Lebanon Preparing to Offer Compromise on Maritime Spat with Israel, Officials Say

US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (L) looks at Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad's phone (R) during a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, 13 June 2022. (EPA)
US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (L) looks at Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad's phone (R) during a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, 13 June 2022. (EPA)
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Lebanon Preparing to Offer Compromise on Maritime Spat with Israel, Officials Say

US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (L) looks at Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad's phone (R) during a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, 13 June 2022. (EPA)
US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein (L) looks at Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad's phone (R) during a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, 13 June 2022. (EPA)

Lebanon is preparing to offer a compromise to US energy envoy Amos Hochstein to resolve a dispute with Israel over maritime gas resources, three Lebanese officials with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters.

Hochstein landed in Beirut on Monday at the invitation of the Lebanese government, which had objected to the arrival of a vessel operated by London-based Energean off the Mediterranean coast on June 5 to develop a gas field known as Karish.

Israel says Karish is part of its exclusive economic zone, but Lebanon says the field is in contested waters and should not be developed until the two countries conclude their indirect talks to delineate their maritime borders.

Those talks fizzled out last year after Lebanon pushed its claim in the disputed zone from a boundary known as "Line 23" further south to "Line 29," adding around 1,400 square km (540 square miles) to its claim, including part of Karish.

To overcome the impasse, Hochstein proposed a field-swap that would create an S-shaped boundary instead of a straight line, but Lebanon did not officially agree to the proposal, official sources said.

Lebanon has insisted on renewing the indirect talks, but has not yet publicly announced whether it would stick to Line 29 as a starting position for those negotiations.

The US consider Line 29 a "non-starter," according to sources.

Three Lebanese officials with knowledge of the internal process to finalize a government stance said that Lebanon would drop claims to Line 29.

The sources said President Michel Aoun would meet Hochstein on Tuesday morning and propose "Line 23, plus a little more."

One of the officials specified that Aoun's position would be a claim to Line 23 in addition to 300 km sq that includes the Qana field, but not Karish.

Aoun would demand that indirect talks resume as soon as possible and that Israel stop all works at Karish until negotiations are concluded, two of the officials said.

MP Mark Daou, who visited Aoun on Monday as part of a group of independent parliamentarians, said the president told the lawmakers he "cannot insist on Line 29" as a starting point.

"President Aoun told us that Lebanon does not have the technical foundations on which to construct a case for Line 29 because previous governments had failed to produce formal documentation to maintain this position," Daou told Reuters.

Alain Aoun, a lawmaker from the Free Patriotic Movement which was founded by the president, said Lebanon would be making a counter-offer to Hochstein's proposal but did not give details.

Hochstein met with caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad and deputy speaker of parliament Elias Bou Saab on Monday but made no public comments.



With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

The United Nations and Israel are arguing over who must fill the gap if the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA stops working in the Gaza Strip and West Bank later this month when an Israeli law comes into force.

UNRWA still operates in the Palestinian territories, but it is unclear what awaits the nearly 75-year-old agency when the law banning its operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities takes effect.

The UN and Israel have been engaged in tit-for-tat letter writing since the law on UNRWA was passed in late October. Shortly after, the UN told Israel it was not the world body's responsibility to replace UNRWA in the Palestinian territory - Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In a letter to the UN General Assembly and Security Council late on Thursday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said if UNRWA was forced to stop operating then Israel "would be left to ensure that the range of services and assistance which UNRWA has been providing are provided" in accordance with its obligations under international law.

Guterres wrote that while other UN agencies were prepared to continue providing services and assistance to the Palestinians - to the extent they can - that "must not be viewed as releasing Israel from its obligations."

The United Nations views Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as Israeli-occupied territory. International law requires an occupying power to agree to and facilitate relief programs and ensure food, medical care, hygiene and public-health standards.

In a Dec. 18 letter to the world body, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said the new legislation "does not in any way undermine Israel's steadfast commitment to international law." He also rejected UN claims that Israel would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.

He wrote that Israel does not exercise effective control over Gaza and therefore is not an occupying power, adding that the law of military occupation also does not apply. He said that in the West Bank the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for civilian affairs "must not be overlooked."

"In Jerusalem, all residents are entitled to government and municipal services under Israeli law," said Danon, adding that included health and education services. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized abroad.

HEALTH, EDUCATION AT RISK

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA. It says UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was also found to have had an UNRWA job.

The United States has said its ally Israel must ensure the new law does not further impede aid deliveries and critical services, including by UNRWA, in Gaza, which has been engulfed in a humanitarian crisis during the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group.

But it has also questioned UN contingency planning.

State Department officials met this week with the transition team of incoming US President Donald Trump - who takes office on Jan. 20 - and raised concerns about how the crisis in Gaza could deepen once the UNRWA law is implemented, said a US official.

UNRWA, established by the UN General Assembly, provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and neighboring Arab countries - Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Guterres said UNRWA's unique role could not be replaced. UN officials say it is the health, education and social services UNRWA provides in the Palestinian territory that would suffer most as other agencies cannot match its ability to deliver such help.

Danon argued that "replacing UNRWA with relief schemes that will adequately provide essential assistance to Palestinian civilians is not at all impossible," citing the aid operation in Gaza where he said other UN agencies were equipped to provide the necessary response "as they do elsewhere in the world."

Other agencies working in Gaza and the West Bank include the children's organization UNICEF, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, and the UN Development Program. But top UN officials and the Security Council describe UNRWA as the backbone of the current humanitarian operation in Gaza.

Israel launched an assault on Hamas in Gaza after the fighters killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times. Food experts warn of a looming famine.