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FM: Lebanon won’t give up rights even if maritime talks take 20 years

December 7, 2020 at 4:07 pm

Vehicles of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL are seen as they stand guard in the southernmost area of Naqoura, by the border with Israel, Naqoura, Lebanon on October 14, 2020 [Ali Abdo – Anadolu Agency]

Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs in the caretaker government, Charbel Wehbe, said his country will not give up its rights in the maritime democratisation file, even if the negotiations take ten or 20 years.

The first round of indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel began on 14 October with American mediation and under UN auspices. The second round of negotiations, scheduled for 2 December, were postponed until further notice.

A Lebanese source told Reuters that the American mediators, who had informed the Lebanese side of the postponement, would later hold bilateral talks with both sides.

Israel’s Walla news site quoted Israeli officials as saying that the negotiations with Lebanon are pending, and that the two parties are discussing the location of the point from which the borders’ demarcation should begin.

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Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has previously sent a letter to Lebanese President Michel Aoun inviting him to a direct meeting in a European country to negotiate the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries.

“I am convinced that if we could meet face to face in one of the European countries in order to conduct open or secret negotiations, we would have a good opportunity to resolve the dispute over the maritime borders once and for all,” the Israeli minister said.

The planned negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, which are still officially at war, come after nearly three years of “intense diplomatic engagement” which helped formulate a framework agreement, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, David Schencker, said in October.

Lebanon: Differences on border demarcation with Israel can be solved