Lebanon will seek a positive result in the settlement of the border dispute with Israel over ownership of offshore oil and gas fields, President Michel Aoun said on Thursday.
"We are counting on a positive outcome of negotiations with Israel on the demarcation of the maritime border, which will resume with the mediation of the United States," said Aoun, whose words were quoted by the press service of the head of state. He also stressed that "the approach to this sovereign dossier is based on preserving Lebanon's interests and its rights to its natural wealth."
According to the Lebanese president, he has personal responsibility for a positive outcome of the negotiations, so he will facilitate the mediation mission of Amos Hoxtin, senior US State Department energy security adviser, who will arrive in Beirut on June 12-13.
"We are committed to maintaining stability and security in the region, which will open up the possibility of developing hydrocarbon reserves," he said.
Lebanon and Israel are disputing an 856-square-kilometer area of the shelf from each other, each side considering it part of its exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the maritime border between the two neighbors, which have been formally at war since 1948, has not yet been established.
Indirect Lebanese-Israeli contacts under US auspices began in October 2020 in Naqoura, the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The last fifth round took place in May 2021 and ended inconclusively, with the negotiating teams failing to agree on a reference point from which to start demarcating the border.
The Hoxtin Plan
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri have reached a unified position on the oil and gas dossier, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, at their upcoming meeting with the US emissary they will confirm that the border line should be drawn from reference point 23 at Cape Naqoura as stipulated in the bilateral framework agreement.
At the same time, the publication does not rule out that the Lebanese side will try to obtain the annexation of 80 square kilometers to the disputed area in Block 9 between the Israeli Karish gas field and the Lebanese Qana field.
Earlier, the Lebanese delegation insisted that the demarcation of the border should start from reference point 29, which would allow Lebanon to claim a larger area of the 1,430 square kilometers offshore, including part of the Karish field.
During a visit to Beirut in February, Hoxtin launched an initiative to create an international consortium to develop hydrocarbon fields in the disputed border area. In his view, this would benefit Lebanon, beset by an economic and financial crisis. The American mediator urged the Lebanese to "focus on what they will gain, not what they will lose."
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS