US mediator of maritime border negotiations arrives to Lebanon

BEIRUT — Amos Hochstein, the US mediator of Lebanon’s maritime borders negotiations with Israel has just arrived in Beirut.

Here’s what we know:

    • Head of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim, received in his office Monday afternoon Hochstein and caretaker Minister of Energy and Water Walid Fayad, in the presence of the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.

    • Hochstein is scheduled to meet President Michel Aoun, Parliament Nabih Berry, and caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati tomorrow. 

    • Many have urged President Michel Aoun to demand territory reaching line 29 during the indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. However, Aoun has still not signed a decree that would amend the Decree No. 6433 of 2011, ensuring Beirut’s sovereignty over Line 29.

    • Israel's defense, foreign and energy ministers said in a joint statement, earlier this month, amid tensions regarding the arrival of a floating production, storage and offloading unit from the power company Energean in the disputed Karish field which Israel considers in its “economic zone,” that their country is “ready to defend its strategic assets,” in response to statements by Lebanese and Hezbollah officials since the arrival of this gas ship.

    • "The platform is a strategic asset of the state of Israel and aims to extract energy resources and natural gas in the Economic Zone of Israel and to advance Israel’s green economy," said Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and Karine ElHarrar on Twitter. They also stated that the unit's anchorage is "in Israeli territory, several kilometers south of the area over which negotiations are taking place between Israel and Lebanon, mediated by the United States." The unit "will not pump gas from the disputed area,” they continued.

    • Lebanon and the Israeli government started indirect negotiations through US mediation in 2020 at a UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon’s Naqoura, but the talks have stalled several times.