Israel announced a “historic maritime deal” with Lebanon on Tuesday, aiming to resolve a long-standing maritime border dispute over Mediterranean waters between the parties.
Although it is far from a peace accord, analysts believe that the deal could be the gateway to further peace and reconciliation. This could reduce tension between Israel and Lebanon, as both parties do not have any diplomatic relations with one another and have remained on confrontational grounds for more than a decade.
All odds aside, the countries managed to negotiate a historic deal. This agreement would allow neighbors to exploit natural gas fields in the disputed waters off the Mediterranean Sea.
The draft agreement came through the US envoy, Amos J. Hochstein, the special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, who leads the bureau of energy resources at the US Department of State.
“Lebanon has obtained its full rights, and all of its remarks have been taken into account,” said Elias Bou Saab, the deputy speaker of Lebanon, told Reuters.
In addition, Eyal Hulata, Israeli National Security Advisor, expressed similar remarks in a statement: “All our demands were met; the changes that we asked for were corrected. We protected Israel’s security interests and are on our way to a historic agreement. “
The issue started in 2011, when the two countries declared overlapping boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea. Since then, Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war, and the United Nations was asked to mediate.
What does the agreement allow?
This issue gained significance when Israel discovered two gas fields off its coast a decade ago. In between the maritime boundaries of the two nations sits the gas field at the center of the decade-long dispute.
This agreement would thus allow both nations to get royalties from gas. For the first time, it sets a border between the maritime waters of Israel and Lebanon.
According to the reports, the Karish gas field would fall under Israeli territory and the Qana gas field, which is a prospective gas field, would be under Lebanon’s control.
“The agreement… will provide for the development of energy fields for the benefit of both the countries, setting the stage for a more stable and prosperous region and harnessing vital new energy resources for the world,” the US President Joe Biden said in a statement.