Lebanon, Israel begin indirect talks over maritime border dispute

Lebanon and Israel have begun indirect talks over their disputed maritime border, with American officials mediating the talks that both sides insist are purely technical and not a sign of any normalisation of ties.

The US has been mediating the issue for about a decade. The sides reached a breakthrough earlier in October on an agreement for a framework for US-mediated talks.

Lebanon and Israel each claim about 860 square kilometres of the Mediterranean Sea as being within their own exclusive economic zones.

The development comes against the backdrop of Lebanon's spiralling economic crisis, the worst in its modern history, and following a wave of US sanctions that recently included two influential former Cabinet ministers allied with the Hezbollah group.

Israel, the US, as well as some other Western and Arab countries consider the Iran-allied Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.

Beirut hopes that oil and gas discoveries in its territorial waters will help it overcome the economic crisis and pay back its massive debt that stands at 170 percent of the GDP, making it one of the highest in the world.

Israel already has developed a natural gas industry elsewhere in its economic waters, producing enough gas for domestic consumption and to export to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

READ MORE: Lebanon, Israel to discuss sea border in US-brokered talks

Talks at held at UN-post in border town

The US-mediated talks began 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.

The talks started at 0730 GMT, with roads in the area blocked by UNIFIL and the Lebanese army and helicopters flying overhead.

The meeting took place in an outdoor camp setting because of the coronavirus. Lebanon and Israel have been hit hard by the virus, and both have reported thousands of new cases in recent days.

Lebanon's state news agency said the first session ended around noon and that the next session will be held on October 28.

Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations and are technically in a state of war.

READ MORE: Arab majorities overwhelmingly oppose any normalisation with Israel

'Productive talks'

A joint statement released by the US State Department and Jan Kubis, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said Israel and Lebanon had started talks aimed at reaching consensus on a common maritime boundary.

“During this initial meeting, the representatives held productive talks and reaffirmed their commitment to continue negotiations later this month,” said the brief statement.

The head of the Lebanese delegation, Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, said Wednesday’s meeting “is the first step of a thousand-mile journey,” according to a text released by the Lebanese army.

Yassin said Beirut hopes that the talks will be concluded within a “reasonable period,” adding that the negotiations will be based on international law, the 1949 Lebanon Israel Armistice Agreement, and the 1923 Paulet–Newcombe Agreement between France and Britain that drew the boundaries between the British mandate of Palestine and the French mandate of Lebanon.

A senior official with Israel’s energy ministry said: “We have no illusions. Our aim is not to create here some kind of normalisation or some kind of peace process.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

“Our aim is very strict and limited and therefore hopefully achievable,” they added.

Lebanon's outgoing Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbi said Lebanese negotiators will be “more fierce than they expect because we have nothing to lose.” He added that if Lebanon's economy collapses, “there is no interest in making concessions”.

Participants of the meeting

It is unclear how long the talks will last but Lebanon began offshore drilling earlier this year and hopes to start drilling for gas in the disputed area in the coming months. 

Lebanon has divided its expanse of waters into 10 blocs, of which three are in the area under dispute with Israel.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, the top American diplomat for the Middle East, and American Ambassador John Desrocher, who will serve as the US mediator for these negotiations, attended Wednesday's meeting.

The Israeli delegation was led by the director-general of the Energy Ministry, Udi Adiri.

The Lebanese team had met Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun on Tuesday, who stressed the talks “are technical negotiations that only deal with marking the maritime border.”

Hezbollah's reaction

Reactions to the talks have been mixed in Lebanon, still reeling from a huge August 4 explosion at Beirut port that killed more than 190 people and dealt another crippling blow to Lebanon's economy.

Hezbollah said last week the talks do not indicate a reconciliation with Israel. The Hezbollah bloc in parliament said that defining the border of “national sovereignty” is the job of the Lebanese state.

Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech two years ago that if asked by the government, his group is ready to use its arsenal, consisting of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, to defend Lebanon’s economic rights.

Early on Wednesday, Hezbollah and its Shia ally, the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, released a joint statement expressing reservations that the Lebanese team includes civilians, and called for the delegation to be reformed so that it only includes members of the military.

Hezbollah critics on social media have described the talks as contrasting with the powerful Iran-backed movement's anti-Israel stance.

The pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar daily on Monday called them "a moment of unprecedented political weakness for Lebanon", arguing that Israel is the real "beneficiary".

Ras Naqoura already hosts monthly tripartite, indirect Israel-Lebanon meetings over violations along the land border.

Israel and Lebanon also held indirect negotiations in the 1990s, when Arab states and Israel worked on peace agreements.

The Palestinians and Jordan signed agreements with Israel at the time but Lebanon and Syria did not.

READ MORE: Why does the world ignore Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty?