A United Nations ship photographed off the coast of Naqoura near the Lebanese-Israeli border. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan on Sunday challenged United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on his calls for launching tenders for Lebanon for the exploitation of supposed offshore hydrocarbon reserves located in a disputed area on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Here’s what we know:
• Negotiations between the two countries on the delimitation of their maritime border are currently suspended.
• In an official letter, Erdan called on the Lebanese government to "withdraw this call for tenders and to refrain from any activity that could promote nonconsensual activities in the Israeli sea area."
• Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced at the end of November that he had signed a decision resetting the second round of the call for tenders for the allocation of these licenses, increasing the number of blocks to be allocated from five to eight. Of these blocks, numbers eight and 10 are located, at least in part, in the disputed area.
• Talks started between Lebanon and Israel in October 2020 to decide the fate of a disputed area measuring 860 square kilometers. The Hof line, named after American diplomat Frederic Hof who mediated discussions between the two parties between 2010 and 2012, attributed 55 percent of this area to Lebanon against 45 percent to Israel. Lebanon then claimed an additional 1,430 square kilometer area, but talks over this claim were suspended in December 2020. So far, no date has been set for a new round of talks.
• While the resolution of the dispute is crucial for Lebanon to begin exploring and exploiting its hydrocarbon reserves, no date has been set for a new round of talks.