Report: Israel chief negotiator in Lebanon maritime border talks resigns

Israel’s top negotiator for maritime border demarcation with Lebanon, Udi Adiri, resigned last week over how National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata conducted the talks after the responsibility for them was moved to the Prime Minister’s Office, Israel’s Maariv website reported yesterday.

The site quoted sources close to Adiri as saying that he also opposed the terms of the emerging agreement.

The resignation came days before US Energy Envoy Amos Hochstein presented his final proposal to settle a maritime border dispute between Tel Aviv and Beirut.

READ: Israel warm to draft Lebanese demarcation deal, sees gas profit-sharing

Earlier on Sunday, high-ranking political sources told Israeli media outlets that Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz had received the draft proposal from Hochstein, and had approved it.

Israeli Minister of Justice, Gideon Sa’ar, said the proposed agreement will be submitted to the Israeli cabinet for approval and then to the Knesset.

For his part, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Lapid’s government does not have legitimacy to conclude the deal, and that if he returns to power after the elections, he will not abide by it.

Netanyahu claimed that Lapid “has shamefully submitted to Hezbollah’s threats.

Lapid, however, countered criticism of the agreement, saying: “Israel receives 100% of its security needs, 100% of the Karish Reservoir and even some of the earnings from the Lebanese reservoir.”