Hassan Nasrallah, head of Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, is demanding that Israel transfer sovereignty over the northern railway tunnel in Rosh Hanikra.
The demand is part of Nasrallah’s effort to undermine negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on the demarcation of a maritime boundary between the two countries.
Hezbollah government minister Ali Hamia, who holds the country’s public works portfolio, demanded that Israel dismantle a concrete barrier built in the 1940s at the exit of the tunnel facing Lebanon, and transfer sovereignty over the tunnel itself to Lebanon.
“Our sovereign rights lie in our decision to restore every inch of the occupied tunnel without compromising our decision to also restore our land and sea borders,” Hamia said in remarks during a visit to the town of a-Nakura, just a few kilometers away from Rosh Hanikra.
The 695-meter-long tunnel, built by the British in 1942, runs along the border between Israel and Lebanon. It was blocked with concrete in the year 2000 by Israel upon the departure of IDF troops from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah raised its new demand after US energy envoy Amos Hochstein’s latest visit to Beirut, where he continued efforts to mediate a settlement on maritime boundaries between Israel and Lebanon which would enable Lebanon to begin drilling for oil and natural gas in its own territory.
Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mate Asher Regional Council and chairman of the Confrontation Line Forum, told Israel’s Channel 12 News in a statement that Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, located in the regional council district, stands as the “human shield of the residents of Israel.
“The members of the kibbutz who live there and comprise the country’s border protect the entire northern part of the State of Israel with their bodies and their homes.
“The delusional demand of the Lebanese government is at best an unsuccessful joke and at worst a foolish attempt to undermine the facts concerning the State of Israel,” Davidovich added.
This latest fantasy on the part of Hezbollah’s secretary-general comes, however, amid reports that Hochstein may be returning to Beirut within the next two weeks with the hope of finally reaching a settlement on a maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel. Hezbollah has consistently tried to undermine the talks.
“Lebanon is before a very big chance to regain its wealth through the demarcation of the maritime border,” Lebanon’s General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim commented Monday (July 18), according to the country’s al-Binaa newspaper. He added that he believes Lebanon is “only weeks away from achieving this objective.”
Lebanese lawmakers warned a US delegation not to delay in working out demarcation of the maritime boundary between Israel and Lebanon.
“There is no more time for procrastination and delay in the demarcation of the sea boundary and for allowing the companies than won the tenders to start their work,” Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday to a delegation from the American Task Force for Lebanon accompanied by US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea.
“There is no justification at all for this delay or prohibition,” Berri added, according to Naharnet.
