Joe Biden (L) speaks with then-State Department Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs (R) Amos Hochstein at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/File)
BEIRUT — US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that no visit to Lebanon by US envoy Amos Hochstein, who has been appointed to mediate Lebanon’s maritime border negotiations with Israel, is planned at this time. However, during a Parliament session Tuesday, Speaker Nabih Berri claimed that the envoy is expected in Beirut on "Sunday or Monday."
Here's what we know:
• Both Price’s and Berri's comments followed statements from President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday in the wake of the arrival in disputed waters of a vessel working on behalf of Israel, that they had agreed to invite Hochstein to Beirut.
• During a press briefing, Price stated, “I don’t have any travel to announce or to preview at this time, but as you’ve heard from us before, the Israel-Lebanon maritime border, that’s a decision for both Israel and Lebanon to make. We believe that an agreement is possible if both parties negotiate in good faith and work for the interest of both countries.”
• He continued that Washington “strongly supports the efforts made for this purpose with a view to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.”
• Berri meanwhile announced during the meeting of Parliament for the election of parliamentary committees that “Hochstein is coming to Lebanon on Sunday or Monday to discuss the maritime dispute.”
• Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Monday told Reuters that Hezbollah “is ready to take action” if the Lebanese state says that Israel is violating its maritime border.
• Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that the maritime dispute with Lebanon will be resolved through American mediation.
• Israeli authorities say the area known as the Karish field, to which it has sent the storage and offloading unit supplied by the London-based Energean Power company, falls within its economic zone. Lebanon says part of the field falls within maritime territory that is still disputed between the two states.
• A previous round of talks to resolve the dispute started in October 2020 at UN peacekeeping forces’ headquarters in southern Lebanon, but negotiations were halted within weeks.