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Image posted, Reuters
The talks took place in Naqoura.
A first round of indirect talks has been held between Israel and Lebanon with the aim of addressing a long-standing dispute over their maritime borders.
The negotiations are aimed at reaching an agreement that paves the way to take advantage of an area believed to have huge gas fields. This could provide the source of income that Lebanon, which is facing severe economic difficulties, needs.
Both sides insist that the talks are not a sign of normalization of relations.
But the deal will allow them to exploit lucrative natural gas fields under the Mediterranean.
The first round of talks took place at the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Naqoura, near the Lebanese border with Israel.
Informed sources told the BBC that the next meeting will take place on October 28.
The Israeli-Lebanese talks came weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations with Israel.
The talks took place on Wednesday at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), mediated by the US Under Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker and the US Ambassador to Algeria. , John DeRoucher.
Lebanese defense sources told Reuters news agency that the meeting ended after just one hour, and the two sides agreed to meet again on October 28.
Israel sent a six-member team to Naqoura, including the Director General of the Ministry of Energy and the Prime Minister’s Foreign Policy Advisor.
As for the Lebanese delegation, it was made up of four members: two army officers, an official and an expert in maritime border law.
A senior source in Israel’s Energy Ministry told AFP that an agreement was expected to be concluded within a few months.
“This is a limited effort to solve a narrow, well-defined problem,” he said.
“We are under no illusions. Our goal is not to create some kind of normalization or a peace process,” he added.
Lebanon and Israel are still officially at war after decades of conflict, and the two countries agreed to the talks after US mediation.
Hezbollah, which fought a war against Israel in 2006, anticipated the talks stating that they were not a sign of its openness to a peace deal with Israel.
In a statement released in the evening, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement said that the negotiating team should include only military officials, without civilians or politicians.
And they demanded “to immediately retract this decision and reconfigure the delegation in line with the framework of the agreement.”
لماذا still Neighbors in war?
Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war since the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948.
Image posted, Reuters
Although there are no agreed land borders between them, they are committed to a ceasefire along the so-called Blue Line.
The borders were drawn by the United Nations after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation.
It is one of the most tense borders in the region, with Israeli forces at the border facing the Lebanese army and Hezbollah, and UNIFIL peacekeepers are trying to keep calm.
In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war that killed some 1,190 Lebanese and 163 Israelis. The conflict ended with a truce negotiated by the United Nations.
