Israel and Lebanon signed this Thursday (27) a historic agreement to resolve the long-standing dispute over their maritime borders. The document does not alter the bilateral relations between the two nations, which are technically at war, but has the potential to unlock gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea.
There was no handshake between leaders: Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed the agreement in Baabda, while Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid did the same in Jerusalem.
Delegations from the countries will then have to take the documents to the city of Naqoura, in the border region, at a UN base.
The negotiations were mediated by the United States, and it was up to Amos Hochstein, envoy of President Joe Biden, to express what is perhaps the biggest point of concern about the agreement: whether it will be respected by the next governments of the countries involved.
Israel has elections on the 1st – the fifth election in just three years. Lebanon, on the other hand, immersed in a serious economic and social crisis, beckons to political chaos: Aoun’s term ends on the 31st, but the country’s parliament has not yet been able to elect a new leader, opening up the possibility of the post. become vacant.
The agreement, in effect, establishes a border between Lebanese and Israeli waters. By defining each nation’s exclusive economic zone, it also provides a mechanism for both countries to obtain royalties from offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean.
This opens up the possibility of Beirut, for example, discovering offshore energy potential — which, while not enough on its own to solve the country’s chronic crisis, could possibly alleviate the frequent blackouts that have crippled, among other things, the country’s economy. .
Prime Minister Yair Lapib described the measure as a huge achievement, and Lebanese negotiator Elias Bou Saab said the signing marks the beginning of a new era. But the speeches are far from representing a diplomatic advance between the countries, whose chances seem remote.
“It’s not every day that an enemy country recognizes the State of Israel in writing before the international community,” Lapid said. Aoun’s response quickly came, for whom the agreement has “no dimension that could change Lebanon’s foreign policy”.
The agreement provides for leaving the Karish field under Israeli control and granting Lebanon the Qana gas field. A part of this last reserve, however, crosses the border line between the two countries and, in this way, Tel Aviv will retain part of the operating profit.
This Wednesday (26), according to information from the newspaper The Times of Israel, the radical faction Hamas expressed support for the agreement. Suhail al-Hindi, a senior member of the group, said the deal would allow Lebanon to gain economic rights. “The Lebanese resistance will succeed in imposing its conditions on Israel,” he said at Hamas headquarters.
The agreement is also seen by Israel as a possibility to reduce tension with the radical group Hizbullah, backed by Iran, which had already expressed support for the signing of the document.
“This strengthens Israel’s security and our freedom of action against Hizbullah. There is a rare consensus across the entire Israeli defense establishment on the importance of the deal,” Lapid said on Thursday.
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