‘Historic’ maritime border deal signed between Israel and Lebanon
Lebanon and Israel signed a maritime border agreement on Thursday, paving the way for lucrative offshore gas extraction by the neighbours, which remain technically at war.
The US-brokered deal, hailed by President Joe Biden as a “historic breakthrough”, comes as western powers clamour to open up new gas production and reduce vulnerability to supply cuts from Russia.
A letter approving the deal was first signed by Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut and then by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem.
Lapid claimed that Lebanon’s signing of the deal amounted to a de-facto recognition of Israel.
“It is not every day that an enemy state recognises the state of Israel, in a written agreement, in front of the entire international community,” he said, shortly before a special cabinet meeting in which the deal was signed.
In a palace statement after he signed the agreement, Aoun said the deal would have “no political dimensions or impacts that contradict Lebanon’s foreign policy.”
Speaking from the presidential palace, Lebanon’s top negotiator and deputy prime minister Elias Bou Saab said the agreement marked the beginning of “a new era”.
A letter exchange is due to take place later in Naqura, southern Lebanon, in the presence of US mediator Amos Hochstein and the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka.
“The agreement will take the form of two exchanges of letters, one between Lebanon and the United States, and one between Israel and the United States,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General.
‘Historic’ maritime border deal signed between Israel and Lebanon
Lebanon, which has fought a series of wars with Israel, said it would not allow its delegation to be in the same room as the Israeli side, and the two parties would not even sign the same piece of paper.
Rafic Chelala, a spokesman for the Lebanese presidency, confirmed that the Lebanese delegation “will not meet the Israeli delegation”.
The deal comes as Lebanon seeks to extract itself from what the World Bank calls one of the worst economic crises in modern world history, and as Lapid seeks to lock in a major achievement days ahead of a general election on 1 November.
Hochstein said on Thursday that he expected the agreement to hold even amid changes in leadership in both countries.
The US mediator was referring to both the upcoming Israeli elections and the end of Aoun’s term on 31 October, saying the agreement should be kept up “regardless of who is elected very soon as next president of Lebanon”.
