The two countries, which are officially at war, today sign the agreement to define their maritime borders, which guarantees the distribution of offshore gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.
Lebanon and Israel, two neighboring countries officially at war, today signed the agreement reached a few days ago that defines their maritime borders, after months of negotiations under the auspices of the United States.
The agreement – which is described as historic – still guarantees the distribution of offshore gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean.
The agreement will be signed in the afternoon at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, in the presence of the US mediator Amos Hostein and the UN special coordinator in Lebanon, Joanna Vroneka.
US President Joe Biden hailed the achievement of the “historic” agreement, stressing that “it took a lot of courage” for the sides to commit and bring it to fruition.
“Avoidance of naval conflict”
The agreement, which will allow the two countries to exploit natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, was concluded thanks to years of American mediation.
According to the agreement, the deposit Karish is entirely within Israeli waters. Lebanon, for its part, will have full rights to exploit its deposit Cana, located in the north-east and a part of it is placed within the territorial waters of Israel. But Israel will be compensated by Cana’s operating company “for its rights to potential deposits,” according to the text.
Amos Hostein, who negotiated the agreement, met yesterday in Beirut with President Aoun, told reporters that this is a “historic day” and added that the agreement will allow the creation of “economic opportunities” and the restoration of “stability” for both sides. .
Without even waiting for the signature, the energy group Energean already yesterday started the production of natural gas at the Karish offshore field. The Israeli government on Tuesday gave the company the final green light to start exploiting the field.
Lebanon, mired in an unprecedented economic crisis, has for its part asked TotalEnergies to quickly begin exploration work at the Cana field.
“The goal of the agreement (…) is to neutralize as much as possible the possibility of a naval conflict between Israel and Lebanon,” former US negotiator Frederick Hoff told a group of journalists yesterday.
Lebanon only “by proxy”.
The Israeli government has approved the historic deal, with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid saying the deal is Beirut’s de facto “recognition” of the Jewish state.
“This is a political achievement. It’s not every day that a hostile state recognizes the state of Israel with a written agreement and that in front of the international community,” the Israeli prime minister said at the start of the cabinet meeting on ratifying the agreement.
Already, the president of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, has signed the letter of ratification of the agreement.
Read more: Macron: The Israel-Lebanon agreement is a step towards more peace
“The agreement to define the maritime borders will take the form of an exchange of letters, one between Lebanon and the US and another between Israel and the US,” explained the UN Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stefan Dujarric.
Lebanon denies the coexistence of its own delegation in the same room as the Israeli delegation.
He also refuses to sign the same text, since the two countries are at war.
The Lebanese delegation will have as its sole mission “the delivery of the letter in the presence of Amos Hostein and the UN representative and will not meet the Israeli delegation in any way”, the representative of the Lebanese presidency emphasized.
Caught in a climate of escalating political tension just days before the end of President Michel Aoun’s term, without a successor, Lebanon has yet to announce the composition of its delegation.
The deal could not be signed without the approval of Lebanon’s powerful Shiite group Hezbollah, which had threatened over the summer to attack Israel if it began mining the Karish field before an agreement was reached.
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