BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Lebanon has rejected a proposal by the Zionist regime to resolve a maritime dispute in the country’s south, reaffirming its right to maritime oil and gas fields.
A Lebanese diplomatic source was quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency that Beirut rejected the offer by the occupying regime that stipulates that it concede a part of Block 8 that lies to the north of Line 23, in return for “Israel’s relinquishment of the Qana gas field.”
As part of the offer, Beirut was required to give up the southwestern part of Block 8 in particular, according to the report.
The regime’s offer “was rejected by Beirut”, the report noted, adding that Lebanon “clung to the Qana field and rejected to give up even a square meter in Block 8.”
The proposal was reportedly pitched by Amos Hochstein, the U.S. official mediating between the two sides who arrived in Beirut on Sunday.
Hochstein met President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri at the presidential palace on Monday.
He also held a separate meeting with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
Following his meeting with Hochstein, Bou Habib stressed that his country was demanding the right to develop “all of Qana”, without concessions.
The U.S. envoy, however, expressed optimism that Lebanon and the Zionist regime could reach a maritime deal.
“I remain optimistic that we can make continuous progress as we have over the last several weeks and I look forward to coming back to the region and being able to make the final arrangements,” Hochstein told reporters after meeting the top Lebanese leaders on Monday.
The maritime row between Lebanon and the Zionist regime is over an area in the Mediterranean Sea spanning about 860 square kilometers.
Block No. 9 is rich in oil and gas. The occupying regime relies heavily on gas and has long been developing occupied offshore gas deposits in the Mediterranean Sea.
The two sides have held several rounds of talks to resolve their maritime dispute and resolve the decades-long dispute but to no avail.
The maritime dispute escalated in early July after the occupying regime moved vessels into the Karish Gas Field, which lies in Lebanon’s territorial waters.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah does not rule out going to war with Israel over the regime’s attempts at impinging on Lebanon’s natural resources.
The movement’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the resistance’s attitude and behavior towards the Zionist regime in the case depend on the results of ongoing indirect negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv over the disputed maritime area.