Historical pact Lebanon and Israel reach a strategic agreement on the maritime border and gas fields
Answered Questions The keys to the agreement between Lebanon and Israel that can benefit Europe
28 years and exactly one day after the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, the convulsive Middle East registers a new agreement with great strategic value, although it is not as historic or wrapped in a festive ceremony as in 1994. Israelis and Lebanese
have not signed peace, but the delimitation of its maritime border
that, beyond resolving old disputes, regulates the exploration of gas in the deposits in the conflictive zone and distances the possibility of an escalation between the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel.
Hours after the approval of the agreement in Jerusalem and Beirut, the Israeli and Lebanese representatives traveled to the base of the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
in the border town of Naqoura to deliver the signed documents to the
godfather
of the agreement, the American mediator Amos Hochstein.
At the event this Thursday, which, as requested by Lebanon,
was held without the presence of the media and without a handshake
, the delegations led by the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Energy, Lior Shilat, and the director general of the Presidency of Lebanon, Antoine Choucair, sealed more than a decade of indirect negotiations with numerous ups and downs on the border lines in the Mediterranean.
"Congratulations, we have a maritime border," Hochstein proclaimed after signing the document to the applause of Israelis and Lebanese who for an hour
remained separated and without any direct contact
in the base's tent.
The absence of leaders and chambers, at the express Lebanese request, reflects that
the agreement remains in the sea and does not reach land
where the two countries are still in a technical war.
The agreed coordinates, already in the hands of the UN, come into force immediately and are blessed by US President Joe Biden: "This historic agreement promotes the interests of both countries and the region. This moment marks a new chapter of prosperity and hope ".
The
Qana
field , part of which is located in disputed waters, remains under the exclusive control of Lebanon.
In exchange,
Israel will receive from TotalEnergies 17% of the income from the gas,
which at the moment is only potential.
If this material is found (especially valuable after the war in Ukraine and Russia's energy dependency), the French company will make the first payment to Israel within 3 to 6 years.
On the eve of the signing, Energean began pumping gas from the Karish field that could hold some 75 million cubic meters.
It is the third field in the Mediterranean connected to the powerful Israeli gas system after Tamar (300BCM) and Leviathan (more than 600 BCM).
At the government meeting called this Thursday to approve the agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that
"it is a diplomatic, economic and security achievement
. "
It is not every day that an enemy country recognizes the State of Israel in a written agreement before the international community.
As a certificate of guarantees before his own and with the elections just around the corner, he alleged: "the rare consensus of all security organs on the great importance of the agreement and its contribution to Israel's security and our operational needs" .
The Lebanese authorities highlight both the fulfillment of all their demands in reference, above all,
to the 860 square kilometers in the economic waters in dispute with Israel
and the fact that it does not imply recognition of Israel.
After President Michel Aoun's signature, the negotiator and vice-president of the Lebanese Parliament, Elias Bou-Saab, pointed out that "a new era" is opening.
"You could call it the Hochstein Agreements," he praised the emissary who centralized the negotiation with numerous trips to Beirut and Jerusalem.
"The most important thing about this agreement is that it is in the complete interest of the parties not to violate it and to continue advancing.
If someone violates it, both parties will lose
," Hochstein warned, reiterating that it benefits both countries.
"This is a great victory for Lebanon and the resistance,"
Hezbollah
chief Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed, presuming that the negotiations were indirect.
Nasrallah stressed that the Lebanese government did not take any step "that even smacked of normalization" of Israel and recalled with an insinuation that in July he issued a warning with the launch of three drones at Karish -neutralized- so
that his enemy did not explore gas before the agreement
.
"If it weren't for Hezbollah, which is Iran's agent in Lebanon, the normalization of relations under the Abraham Accords would be possible," lament Israeli sources who hope the agreement will reduce the Iranian role in Lebanon.
The signing comes at a critical time in both countries.
As Israelis go to the polls next Tuesday for the fifth time since 2019,
Lebanon finds itself sinking into a deep economic pit
that may be accompanied by a presidential vacuum given that Aoun's term expires on October 31.
The divided political class in Beirut cannot agree on a consensus candidate.
Hence the urgency of the actors in the negotiation (Lebanon, Israel, the US, France and the gas exploration companies) to reach an agreement before Aoun leaves office with his greatest achievement in six years.
At the same time as the signing in Naqoura, Defense Minister Benny Gantz met for the first time in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"The agreement with Lebanon can serve as a good example for future similar agreements in the region
," he said on the first visit by an Israeli defense minister in more than a decade.
The Abraham agreements (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan), the resumption of relations with Turkey and the delimitation of the maritime border agreed with Lebanon have reinforced Israel's strategic position.
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