Lebanon's caretaker Prime minister, Najib Mikati. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab said Wednesday that Lebanon has obtained guarantees from the United States on the maintenance of the maritime border agreement in the event that Benjamin Netanyahu, who is known to be hostile toward the deal, returns to power in Israel.
Netanyahu threatened to "neutralize" the agreement, which was signed last week after years of indirect, US-brokered talks that finally demarcated the sea boundary between the two enemy states
"Throughout the negotiations ... we obtained sufficient American guarantees that this agreement cannot be easily abrogated," said Bou Saab, who played a major role in reaching the agreement with Israel. "I raised the problem of Netanyahu's position, and the need for guarantees on the durability of the agreement, and the American mediator replied that it is difficult for a state to withdraw from an agreement."
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati appeared confident, too, telling Reuters earlier on Wednesday, in a phone interview from the Arab League Summit in Algiers, that he was "not afraid" for the deal. He confirmed that the US guaranteed it would protect a maritime border deal should Israel's conservative former premier Netanyahu win a majority in the elections.
The US pledged to remain a guarantor of the hard-won agreement. The American mediator for the talks, Amos Hochstein, told reporters in Lebanon that he expected the deal to withstand both contentious Israel elections and a transition to a new president in Lebanon.
"We're not afraid of a change in the authorities in Israel. Whether Netanyahu wins or someone else, no one can stand in the way of this [deal]," Mikati said. He reiterated that the US is "the sponsor of this deal" and is responsible for its smooth implementation.
"If Netanyahu wants to withdraw from [the deal], he will also withdraw from an agreement with the United States," said Bou Saab. "Because the agreement was signed between Israel and the US on one hand, and between Lebanon and the US on the other."
Though limited in scope, the maritime delineation is expected to pave the way for further exploration of energy resources by both Israel and Lebanon.
Officials in both countries, as well as the US, said that the economic interests would be enough to deter any disruption of the deal by either side.
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Nasrallah: Agreement is a 'victory,' but Lebanon did not get '100 percent of its demands'
Netanyahu had slammed the deal as possibly benefitting Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which regularly fights with Israel.
With roughly 70 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and its religious, far-right allies were on pace Wednesday to control a majority in Parliament.
