Israel says Lebanon talks to only be on maritime, not land borders
Though disputes about the Blue Line, as the land border between Israel and Lebanon is known, came up in pre-negotiation talks, Israel did not agree to negotiate land borders.
By LAHAV HARKOVAn Israeli naval vessel sails in the Mediterranean sea near the border with Lebanon, as Mount Carmel and the Israeli city of Haifa are seen in the background December 16, 2013(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, set to begin next week, will only be on maritime borders, a diplomatic source in Jerusalem said on Sunday, despite indications to the contrary from Washington and Beirut.Though disputes about the Blue Line, as the land border between Israel and Lebanon is known, came up in pre-negotiation talks, Israel did not agree to negotiate land borders.Israel does not rule out Blue Line negotiations, but they would have to be separate, and different people would be involved. The Energy Ministry is deeply involved in the maritime border talks, because there is natural gas in that part of the Mediterranean, which both sides want to develop.Israel and Lebanon officially announced on Thursday that they had agreed to hold US-mediated negotiations on their maritime border, to be held at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naquora, on the Israel-Lebanon border. The “negotiations about negotiations,” as the Israeli diplomatic source called it, took more than two years.The talks, set to begin next week, will be the first-ever direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on civilian matters. Israeli officials are optimistic that the dispute over 860 sq. km. in the Eastern Mediterranean near Israel’s natural gas fields, which one described as a “pizza-slice-shaped” area beginning from Rosh Hanikra, can be resolved and will contribute to regional stability.The official’s remarks that the negotiations beginning next week will only be about maritime borders came three days after Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the sides had agreed to work out disagreements about the Blue Line, in addition to the maritime border.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s remarks on Thursday could be understood to mean Israel already agreed to negotiate Blue Line issues.“The United States also looks forward to separate expert-level talks to define unresolved issues related to the Blue Line [the Israel-Lebanon land border], which offer the promise of another positive step for regional stability,” Pompeo said.Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker also mentioned the matter in his remarks on the agreement to hold talks.Schenker said the US “welcome[s]... steps by the parties to resume expert-level discussions on remaining unresolved Blue Line points with the objective also of reaching agreements on that.”But, he also said, that would be “a separate track” between Israel, Lebanon and UNIFIL.The Blue Line is the land border between Israel and Lebanon after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000. UNIFIL marked the line with blue barrels, giving the line its nickname.Land border negotiations with Lebanon would likely focus on Mount Dov, an area of the Golan Heights at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border. Lebanon and Syria had a dispute over the territory. Israel took control of the Golan Heights, including Mount Dov, in 1967, and applied sovereignty in the area in 1981.When Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000, the UN certified the departure, but Hezbollah and others in Lebanon consider Israel to be occupying Mount Dov, which they call Shaba Farms.According to Jewish and Muslim tradition, Mount Dov is where Abraham made the Covenant of the Pieces with God.
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