the exploitation of gas deposits in the Mediterranean.
Israel received on Thursday the Lebanese requests for modifications to this text received at the end of last week by the two parties from the American envoy Amos Hochstein.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid “has been briefed on the details of the significant changes Lebanon is seeking to make to the agreement and has ordered the negotiating team to reject them”, a source said. Israeli official.
According to a Lebanese official, the authorities in Beirut were not officially informed of the Israeli rejection of their demands.
The draft agreement, the content of which has not been made public, was rather well received by the Israeli and Lebanese authorities when they received it.
But on the scale of each of the two countries – which are still officially in a state of war – the oppositions have denounced a project favoring the interests of the opposing party.
Alongside these indirect negotiations, Israel advanced preparations to begin drilling on the Karish gas field, one of two fields located in the disputed area.
The indirect discussions were also accelerated after Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite militia supported by Iran, issued indirect threats against the Karish deposit, the Israeli authorities until then presenting the draft agreement with Beirut as a means of secure this gas field.
But the Israeli government apparently opted for a more aggressive approach on Thursday.
“Israel will produce gas from the Karish field as soon as possible,” the Israeli official said.
“If Hezbollah or anyone else tries to cause damage on the Karish field or threaten us, negotiations on the maritime border will cease immediately,” he added.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz further hardened his tone by declaring in a speech that “the State of Lebanon would pay a heavy military price” in the event of an attempted attack by Hezbollah against Israeli interests.
(With contributions from Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari, written by Dan Williams, edited by Ari Rabinovitch and Nick Macfie; French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Sophie Louet)