Israel, Lebanon finalize ‘historic’ maritime border demarcation deal

Update Israel, Lebanon finalize ‘historic’ maritime border demarcation deal
Lebanese President Michel Aoun receives from US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, the deal setting a maritime border between Lebanon and Israel in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. (AP)
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Updated 27 October 2022
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Israel, Lebanon finalize ‘historic’ maritime border demarcation deal

Israel, Lebanon finalize ‘historic’ maritime border demarcation deal
  • Biden said the “historic agreement” benefitted both countries
  • Hezbollah will end an “exceptional” mobilization against Israel after threatening to attack for months

BEIRUT: The maritime border demarcation agreement between Lebanon and Israel, mediated by the US under the auspices of the UN, reached its final official stage on Thursday, with both sides unilaterally signing the proposal without any contact between them at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in Naqoura.

Lebanon handed over a copy of the agreement to US mediator Amos Hochstein, signed and approved by President Michel Aoun.

Another copy was handed over to the UN, represented by its Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo was also present in Naqoura.

The agreement will allow Lebanon to start exploration operations through the French company TotalEnergies for potential quantities of gas and oil in the Qana field, part of which it shares with Israel. 

The agreement allows Israel to start extracting gas and oil from the Karish field, which became officially under Israeli control after Lebanon ceded Line 29.

As US President Joe Biden received on Wednesday Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House, he noted that this agreement was a historical breakthrough. 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called it a tremendous achievement. “Not every day an enemy country recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement before the international community,” he said.

Germany said it was a big step toward more stability in the region.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab, who handled the negotiations with Hochstein, said: “It’s the beginning of a new era between two countries that are technically at war.

“We have heard of the Abraham Accords. Today, we have the Hochstein Accords; it is a new era.”

Earlier, Hochstein arrived at the presidential palace where he met Aoun, accompanied by US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea. 

Bou Saab, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, Director-General of the Lebanese General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and members of the negotiating delegation attended the meeting.

After the meeting, Hochstein said: “What matters today is what will happen after the agreement, and I believe that it will be an economic turning point for Lebanon.

“Signing such an agreement will bring stability to the region and will allow TotalEnergies to begin its work, which nothing will hinder, and no one will take the oil and gas revenues from the Lebanese.

“The most important thing in the agreement is that it serves both sides and it is not in their interests to violate it.”

He also visited caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Mikati said: “I hope this achievement (will) be an essential step on the path to benefiting from Lebanon’s wealth of gas and oil, which would contribute to solving the financial and economic crises that Lebanon is experiencing, and help the state stand back on its feet.”

He added: “The attention shown by President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron gave impetus to a new path in the region and to support Lebanon in its economic recovery.”

Hochstein said that he expects the agreement to withstand leadership changes in both countries, in reference to the upcoming Israeli elections and the end of Aoun’s term.

“The agreement must continue regardless of who will be elected very soon as Lebanon's president,” he said.

The Israeli government, headed by Lapid, ratified the agreement, which the prime minister said was a diplomatic and economic achievement in which Lebanon recognized the state of Israel.

The media were prevented from accessing the signing venue, and the details were shrouded in secrecy.

The Lebanese delegation had initially refused to enter the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura after seeing that Israeli boats had violated Lebanese territorial waters. UNIFIL made calls, however, and the boats withdrew.

The Lebanese and Israeli delegations were reportedly in the same room without any contact between them. 

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said, “The agreement will enhance stability in southern Lebanon and pave the way for resolving the outstanding points regarding defining the Blue Line,” referencing the land borders.

Bou Habib said: “TotalEnergies will start work in the Qana field to explore for gas after the signing of the agreement. The text of the agreement to demarcate the maritime borders will be officially published once it is signed.”

Oil expert Dr. Rabih Yaghi said the agreement creates reassurance for foreign companies to head toward the Lebanese exclusive economic zone, specifically to Blocks 8, 9 and 10, which are promising fields.

“In the event of any commercial discoveries, evaluations will be required to know quantities, determine depths and develop plans, after which the process of building the infrastructure for transporting gas from the sea begins. We have at least nine to 10 years before we reach the stage of commercial production for gas and oil to be available for local consumption and then export,” Yaghi explained.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech: “We consider what happened a great victory for Lebanon. The resistance’s exceptional mobilization against Israel is now over.

“Mission accomplished,” he added.


Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank

Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank
Updated 26 September 2023
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Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank

Saudi delegation visits Israel-occupied West Bank
  • The delegation led by the kingdom’s non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef Al-Sudairi, arrived overland from Jordan
  • Sudairi is then due to meet Palestinian present Mahmud Abbas

Jericho: Saudi Arabia, which is in US-brokered talks with Israel to normalize relations, on Tuesday sent a delegation to the occupied West Bank for the first time in three decades.
The delegation led by the kingdom’s non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Nayef Al-Sudairi, arrived overland from Jordan, acting Jericho governor Yusra Sweiti said.
It is the first such Saudi delegation to travel to the West Bank since the landmark Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.
Sudairi, the Saudi envoy to Jordan, was last month appointed non-resident ambassador to the Palestinian territories and consul general for Jerusalem.
He will be received by the top Palestinian diplomat, Riyad Al-Maliki, the foreign ministry in Ramallah said.
Sudairi is then due to meet Palestinian present Mahmud Abbas.
Sudairi’s visit to Ramallah comes as Washington has been leading talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia on a potential normalization of relations between the two countries, a move seen as a game-changer for the region.


Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM

Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM
Updated 26 September 2023
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Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM

Japan proposes initiative to resume nuclear talks: Iran FM
  • Under US President Joe Biden’s administration, negotiations resumed with the objective of re-entering the agreement

DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Japan has proposed an initiative to resume negotiations to revive the nuclear deal that was signed in 2015 by Tehran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US.

According to Kyodo News, Abdollahian said any initiative from Japan that aligns with “Iran’s interests” would be viewed positively, adding: “We support the constructive role of Japan in reviving the nuclear deal.”

He told the Japanese news agency that he received a proposal from the Japanese government when he visited Tokyo last month and met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and former Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa.

Abdollahian said delays in the negotiations’ progress were caused by “excessive demands” by the US, Britain, France and Germany, as well as “interference” by other countries in Iran’s domestic issues, specifically with regard to protests over the death last year of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. It also agreed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67 percent for the next 15 years.

But in 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal, saying it did not address “Iran’s ballistic missile program and its proxy warfare in the region.”

Under US President Joe Biden’s administration, negotiations resumed with the objective of re-entering the agreement.

Most recently, on Sept. 20 Kishida and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met in New York to discuss security issues, bilateral relations and the nuclear deal.

Kishida said Japan has been consistent in its support of the deal and urged Iran to take constructive measures.


Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria

Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria
Updated 26 September 2023
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Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria

Legal fight opens for Australian children to leave Syria
  • Save the Children is asking the court to bring the 11 women and 20 children from Al-Roj camp in Syria before the court in Australia

Sydney: More than 30 Australian women and children living in “appalling conditions” in a Syrian detention camp launched court action Tuesday to compel Canberra to bring them home.
Their case opened at the High Court in Melbourne, nearly a year after Australia repatriated the last group of four women and 13 children — the wives, sons and daughters of vanquished Daesh group fighters — from Syria.
“The situation of the remaining persons detained is stark and dire,” said Peter Morrissey, counsel for the charity Save the Children, which is acting on their behalf.
“Save the Children Australia represents women and children charged with no crime, detained in piteous and appalling conditions,” he told the court.
“Their health, safety, and dignity are seriously compromised by any standard. Their detention in the camps has endured for several years.”
Save the Children is asking the court for a writ of habeas corpus (or unlawful detention) requiring the government to bring the 11 women and 20 children from Al-Roj camp in Syria before the court in Australia.
“Despite countless opportunities to repatriate these families, the Australian government has ultimately failed in its duty to bring all of its citizens home to safety,” said Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler.
“We desperately hope these children and their mothers will be imminently repatriated home to safety. It is unfathomable that the Australian government has abandoned its citizens,” he said in a statement.
Repatriations of Australian women and children from Syrian camps are a politically contentious issue in a country long known for its hard-line approach to immigration.
The Australian women and children have lived in the Al-Hol and Al-Roj detention camps in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria since the 2019 collapse of Daesh.


Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy
Updated 26 September 2023
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Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

Lebanon forces arrest suspect over shooting at US embassy

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s security forces on Monday said they had arrested a man suspected of firing 15 bullets at the American embassy building in Beirut last week.

A source named the suspect as 26-year-old Lebanon national Muhammad Mahdi Hussein Khalil, who works for a delivery company. The source added that Khalil had previously been convicted of opening fire on a Lebanese public security center.

According to the source, Khalil confessed to shooting at the embassy compound in the Aukar suburb of Beirut, and that the weapon used in the attack had been seized.

Surveillance cameras showed a lone man dressed in black firing a Kalashnikov rifle before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.

“The shooter carried out his act after previous disputes between him and embassy security over food deliveries,” the source told Arab News.

There were no injuries caused by the shooting late on Wednesday.


Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program

Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program
Updated 26 September 2023
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Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program

Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program
  • Some Palestinians have protested at Israel’s entry into the VWP, citing what they say are decades of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans and harassment at Israel’s borders

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it expects the United States to announce this week that it will be admitted to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Israeli citizens visa-free entry to America as of November.
The deadline for Israel to show compliance with the US conditions is Sept. 30. If successful, it would offer a win for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government, whose relations with Washington have been strained over its plans to overhaul the judiciary as well as over its policies toward the Palestinians.
“Israel joining the Visa Waiver Program is a diplomatic achievement and good news for all Israeli citizens,” said Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday that a final decision on Israel’s candidacy had not been made.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, will make a determination in the coming days,” the spokesperson said.
For admission to the program, Washington requires countries to treat all US travelers equally, regardless of whatever other passports they may hold. In Israel’s case, that would mean free passage for Palestinian Americans at its airports and when traveling into and out of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Some Palestinians have protested at Israel’s entry into the VWP, citing what they say are decades of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans and harassment at Israel’s borders.
In a pilot period that has been running since July 20, Israel has loosened access for Palestinian Americans through its borders and in and out of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Between 45,000 and 60,000 Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a US official estimated. An Israeli official gave lower figures, saying that of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, 15,000 to 20,000 are West Bank residents.
There are currently 40 countries in the VWP. Countries are not added frequently, with Croatia being the latest to join in 2021.