Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed to US mediator Amos Hochstein to return to the region and “put an end to Israeli provocations.” Both Aoun and Najib Mikati are political allies of Hezbollah – and thus of Iran. In dramatic declarations over the weekend, they both claimed that Israel had violated Lebanon’s territorial waters.
“Israel is maneuvering to plunder Lebanon’s natural resources,” said Najib Mikati.
In Jerusalem, the Lebanese claims are rejected and it is insisted that the large gas platform now moving towards the Karish field (Karish = “shark” in Hebrew) will have its permanent position south of the disputed zone – which consists of just over 800 square kilometers between Lebanon and Israel. The platform, which will now be connected to the gas underwater reservoir, belongs to the Greek company Energean, which leases the extraction rights from Israel. The field is expected to produce energy sometime this autumn.
It is unlikely that the Greek company would have agreed to start operations in disputed areas, where the United States has been trying to mediate for several years.
Israel already has several operational gas fields, and is well on its way to ending the environmentally hazardous coal combustion that until very recently was responsible for the country’s electricity production. Lebanon is considered to have equally promising conditions, but due to the country’s uncertain political situation, the major energy companies have been reluctant to invest in drilling there. Instead, Lebanon is suffering from a dramatic energy shortage, which has put a stop to many economic activities. Only last year did test drilling in Lebanese waters begin.
Several years ago, Israel offered Lebanon a division of the disputed zone, where Israel received 45 percent and Lebanon 55 percent. The tender was not accepted, and negotiations continue under the auspices of the United States at the border crossing in Naqura. Mediator Amos Hochstein, the US Foreign Ministry’s energy expert, was born in Israel but has been accepted by the Lebanese.
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