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The president of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, announced Thursday that a framework agreement has been reached to demarcate the land and sea borders between Lebanon and Israel, and considered that the step would lead to the payment of Lebanon’s debts, and at the same time responded to a question about its relationship with the normalization of some Arab countries with Israel.
Berri said his country would carry out negotiations with Israel to demarcate land and sea borders, under the auspices of the UN and US mediation.
He added that “the two parties (Israel and Lebanon) have asked the United States to act as a mediator and facilitator to demarcate the maritime borders, and it is ready for that.”
He pointed out that what was reached is only a framework agreement that defines the course to follow in the negotiations, without explaining the scenarios of this step.
Berri clarified that those negotiations will be led by the Lebanese army under the auspices of the Presidency.
In response to a question about linking this step to the wave of normalization between Israel and some Arab countries, Berri noted that “he worked on this agreement for a decade, before the Arabs came close to normalization.”
“If the demarcation is successful, there is a very wide margin for that to be one of the reasons for the payment of our debt,” added Berri.
An american welcome
On Thursday, the United States welcomed a “historic” agreement between Lebanon and Israel to initiate talks on border disputes between them that had been reached “under the auspices of the United States.”
And the Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, announced – in a statement – that this agreement “is the result of tireless diplomatic efforts that lasted about 3 years.”
The US Secretary of State praised the efforts of the Lebanese and Israelis to demarcate the borders (Getty Images)He added: “The agreement between the two parties on a common framework for maritime negotiations will allow the two countries to initiate talks that will lead to greater stability, security and prosperity for both the Lebanese and the Israelis.”
He considered that this is a very important step and serves the interests of Lebanon, Israel, the region and the United States, and expressed his hope for a “quick” start of the talks on maritime borders.
At the land border, Pompeo spoke of separate expert-level discussions to resolve the unresolved issues on the Blue Line that separates the two sides considered at war.
The US Secretary of State said that these talks, in turn, entail “positive advances for regional stability.”
Notably, Lebanon signed its first contract for offshore oil and gas exploration in its territorial waters in 2018, and the scope of the contract included an area in dispute with Israel.
In May 2019, the Israeli government announced that it had agreed to initiate talks with Lebanon under the auspices of the United States to “resolve the border dispute.”
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