Prime Minister Yair Lapid has rejected Lebanon’s amendments and new demands of the maritime border agreement with Lebanon, possibly setting the stage for Hezbollah’s attack on Israel.
A senior official in Jerusalem stated on Thursday that Israel received Lebanon’s latest comments on the draft agreement it made in recent days, and that Lapid was updated on the details of “the new substantial changes” that Lebanon is seeking to make in the agreement, and ordered the negotiating team to reject them.
The Likud is taking credit for Lapid’s backtracking, saying their public awareness campaign against the deal worked. Lapid hasn’t rejected the deal, but rejecting the changes could delay it significantly.
According to reports in the Arabic media, the Karish field, which Israel has recently begun to develop, will remain in Israeli hands (which it always was), while the nearby Kana field will be fully in Lebanese territory, an apparent Israeli concession (since almost 50% is in Israeli territory). Lebanon is now making new demands.
Lapid “made it clear that Israel will not compromise its security and economic interests in any way, even if it means that there will be no agreement soon,” the official said.
Furthermore, Israel will produce gas from the Karish rig “as soon as this is possible.”
“If Hezbollah or anyone else tries to damage the Karish rig or threaten us – the negotiations on the maritime line will stop immediately and [Hezbollah commander] Hassan Nasrallah will have to explain to the citizens of Lebanon why they do not have a gas rig and an economic future,” the official warned.
The common Israel-Lebanon maritime boundary is not agreed upon between the two countries. The issue has been under discussion for over a decade. The focus of both sides is the oil and gas discoveries in the territorial waters which are under dispute.
In recent years, the two countries held talks, mediated by the US and hosted by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL) at Rosh Hanikra. Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s Special Envoy for International Energy, is currently serving as mediator. He has traveled between Jerusalem and Beirut in recent weeks, and while expressing optimism, has not brought any final resolution.
Lapid stated during the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that his government is “discussing the final details, so it is not yet possible to praise a done deal; however, as we have demanded from the start, the proposal safeguards Israel’s full security-diplomatic interests, as well as our economic interests.”
This latest statement by the senior official is a dramatic change of events. The current assessment in Jerusalem is that no agreement will be signed before the elections in November due to the substantial differences between the two countries.
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Nasrallah has threatened to attack Israel several times in recent weeks over the control of the gas fields.
Hezbollah has already recently attacked Israel’s Karish rig twice. On June 29, the IDF intercepted a Hezbollah drone on its way from Lebanon toward the Karish gas field, situated off Israel’s northern shore. A few days later, Hezbollah dispatched another three drones toward the gas field. The three were interpreted by the IDF. Israel did not respond to any of the attacks.
According to various reports quoted by the Alma Research and Education Center, Hezbollah is on its highest alert since Second Lebanon War in 2006. Hezbollah recently conducted a competency test for its command posts and military communications system. Its reserve array, consisting of about 25,000 troops, was put on alert, and its fighting units were called back to Lebanon from Syria, and operatives in south Lebanon were reinforced.
