Lebanon, Israel resume talks on maritime border
(Lebanon), After a nearly sixmonth pause, Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday resumed indirect talks with US mediation over their disputed maritime border.
The resumption comes after a new US administration took over. Lebanon has sunk deeper into it economic and financial crisis that started in late 2019 — a culmination of decades of corruption and mismanagement by the political class. The small Mediterranean country is eager to resolve the border dispute with Israel, paving the way for potential lucrative oil and gas deals.
Local media said the talks resumed at a UN post along the border known as Ras Naqoura, on the edge of the Lebanese border town of Naqoura. The Lebanese delegation will speak through UN and US officials to the Israelis. American Ambassador John Desrocher, who serves as the US mediator, arrived in Beirut on Monday night to take part in the talks.
The US has been mediating the issue for about a decade, but only late last year was a breakthrough reached on an agreement for a framework for USmediated talks.
The talks began in October but stopped few weeks later. Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations and are technically in a state of war. They each claim about 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea as being within their own exclusive economic zones. In the second round of talks, the Lebanese delegation offered a new map that pushes for an additional 1,430 square kilometres for Lebanon. —