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Jerusalem: Israeli officials are likely to reach an “Israeli-Lebanese” agreement on the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries in weeks or months.
The Israeli-Lebanese negotiations will begin, in the presence of the United States and the United Nations, tomorrow, Wednesday, at the United Nations headquarters in the Naqoura region, on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israeli media, including the “Walla” news site, reported statements by Israeli Energy Ministry officials about these negotiations.
“If Lebanese representatives arrive to negotiate with Israel on the maritime borders with a positive and practical approach, it will be possible to move quickly and reach an agreement in weeks or months,” Israeli officials said.
Officials indicated that negotiations would begin tomorrow at 10 am (Israel time).
They said: “The two delegations will meet in a large tent, at the United Nations base in the Naqoura (area), in the presence of representatives of the United States and the United Nations.”
They added: “The Trump administration has appointed former US Ambassador to Algeria John Dorscher as the mediator between the two parties, and he will participate in all rounds of talks.”
The head of the Israeli negotiating team will be the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Energy, Udi Adiri.
Israeli officials said: “Our goal is to resolve the dispute over the demarcation of economic water borders between countries. This is not a peace process, this is not normalization.”
They added: “The objective of the negotiations is specific, which is to resolve a minor technical and economic conflict that impedes the development of oil and gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
Last month, the president of the Lebanese parliament (parliament), Nabih Berri, announced that he had reached a “framework agreement” to start negotiations between his country and Israel to demarcate the borders.
Berri said, during a press conference, that “negotiations to demarcate the borders with Israel will be carried out under the auspices of the United Nations.”
Berri explained that these negotiations “will be led by the Lebanese army under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic,” noting that “the United States will act as a mediator to demarcate the maritime borders.”
Berri considered that the United States “is aware that the governments of Lebanon and Israel are ready to demarcate the borders on the basis of the positive experience of the existing mechanism from the understanding (ceasefire) of April 1996, and currently under the Resolution 1701 “.
The April 1996 Understanding was an informal written agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, reached through diplomatic efforts by the United States, that ended the 1996 military conflict between the two parties.
The Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 on August 11, 2006, calling for the cessation of all hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
Lebanon is embroiled in a conflict with Israel over an area in the Mediterranean, of about 860 square kilometers, known as Zone No. 9, rich in oil and gas, and Beirut announced in January 2016 the launch of its first round of licenses. for exploration.
