Israel-Lebanon maritime border: "productive" discussions for the start of negotiations

Lebanon and Israel, two neighbors officially still at war, on Wednesday (October 14th) started unprecedented talks under the aegis of Washington to delimit their maritime border, in Naqoura, a border town in southern Lebanon.

REUTERS / Aziz Taher

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The first round of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations on the route of the maritime border took place on Wednesday, October 14, at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Forces in Naqoura, in Lebanese territory.

During the meeting, which lasted barely an hour, the participants agreed on a next meeting, on October 28.

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With our correspondent in Beirut

,

Lebanese and Israelis were in the same room for these negotiations described as " 

 " by Lebanon and " 

 " by Israel.

The Lebanese delegation is chaired by an army general, to highlight the technical nature of these talks.

The Israelis were led by the director general of the Ministry of Energy.

The talks were held under the auspices of the representative of the UN Secretary General in Lebanon, Jan Kubis, while the American mediation was provided by the Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, David Schenker, who arrived in Beirut. a few hours earlier.

These negotiations are important for both countries, especially for Lebanon, hit by the worst economic crisis in its history.

A

would make it possible to settle the dispute around a maritime area with very promising hydrocarbons.

" 

Lebanon has also declared, through the mouth of the head of its delegation, that it hopes to demarcate its maritime border with Israel within a " 

 ".

For their part, American diplomacy and the United Nations welcomed in a joint statement the “ 

 ” during this inaugural session.

Earlier today, Hezbollah and the Amal movement had expressed their disapproval of the presence of civilians in the Lebanese delegation.

These are exclusively technical talks, which must be conducted by the military, underlines a statement from the two Shiite parties.

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