Filenews 11 October 2022
Israel has announced that it is close to an agreement on the maritime border and exclusive economic zones (EEZs) with Lebanon, in a particularly gas-rich part of the eastern Mediterranean, after months of diplomatic contacts brokered by the US, Bloomberg agency reports.
"All our requests were accepted, the changes we asked for took place," Eyal Hulata, head of Israel's National Security Council, said in a statement. "We have protected Israel's security interests and are heading towards a historic agreement."
Lebanon's chief negotiator Elias Bou Saab stressed that there could be a "historic deal", according to Reuters.
Lebanon welcomes the final draft of the agreement with Israel
Lebanese Parliament Vice-President Elias Bou Saab, in statements broadcast in the early hours of today by Reuters, expresses his satisfaction with the final draft of the maritime delimitation agreement with Israel, which he received from US mediator Amos Hochstein.
Specifically, Bou Saab said that the final draft "satisfies all the demands of his country", adding that "if the process is completed normally, Hochstein's efforts will soon lead to the signing of a historic agreement".
The Lebanese television station OTV, which expresses the positions of the faction of the Lebanese President Michel Aoun, reported last night that Israel had accepted "the change of a controversial phrase in the final text of the draft, which delayed the acceptance of the final draft by the Lebanese side".
Earlier last night, the television network of Qatari business interests Al-Arabi reported, citing sources close to the Lebanese government, that "preparations are being made for the agreement on the delimitation of the Israel-Lebanon maritime border to be signed on October 20 at an official ceremony to be held at the site of Ras Al-Nakura, on the border of the land border of the two countries."
The information was relayed by the Lebanese and Israeli media without comment. However, later, Israeli state television, citing an unnamed government official, confirmed that "progress has been made in Israel-Lebanon contacts on the issue of establishing the maritime border."
The Israeli government has not made any official announcements in recent days since last Thursday, when Prime Minister Yair Lapid said negotiations were being suspended because the Israeli side rejected the revisions requested by Lebanon to the text of the final draft of the agreement.
Since Friday, US mediator Amos Hochstein has been making a series of behind-the-scenes contacts in Israel and Lebanon, which are underway.
Israel accepts final draft
A deal will allow Israel to start extracting gas from the Karish field off its edges without the risk of attacks by Lebanon's Shiite Islamist Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran's Islamist regime. Most of the Kana mining field will be registered in Lebanon, which will pay royalties for the parts of the deposit located in Israel's maritime zone.
Israel has said that production from the Karish deposit in the eastern Mediterranean will increase exports, including to Europe, which it desperately needs after Russian supplies were cut due to the war in Ukraine. The price of natural gas has soared to all-time highs in 2022.
London-listed Energean, which will manage the Karish deposit, said in May that production could begin later this year.
An Israel-Lebanon agreement is a key U.S. foreign policy target in the Middle East. Amos Hochstein, President Joe Biden's senior adviser on global energy security, travelled to Lebanon and Israel several times to convince the two countries to reach an agreement.
The talks were complicated by the fact that Lebanon does not officially recognize Israel as a state. The arrival at the Karish field in June of the floating platform created outrage among many Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah. A few weeks later, Israel reported intercepting three enemy drones flying in the direction of the deposit.
CNA/CAPITAL.GR/INSIDER
