Israel Matzav

Israel sets maritime border with Lebanon

With Lebanon refusing to negotiate, but attempting to lay claim to natural gas fields that are located in Israel, on Sunday, the cabinet approved a map of Israel's maritime border with Lebanon that it plans to send to the United Nations.

Maps prepared by the Foreign Ministry set the latitude and longitude of Israel's waters and its maritime borders.

The resolution submitted to the government says that Lebanon's claims and maps that it proposed to the UN contradict maritime boundaries it previously agreed to with Cyprus.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio on Sunday that reports that the United States backed Lebanon on the maritime border dispute are "nonsense."

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon also commenting on the maritime proposal on Sunday told Army Radio that he is confident the UN will accept Israel's position on its marine border with Lebanon.

He said, "The dispute over the border with Lebanon was created by the Lebanese. It is incorrect that the Americans sided with Lebanon in this dispute. There are very objective and organized rules, and I think that Israel will have no problem proving its ownership of the maritime areas that are ostensibly in dispute."

Ayalon added, "We've been in contact with Lebanon for a very long time. We have an interest in demarcating and setting all the borders, but they refuse. Even the current land border, which is recognized by the UN, is without Lebanese involvement or recognition. After the huge gas reserves were discovered, they suddenly woke up.

"Our position was that if the maritime borders are demarcated, the land border should be jointly demarcated as well. Now that they've suddenly sent maps, we have no choice but to set the borders ourselves."

I wish I could be convinced that the United Nations will treat us fairly. Unfortunately, we have too much experience with that in the past. To date, at least, the United Nations has refused to get involved in the maritime dispute. In light of that, I wonder if that last paragraph I quoted from Ayalon above is a good idea. Maybe we should just let the UN confirm the maritime border and leave the land border (supposedly confirmed by the UN previously) for another day.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, they have not even started exploring their own territorial waters. No matter, all can be blamed on Israel.

“They were trying to ram through a Petroleum Law, to get the exploration going,” said Prof. Brenda Shaffer, an expert on energy policy and management in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, referring to a Lebanese law passed last August.

“So they’re trying to get people to think ‘bad Israel,’ let’s just get this law going.”

And the energy experts think Lebanon has 'no chance' - at least at the gas fields that Israel has so far discovered.

While energy experts believe that Lebanon wouldn’t stand a chance if it were to claim Israel’s large Tamar (some 50 km. west of Haifa) or Leviathan (roughly 130 km. west of Haifa) reserves, other more northern, yet-to-be-explored areas are more perhaps more in question.

“According to our understanding, Tamar and of course Leviathan – which is southwest of Tamar – are south of the claimed marine border as planned by Lebanon,” Amit Mor, CEO and energy specialist at the Herzliya Pituach-based Eco Energy consulting firm, told the Post on Sunday. “Nevertheless, the Lebanese are claiming sovereignty over areas that are claimed by Israel and to which exploration rights have already been granted to various companies by the Israeli government.”

For Lebanon, discovery and drilling of its own natural gas will be crucial for its energy supply, most of which currently comes from imported oil, Shaffer explained. There isn’t much known about the amount of gas located off Lebanon’s shores, but a European company did conduct a survey and saw “promising signs,” according to Shaffer.

“Their only gas that they get is from Egypt to Jordan, Jordan to Syria and Syria to Lebanon,” she said.

Read the whole thing.

But the weakness of their claim won't stop Lebanon from protecting its 'rights.'

"Lebanon has warned that it insists on protecting its borders and resources," said Ali Hamdan, spokesman for Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in a telephone interview from Beirut.

The Israeli Cabinet decision “comes late, as it is proof that they want to drill to see where there might be oil and gas, and then demarcate the border,” Hamdan added.

And of course the Lebanese line conflicts with the Israeli one. This is Prime Minister Netanyahu.

"The area we are discussing borders in the north with Lebanon and Cyprus. The [maritime] line that Lebanon presented to the UN is significantly south of the Israeli line," he said. "It contradicts the line Israel has agreed upon with Cyprus, and what is more significant to me is that it contradicts the line that Lebanon itself concluded with Cyprus in 2007. Our goal is to establish the position of Israel regarding its maritime boundary, according to international maritime law."

So who is trying to adjust the map based on where the gas has been discovered? What could go wrong?

Labels: Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, maps, natural gas, oil and gas exploration

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:46 AM