Netanyahu calls the pact “illegal” and threatens to break it if he returns to the head of government in next week’s elections
After two years of negotiation, Israel and Lebanon signed the maritime agreement that opens the possibility of exploiting gas deposits in the Mediterranean. It is a historic agreement between two neighbors who are technically at war and who agree to establish for the first time, and thanks to the mediation of the United States, a maritime border to share the energy resources of the high seas.
Leaders from both sides were happy with the pact. The Lebanese chief negotiator, Elias Bou Saab, spoke of the beginning of “a new era” and the Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told Al-Jazeera that “our people have great hope of seeing their country become a gas producer. The Lebanese are suffocated by the serious economic crisis that the country is suffering and they cling to this agreement as a way to obtain resources, although the leaders warn that it will take time to start extracting gas.
In Israel, a more political than economic reading was made. The government ratified the final text and the prime minister, Yair Lapid, spoke of a “political achievement” because “it is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement, in front of the entire international community.” Lapid is in the middle of an electoral race and his great rival in Tuesday’s appointment, Benjamin Netanyahu, was the most critical voice with a pact that he called “illegal.” The Likud leader warned that in case of victory at the polls he will not feel obliged to respect what was signed.
two wells
Thanks to this pact, the Lebanese and Israelis will begin to work in an area of 860 square kilometers where Karish, a gas well already confirmed, and Qana, another well whose reserves are being studied, are located. The Jewish state is responsible for exploiting Karish and Lebanon will have the rights to Qana, although it will have to share future benefits with its neighbor because part of the deposit is on its land.
As there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries, the agreement was formalized through documents that were crossed by US officials deployed at the UN base in Naqoura, right on the border. Beirut insists that the agreement does not mean any kind of normalization with Israel, but the Israelis see it as a big step forward to avoid possible future conflicts with the Shiite Hezbollah militia.
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