BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told a US envoy on Friday that Lebanon rejects current US proposals over the disputed marine border with Israel, state media said.
US diplomats have been mediating between Lebanon and Israel over tensions including an Israeli border wall and Lebanon’s decision to begin exploring for offshore energy near a disputed patch of water, officials said.
“What is proposed is unacceptable,” Lebanon’s NNA cited Berri as saying in a meeting with acting Assistant US Secretary of State David Satterfield.
This was an apparent reference to a maritime demarcation line proposed by US diplomat Frederic Hof in 2012. The line would give Lebanon around two thirds and Israel around one third of a disputed triangular area of sea of around 860 sq km.
A source in Berri’s camp said Satterfield came with “a new plan... after the American side became convinced” that Lebanon would not accept the Hof line.
It is unclear exactly what the new US suggestion to Lebanon regarding the disputed waters involves.
Berri insisted during the meeting with Satterfield that the maritime border should be drawn up through a tripartite committee that stemmed from a 1996 ceasefire, NNA said.
He said he wanted to see a similar process as produced the UN-demarcated Blue Line border between the two countries, which marks Israel’s military withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
A consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek last week signed exploration and production agreements for two offshore blocks in Lebanon’s first offshore oil and gas licensing round.
One of the blocks, Block 9, contains waters disputed by Israel. Israel has described the decision to explore there as “very provocative”.
Lebanon’s energy minister has said the dispute with Israel would not stop Lebanon benefiting from potential undersea reserves in the contentious Block 9, while consortium operator Total said it would not drill the block’s first well near the disputed zone.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Lebanon on Thursday and said the United States was engaging with Lebanon and Israel to ensure their border remained calm.
— Reuters
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