Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who oversaw a landmark 2022 arrangement with Lebanon as foreign minister, said in an interview with Israeli media on Thursday that the same politicians who criticized the deal to demarcate maritime borders and offshore riparian rights are now negotiating a much more significant pact, calling the apparent contradictions "comical."
On Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister's office announced that discussions with Lebanon had been launched via three "working groups" addressing land border disputes. An Israeli official said Wednesday that Israel was aiming for the talks to eventually lead to full diplomatic relations with Lebanon.
“I made a deal on economic waters — an economic deal with the Lebanese government, the Americans and French. And they yelled [that it was a] ‘deal with Hamas,’ ‘deal with Hamas,” Lapid told the Ynet news site, referring to criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and right-wing allies who were in the opposition at the time over the agreement.
“The talks were over some two kilometers of saltwater with a few fish far from the sea’s depths. There wasn’t even gas there,” he claims.
Lapid told Ynet that back in 2022, he had refused to discuss the land border demarcation, particularly the five disputed points along the U.N.-drawn temporary border that dates back to 2000.
“Now the government is conducting talks on Israeli territory, after they made a deal with Hezbollah, something we never did.," Lapid said. "But fine, I’ll support whatever is best for the country."
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