Israel awaits direct negotiations with Lebanon on gas

Political sources in Tel Aviv and Washington revealed that intensive visits by US Under Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Schenker in recent weeks, including Beirut and West Jerusalem, were aimed at moving the gas dossier between the two. countries and that would soon lead to direct negotiations on the issue. .
These sources, the Israeli website “Walla”, confirmed that Schenker has been traveling between the two countries for several months, most of which are secret, as part of efforts by the administration of US President Donald Trump to pressure the two parties to carry out direct negotiations on gas reserves in the Mediterranean, which will be the first in 30 years. In the event that it occurs.
Sources expected these negotiations to begin during the current year. He said Schenker, who met last week with Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is responsible for the gas archive in the Israeli government, and Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, whose ministry is a partner in communications, it made a breakthrough at its recent meetings in Beirut, as the Lebanese showed remarkable flexibility.
Israeli and US officials attributed this progress to changes taking place in Lebanon since the catastrophic explosion in the port of Beirut. They said the shaking caused by the explosion in Lebanon at all levels, the exacerbation of the economic crisis in Lebanon, the wave of popular discontent resulting from the deterioration of living conditions that followed and the expansion of internal criticism of ” Hezbollah, “all of which caused the US administration to repeat efforts to start negotiations between the two countries, as I felt a change in the Lebanese position.
It is known that there are many border disputes between Lebanon and Israel for 13 points on the land border, and a maritime area in the economic waters, which is a triangle with an area of ​​860 square kilometers of water in Block No. 9, located in the eastern Mediterranean. The disagreement lies in the method of demarcation of the maritime boundary, as Israel defines the border as a 90-degree angle with the coastline, while Lebanon describes it as a continuation of the land boundary line. The dispute has grown in significance since 2009, when significant deposits of natural gas were discovered in the sea between Israel and Cyprus. International experts believe that the disputed triangle contains 25 trillion cubic feet of gas.
At a time when Israel began to explore for gas, and indeed found it in the south of this region, and began producing it in the current year in commercial quantities, Lebanon was deprived of the exploitation of its waters economic; First, for bureaucratic reasons and, second, because of the refusal to negotiate with Israel on the contentious region.
According to the Israelis, since 2011 the United States has been trying to mediate in the conflict and has presented the two parties with a draft settlement based on sharing the disputed area (55 percent for Lebanon and 45 percent for Israel), but Hezbollah it has great influence on politics and the ruling leadership in Lebanon is impeding progress, claiming that “Washington is biased in favor of Israel” and that “Lebanon does not negotiate with Israel directly.” Criticism of Hezbollah has been widespread on this position because it prevents Lebanon from exploiting natural resources, whose existence has been made secure and which could generate huge profits that it desperately needs.
However, after the massive explosion in the port of Beirut that killed more than 200 people, Lebanese President Michel Aoun agreed to the intervention of the American mediator and managed to enlist the Speaker of Parliament, leader of the Amal Movement, the main border negotiator, Nabih Berri. Even French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the issue during his recent visit to Beirut.
Yesterday, the Walla news site in Tel Aviv quoted an Israeli official, whose name was not mentioned, as saying that “Schenker met with senior members of the Lebanese government and reached a formula with them that would allow negotiations with Israel, and informed the Israeli ministers, Steinitz and Ashkenazi, on the content of their talks in Lebanon. He presented them with a modern draft of the document of principles to start the negotiations ”, indicating that“ the impression in Tel Aviv is that there is flexibility on the part of the Lebanese, and that today they are more than ever ready to contact Israel on this matter. ”.