President Michel Aoun has been working on forming the Lebanese delegation that would take part in the first meeting of the negotiations on the maritime border demarcation with Israel expected to be held under UN-sponsorship on Wednesday, a Baabda Palace official said.
The official told Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun has not yet named all of the delegation’s members.
“The negotiation team will definitely include military officials, legal and geological experts in addition to a representative from the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, most likely its chairman, Wisam Chbat,” the official said.
He added that in addition to Chbat, the delegation will be headed by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Army for Operations Brigadier General Pilot Bassam Yassin, Marine Colonel Mazen Basbous and maritime borders expert Najib Msihi, who works with the Lebanese Army on maps.
Late last month, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework for US-mediated talks on the demarcation of their shared maritime border. The talks will be held at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.
Before attending the first meeting with Israel, the Lebanese team would hold talks with Aoun for coordination in line with Article 52 of the Constitution, which says that the “President of the Republic shall negotiate and ratify international treaties.”
“The delegation should avoid speaking directly with the Israeli side. Talks should happen through the UN negotiator,” the official said.
The Lebanese negotiators should not sit close to or near the Israeli delegation, he said.
A military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that so far, the Lebanese team is composed of four members, but the number could increase if Lebanon finds its necessary to add experts to it.
“The names of the Lebanese delegation will be officially announced next week,” the source said.
