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An hour ago
Beirut – “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”: The second round of negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime borders between the Lebanese and Israeli delegations took place under the auspices of the United Nations and with US mediation at UNIFIL headquarters in Ras Naqoura. Unlike the first round, which was limited to protocol, the second round focused on the technical details of demarcation.
The negotiations were chaired by one of the assistants of the United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon Jan Kubis, in the presence of the US mediator, Ambassador Jean Derucher, and the Lebanese negotiating delegation included the Deputy Chief of Operations Staff, Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, as head, Colonel Mazen Basbous, the expert in border disputes between countries, Dr. Naguib The Petroleum Sector Management Authority and the February Medal. The Lebanese delegation brought maps and documents showing the points of disagreement. In their study, the Lebanese army established the border line starting from the land border point B1 between Lebanon and Palestine in 1923, which was fixed in the armistice line agreement between Lebanon and Israel in 1949, and finally in the digital blue line in the year 2000, and this line gives Lebanon an area of 1,300 square kilometers. Further south of the declared line and thus increases the disputed area from 860 kilometers to 2,290 square kilometers of water.
The negotiations session between Beirut and Tel Aviv ended around 2 pm, approximately 3 hours after its conclusion, and the negotiations will resume in a third round at 10 noon tomorrow Thursday, when the Israeli delegation is supposed to return. with a response to the Lebanese proposal.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun had ordered the technical delegation in charge of indirect negotiations to start negotiations on the basis of the line that starts from the Ras Naqoura point by land as stipulated in the Bole Newcombe Agreement of 1923 and extends over sea, based on the median line technique without taking into account any impacts of dependent coastal islands. For occupied Palestine, according to a study prepared by the Lebanese Army Command on the basis of international law. The negotiating delegation pledged to this, whose head stated that he expects the other parties to fulfill their obligations based on compliance with the requirements of international law and maintaining the confidentiality of the deliberations.
A wide expansion of the Lebanese army was observed in the vicinity of Naqoura, conducting joint patrols with “UNIFIL” forces. However, this security deployment did not prevent the attack on the media, as a media team was unable to cover the events of the negotiations following the presence of elements that identified themselves as belonging to Hezbollah, and led to carried out the attack. On the “Lebanon TV” team.
Interim Government Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad tweeted on her Twitter account, saying: “Today, a Lebanon TV team was attacked while covering the issue of border demarcation in Naqoura, and a group of professionals was prevented from of the media attended there. What happened is condemned and the intervention of the corresponding security services is requested to preserve the safety of journalists and the dignity of the profession.
The Communist Party had organized a demonstration in Naqoura to reject the ongoing demarcation negotiations.
