Lebanon in Political, Diplomatic Campaign Against Israel's Proposed Maritime Line
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has vowed to resort to the United Nations to resolve the conflict on Lebanon’s maritime border with Israel after the Jewish state’s proposal deepened the feud over offshore gas fields between the two states.
"Israel's measures have created a new point of tension in the region and threaten peace and security across this region," Mansour told reporters in Beirut on Monday.
He said the border as proposed by Israel cuts through Lebanon's economic zone.
Mansour told As Safir daily published Tuesday that he would swiftly study the issue with the energy ministry to assess the quantity of oil and gas that Israel would lay its hand on in the Lebanese economic zone.
He said the cabinet should either on Thursday or as soon as possible take the appropriate decision to take the issue to the U.N.
Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon to be submitted for a U.N. opinion.
The proposed map lays out maritime borders that conflict significantly with those suggested by Lebanon in its own submission to the United Nations.
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said Beirut will not give up its maritime rights, and accused Israel of "violations of (Lebanese) waters, territory and airspace, and today our oil rights."
Calling Israel's proposed sea border an "aggression," Bassil told al-Manar TV: "We are not attacking anyone but we should not accept that anyone attack us even if by one centimeter.”
He confirmed that Lebanon is studying a swift political and diplomatic campaign to face Israel's border claims.
In most cases, countries negotiate their maritime border, as Israel did several months ago with Cyprus. Because Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations, the proposals are to go to the U.N.
According to As Safir daily, Cyprus has vowed in a letter sent to Mansour that it would not make any move that would harm the interest of Lebanon or its international rights.
The island nation stressed that its agreement with Israel on defining their Special Economic Zones does not violate Lebanon’s sovereign rights.
Cyprus reminded Mansour that an agreement it signed with Lebanon in 2007 includes arrangements to review the geographic line that demarcates the economic rights through other agreements.
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