Middle East

Lebanon asks US to resume mediation efforts on Israel border dispute

Lebanon, Israel engaged in dispute over maritime area that is 860 square kilometers (332 square miles)

Wassim Seif El Din  | 06.06.2022 - Update : 06.06.2022
Lebanon asks US to resume mediation efforts on Israel border dispute

BEIRUT, Lebanon

Lebanon on Monday called on the United States to resume indirect talks with Israel to demarcate their maritime border.


Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with President Michel Aoun to discuss developments related to a disputed maritime area with Israel and agreed to invite US mediator Amos Hochstein to resume his mediation efforts, the government said in a statement.


Mikati also held a series of "diplomatic contacts" with the United Nations and other concerned states on the issue, the statement said, without giving further details.


"Any exploration or drilling activity Israel might undertake in the disputed zone constitutes a provocative and hostile act [...] and impedes the negotiations over the maritime border," the statement said.


Tension rose on Sunday following the entry of a ship called Energean Power into the disputed area between Lebanon and Israel, with the Lebanese president describing the move as "provocative and hostile."


Lebanon and Israel are engaged in a dispute over a maritime area that is 860 square kilometers (332 square miles), according to maps sent by both counties to the UN in 2011.


The area is rich in natural gas and oil. Five sessions of indirect negotiations were held between Lebanon and Israel under UN sponsorship and US mediation. The last round of talks was in May 2021 but it was stuck because of major differences.
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*Writing by Ahmed Asmar

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