BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The U.S.
ambassador to Lebanon on Saturday delivered a maritime demarcation proposal to President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as negotiations with the Zionist regime progress.
Lebanon and the occupying regime have been officially at war since the regime’s occupation of Palestinian lands in 1948 and both claim some 860 square kilometers of the Mediterranean Sea.
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department who has been mediating between the two sides, last visited Beirut in September, where he expressed optimism after meeting with Lebanon’s president, caretaker prime minister and parliament speaker.
Aoun’s office in a statement said U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea delivered a proposal from Hochstein during a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda.
President Aoun in an interview with local media last week said that the negotiations could soon come to a close “where we will obtain our right to extract oil and gas.”
A Lebanese official who attended the talks last month told The Associated Press that the proposal put forward by the U.S. envoy gives Lebanon the right to the Qana field, located partially in the Israeli-occupied territories. A part of it stretches deep into a disputed area. The official added that the main point now is how to draw the demarcation line in a way that stretches south of Qana.
In August, Lebanon rejected a Zionist proposal on demarcation of the southern areas. A Lebanese diplomatic source said as part of the offer, Beirut was required to give up the southwestern part of Block 8 in particular. But Beirut rejected to give up any square meter in Block 8.
On August 19, al-Akhbar Lebanese newspaper said the Zionist regime has pledged to acknowledge that Line 23 and the Qana prospect field are in Lebanese territory while also pleading with Hezbollah to set aside potential plans to attack gas fields in case of a delayed deal.
On the same day, Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah rejected any delays in the case as Lebanon is going through dire economic conditions. “Time is short, and depending on the [Zionist regime’s] response, we will surely act,” he said in a speech.
Hezbollah had set a deadline for Lebanon to secure its rights over the disputed areas, which will expire on September 15.
The Hezbollah chief earlier said the Zionist regime would not be allowed to conduct drilling operations for oil and natural gas in the disputed area in the Mediterranean Sea until Lebanon gets what it deserves.