Second round of maritime-border talks between Israel, Lebanon

Oct 28, 2020

Israel and Lebanon began Oct. 28 a second round of talks for demarcating their maritime border. The negotiations are being mediated by the US ambassador to Algeria, John Desrocher, under the auspices of the United Nations.

Much like the first round of talks Oct. 14, the parties convened at the UN Interim Force in Lebanon headquarters in the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon. The talks are expected to continue Oct. 29. After the Oct. 28 talks concluded, the Israeli delegation updated Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz on what was discussed and he gave the go-ahead for the talks to continue. The ministry gave no other details about the talks.

The maritime border dispute is several years old, revolving around Israeli and Lebanese plans to exploit natural gas underwater reserves off their shores. Steinitz said Oct. 27, “The purpose of the delegation in the meetings is to examine the possibility of reaching an agreement on the determination of the maritime border between the countries in a way that will enable the development of natural resources in the region.’’

One Lebanese condition for the talks was for both delegations to be composed of senior officials and not political figures. Thus, Beirut is able to present these mediated contacts with Israel as merely technical. The director-general of the Israeli Energy Ministry, Udi Adiri, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for the UN and international organizations, Alon Bar, and other officials from the two ministries and from the office of the prime minister represented Israel in both rounds. Haim Srebro, an expert on international boundaries, was also asked to join the Israeli delegation for the Oct. 28 talks.

After the Oct. 14 talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed hope that the negotiations would lead to some sort of a dialogue on a political level and subsequently also to peace. Addressing the Knesset on the occasion of the Israeli parliament’s approval of normalization with the United Arab Emirates, Netanyahu called on the Lebanese government “to continue these talks and maybe this will mark the first step toward the achievement of peace.’’