Lebanon and Israel, neighboring countries officially in a state of war, signed Thursday an agreement delimiting their maritime border after months of arduous negotiations through the United States, which ensures the distribution of valuable offshore gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.
The border agreement constitutes a de facto “recognition” of the Jewish state by Beirut, said Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid at the beginning of a Council of Ministers that officially endorsed the text.
“This is a political achievement, it is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel in a written agreement and this, before the entire international community, “he added.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the imminent signing of this “historic” agreement on Wednesday, stressing that “it took a lot of courage to commit to it and do it”.
The agreement is to be signed in the afternoon, in the presence of the American mediator Amos Hochstein and the UN special coordinator in Lebanon Joanna Wronecka.
Beirut insisted that its delegation had no official contact with the Hebrew delegation during the signing, demanding that the ceremony be held in two separate rooms at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura.
For Lebanon, mired in a deep economic crisis, this agreement comes just days before the end of President Michel Aoun’s term in office, without a successor being found, and for Israel shortly before the November 1 legislative elections.
“The agreement on the maritime border will take the form of two exchanges of letters, one between Lebanon and the United States and the other between Israel and the United States,” explained the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric.
The Lebanese delegation will have the sole mission of “handing over the letter in the presence of Amos Hochstein and the UN representative, and will not meet in any way with the Israeli delegation,” said the spokesman for the Lebanese presidency Rafik Chelala.
– “Eliminate a war” –
The agreement, which will allow the two countries to exploit gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, was reached after years of American mediation.
Under the agreement, the Karish offshore field is located entirely in Israeli waters.
Lebanon for its part will have full rights to explore and exploit the Qana field, located further north-east, part of which lies in Israeli territorial waters. But “Israel will be paid” by the firm operating Cana “for its rights to any deposits”, according to the text.
Amos Hochstein, who negotiated the agreement, told reporters that it was a “historic day” and that the agreement would “create hope and economic opportunity” and “stability” for both sides.
He said he was convinced that the agreement could be “an economic turning point” for Lebanon, and open “a new era of investment” that could boost the economy.
The mediator, who met on Wednesday with President Aoun, also met with the two other poles of power, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, before traveling to Naqoura and then to Israel.
Without even waiting for the signature, the energy group Energean launched on Wednesday the production of natural gas at the Karish field.
The Israeli government had given the company the final go-ahead the day before to begin production at this deposit.
Lebanon, for its part, has asked TotalEnergies to quickly begin exploration work in the Qana field.
“The goal of the agreement (…) is to eliminate as much as possible the possibility of a maritime war between Israel and Lebanon,” said former U.S. negotiator Frederic Hof on Wednesday.
The agreement could not have been signed without the consent of the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, which had threatened over the summer to attack Israel if the Jewish state began extracting gas from the Karish field before an agreement was reached.
