Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon has agreed to call on the United States to resume mediation of indirect talks on the maritime border, after a ship reached disputed waters to produce gas for Israel.
President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Monday and agreed to invite U.S. energy adviser and mediator Amos Hochstein to Beirut.
Deputy Elias Bou Saab, President Aoun’s adviser on international cooperation, reportedly spoke to Hochstein after the meeting to plan a date for a visit.
The Israeli defense ministry said the dispute would be resolved through US mediation. Lebanon and Israel have no diplomatic relations and are officially enemies.
A ship operated by Energean arrived on Sunday in disputed waters to produce gas for Israel, angering Lebanese officials.
Israeli authorities say the area, known as the Karish camp, is under its exclusive economic zone. Lebanon says part of the camp is within its negotiated maritime territory.
An earlier round of talks to resolve the decades-long dispute began in October 2020 at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, but negotiations stalled within weeks.
Hochstein has since resorted to launching diplomacy between Beirut and Tel Aviv to try to break the deadlock, without success.
Amos Hochstein has resorted to launching diplomacy between Beirut and Tel Aviv [File: Wael Hamzeh/EPA]
Although tensions are now growing between the two countries, Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar dismissed concerns over a possible conflict and dismissed Lebanon’s claims to the territory, calling them “far from over. the reality”.
Meanwhile, senior Lebanese officials have accused Israel of assaulting the disputed waters. Prime Minister Mikati said Israel was imposing “consumerism” in an attempt to turn negotiations in its favor.
“He’s lost a decade of opportunities”
As Lebanon struggles to stop Israel’s preparations to produce gas at the Karish site, experts have criticized senior Lebanese officials for not claiming as much maritime territory as possible.
In 2011, Lebanon issued United Nations Decree 6433 on its claims to maritime territory in the Mediterranean Sea, dubbed Line 23, which does not cross the Karish camp.
However, studies conducted by the UK Hydrographic Office and later by the Lebanese Army indicated that Lebanon could claim an additional 1,430 square kilometers (889 square miles), which break into the Karish camp. It is known as Line 29, but Lebanon has never amended Decree 6433.
“The military has conducted extensive studies on Line 29 and has valid technical and legal considerations,” Marc Ayoub, an associate member of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera.
“It simply came to our notice then [economic] rights ”.
The Lebanese government has struggled to keep its institutions running, as prospects for economic reform and recovery are hampered by political struggles between ruling elites and systematic mismanagement of resources.
In April 2021, incumbent Prime Minister Hasan Diab approved a draft decree amending Decree 6433 that would expand Lebanon’s claims, but President Michel Aoun has not yet signed the document.
“He said it was because the draft decree was from a caretaker government and because negotiations with the United States had already been opened,” Ayoub said.
Member of Parliament Melhem Khalaf speaks at a press conference while showing a map of line 29 in the Lebanese Parliament building in central Beirut, Lebanon [Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE]
Some lawmakers have responded to the latest developments by asking the government and the president to amend the decree. Hezbollah ally Hassan Mourad presented a bill to parliament on Monday to amend Decree 6433 to extend Lebanon’s claims on line 29.
Meanwhile, 13 anti-establishment MPs, known locally as the forces of change, at a press conference called on the government and the president to deliver a amended Decree 6433 to the United Nations, send a warning letter to Energean and present a complaint against Israel. at the UN Security Council.
“In accordance with public international law and international agreements, we have the legitimacy to impose this issue,” said Blhem Khalf, a lawmaker from the bloc.
Lawmaker Mark Daou from the same bloc told Al Jazeera that there are no valid excuses for President Aoun and the government not to sign an amended decree.
“There’s nothing stopping them,” he says. “Lebanon should do what it should have done from day one; send an updated map recognizing line 29 as the sovereign line of Lebanon “.
No unified position
Parliament will meet on Tuesday, but Decree 6433 is not on the agenda.
The office of interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera, nor did Acting Energy Minister Walid Fayyad.
MP Alain Aoun, a senior lawmaker from President Aoun’s party, the Free Patriotic Movement, says the situation is not as straightforward as critics say.
“It’s more complex than just signing [the decree]”Aoun told Al Jazeera, without revealing further details.
Since the end of 2019, Lebanon has suffered a financial and economic collapse. The Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value against the US dollar and 80% of the country’s population lives in poverty.
While a fledgling oil and gas industry would not be enough to pay off its growing debts and return millions of savings that were trapped in the country’s banks, experts say Lebanon is missing out on an economic opportunity to increase its debt. coffins.
UN peacekeepers fly a Hezbollah flag and a statue of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani as they patrol a road along the Lebanese-Israeli border town of Naqoura, Lebanon. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]
“Poor governance, inability to develop strategies and implement a vision for the sector have hampered Lebanon’s prospects for developing an oil and gas industry that at least meets the country’s domestic energy needs or even positions it as a possible export to Europe, which is looking for alternatives to Russian gas, “Sibylle Rizk, director of public policy for Lebanese defense group Kulluna Irada, told Al Jazeera.
But in the meantime, as Lebanon struggles to regain indirect talks, Rizk expressed concern that the lack of a unified position among Lebanese political leaders could lead to a diplomatic debacle.
“Is it line 23 or line 29? The Lebanese army and the Naqoura delegation have built a strong argument for line 29, but the official position is still on line 23,” Rizk said.
“This lack of clarity leaves the door open to all kinds of foreign intervention and political negotiation that could benefit some stakeholders, but certainly not the collective interest of the Lebanese people.”
Talks are ongoing between Lebanese officials. Following Aoun’s talks with Mikati, Acting Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib met with President Nabih Berri.
But it is unclear whether an agreement is likely, or whether the authorities will amend Decree 6433.
When a reporter asked Bou Habib why President Aoun had not yet signed the decree, he told him “he was going to ask the presidential palace.”