world news online news
Lebanon on Tuesday sent Washington remarks to a US proposal on resolving a long-running maritime border dispute with Israel over gas-rich waters of the countries’ Mediterranean coasts. online news
A draft agreement floated by US envoy Amos Hochstein aims to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields and was delivered to Lebanese and Israeli officials at the weekend, following years of indirect negotiations.
Lebanon’s “response was presented to the American ambassador today”, said deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab, who is tasked by President Michel Aoun to oversee the US-mediated negotiations.
“I think that it is now in the hands of the US mediator,” he said during a television broadcast, adding that the response included “modifications” to the US proposal.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that the proposal was “on the right track to assert Lebanon’s rights over all its waters”.
Washington’s offer has not been made public, but it has raised prospects for a deal that could help Lebanon explore potential gas wealth that the debt-ridden country desperately needs.
On Monday, Lebanon’s top leaders met to discuss the offer, delivered via Washington’s ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.
Lebanon hopes to receive a response “before the end of the week”, Bou Saab had said on Monday.
“We are not giving an official response but delivering an answer to the proposal with… remarks that we have,” he had added.
Lebanon and Israel are officially at war and their land border is patrolled by the United Nations.
They reopened negotiations on their maritime border in 2020, but the process was stalled by Lebanon’s demand that the map used by the UN in the talks be modified.
The negotiations resumed in early June after Israel moved a production vessel near the Karish offshore field.
The latest proposal by Washington was welcomed by both Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a major player in Lebanon that considers the Jewish state its arch-enemy.
A Lebanese official involved in the negotiations had said the remarks include “amendments of specific sentences so that there is no room for misunderstanding”.
lar-jos/at/lg/dv
© Agence France-Presse. All rights are reserved.
world news online news
