Lebanese President Michel Aoun. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun said Monday that the "indirect negotiations" with Israel on the demarcation of the southern maritime border "have already gone a long way," a few days after Israel rejected amendments suggested by the Lebanese authorities to a US resolution proposal.
Aoun stated during a Monday meeting with the Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, Raphael Bedros, that Lebanon is set to complete all arrangements related to the maritime negotiations in the coming days. "The gaps discussed during last week have narrowed," he added.
According to Aoun, reaching an agreement on the demarcation of the borders is “the start of the process of exploration for oil and gas in the Lebanese fields located within the exclusive economic zone, which will achieve the beginning of a new impetus for the process of economic revival."
For its part, the Amal Movement, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, said in a statement Monday that it supports the “unity of the Lebanese position [on the border demarcation] in preventing Israel from stealing Lebanon's rights and its wealth.”
Berri was the sponsor of the agreement on the framework for maritime border talks in 2020.
On Thursday, Israel rejected Beirut's amendments to the draft agreement proposed by the US emissary Amos Hochstein. This setback seemed to dampen hopes that an agreement will be reached before the end of Lebanese President Michel Aoun's term on Oct. 31, but Sunday evening, the Lebanese Presidency's Twitter account announced that a new "final version" of the proposa will be sent by mediator Hochstein to Lebanon "in the coming hours."