Aoun Confirms Lebanon’s Wish For Successful Border Demarcation Negotiations With Israel

The US mediator’s talks on the maritime border demarcation negotiations with Israel began yesterday in Beirut, with Lebanon announcing its desire for the success of the negotiations, as Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who received US mediator John Deroche, confirmed that “difficulties” that appeared in the last negotiating session could be overcome. After the postponement of the last round, which was scheduled for yesterday.
Ambassador John Deroche held bilateral talks with President Aoun, the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Joseph Aoun, and the head of the negotiating delegation, Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, in addition to members of the Lebanese delegation. These talks were framed within the framework of Ambassador Deroche’s ongoing mediation efforts regarding the demarcation of the Israeli-Lebanese maritime borders. The discussions were fruitful and allowed for a frank exchange of views on the steps required to reach a long-awaited agreement that would benefit both parties.
President Michel Aoun told Ambassador Deroche during his reception at the Baabda Palace that “Lebanon, which maintains its sovereignty over its lands and waters, wants the maritime demarcation negotiations to be successful; Because this improves stability in the south and will allow the investment of natural resources, such as gas and oil.
Aoun said: “The difficulties that arose in the last round of negotiations can be overcome through an in-depth investigation based on international law and the articles of the law of the sea, and all the legal texts derived from them.”
He noted that “the Lebanese negotiating delegation has clear instructions on which to negotiate.” Noting “the need to continue with these negotiations to achieve the purpose of carrying them out, and if that fails for any reason, other alternatives could be studied.”
During the meeting, Deroche presented the stages of the negotiation process and the American role in it, hoping that it will continue in the interest of all.
The negotiations began in October, when delegations from the two countries met at a United Nations base in Ras al-Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, under the flag, presence and sponsorship of the United Nations, and with the mediation and facilitation of the United States. , in an attempt to resolve a dispute over the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel that hindered oil exploration. And gas in the region that is probably rich in gas.
But the session that had been scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, and US officials instead had separate contacts with the two parties.
Washington, which plays the role of mediator and facilitator, demanded that yesterday’s session be postponed and that a bilateral meeting be held with the US diplomat Deroche, who plays the role of facilitator in the sessions, on the same date with the Lebanese side. in Beirut, within a round of launching bilateral talks, after which he meets with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv with the aim of creating a “common space between the two parties” from which negotiations would resume.
On Monday, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that an agreement had been reached with the Americans to postpone the talks for a few weeks.
The talks are the culmination of Washington’s diplomatic efforts over a three-year period. Disputes over maritime boundaries have hampered oil and gas exploration near the disputed line.
After four sessions, the talks reached a dead end, in the context of the two parties raising the ceiling of conditions. During the negotiation sessions, Lebanon claimed an additional area of ​​1,430 square kilometers that would include part of the Karish field in which the Greek company “Energian” operates, in addition to the 860 nautical kilometers on which the dispute is based since 2010, which it means that Lebanon demands 2,290 nautical kilometers. Among the maps he presented in the negotiating sessions, in exchange for the Israeli maps.
In the fourth session, the Israeli delegation raised the ceiling on its conditions, demanding a larger area to nibble on additional areas in offshore blocks 8 and 9 to explore for oil in Lebanese economic waters, meaning it demanded hundreds of additional kilometers, which doubled the complications and put obstacles in the way of the continuation of the talks that threatened to stop and restart them. To begin with, it was ten years ago.