Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy

Special Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy
U.S. Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, left, and Lebanese President Michel Aoun hold a copy of the U.S.-brokered deal setting a sea border between Lebanon and Israel. (AP Photo)
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Updated 22 February 2023

Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy

Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy
  • Lebanon has taken positive steps on economic reforms, Amos Hochstein tells event attended by Arab News
  • Israel, Lebanon signed US-brokered agreement in October 2022 after years of failed attempts

WASHINGTON: With the success of the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Israel, Lebanon could be on the path to economic recovery, said Amos Hochstein, US special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security.

Hochstein, the primary mediator of the agreement, was speaking at an event on Wednesday organized by the US institute of Peace in Washington D.C. and attended by Arab News.

Israel and Lebanon signed the agreement on Oct. 27, 2022. It aimed to end a dispute over maritime boundaries between the two countries in the eastern Mediterranean region where oil and natural gas have been discovered in recent years.

“The agreement at its core is a boundary agreement, not an energy agreement,” said Hochstein, adding that it created legally and internationally recognized maritime borders between the two countries.

Lebanon and Israel are officially still in a state of war ever since the latter’s establishment in 1948.

Hochstein said the agreement gives Lebanon the rights to the Qana gas field, which has not yet been explored.

However, he added that Israel has a “fair right to some of the gas” because parts of the field extend beyond the agreed-upon boundary.

Israel agreed in the deal that a consortium led by French energy company Total will buy its share of discovered gas.

Hochstein described the negotiations as complex because both countries have no formal ties and do not deal with each other directly, and therefore had to sign separate agreements with the US and with the consortium.

Therefore, he said, “the maritime agreement isn’t just one agreement, it’s multiple separate agreements.”

He added that what helped make it possible after years of failed attempts were new political and economic conditions on the ground in both countries, especially Lebanon.

Hochstein said Lebanon suffers from a severe economic crisis, lacks proper energy infrastructure and has very limited electricity output, which created public pressure on the ruling elite.

He added that Israel has ample supplies of natural gas it extracts from other fields, especially the neighboring Karish field in the Mediterranean, which provides its economy with cheap electricity. What motivated Israel to sign the deal is its political and security considerations, he said.

Hochstein highlighted some of the positive steps Lebanon has taken regarding some of the economic reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which would help attract foreign investors in the aftermath of the maritime agreement with Israel.

He said one of the benefits of the deal is that it creates an economic and political environment for international companies such as Total to invest in Lebanon.

As an example, he said when one member of the international consortium that is supposed to explore gas in the Qana field left, Qatar quickly joined the consortium in its place.

Hochstein added that the US-sponsored regional agreement to supply Lebanon with gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan via Syria is ready, and Lebanon can benefit from it immediately once its domestic bureaucratic and political hurdles are removed.

“It could flow into Lebanon tomorrow,” he said, adding that the country needs to think more about establishing a renewable energy infrastructure that would give it energy security and more electricity.

He said the government should mandate every new building to have some measure of rooftop solar energy.


Italy pledges cash to support Tunisia amid uncertainty

Italy pledges cash to support Tunisia amid uncertainty
Updated 21 March 2023

Italy pledges cash to support Tunisia amid uncertainty

Italy pledges cash to support Tunisia amid uncertainty
  • Rome pushing IMF to bail out Tunisia amid concerns over energy, migration
  • Italian government ‘in constant contact’ with Tunisian President Kais Saied

London: Italy will invest €110 million ($118.4 million) in Tunisia in a bid to shore up stability in the North African country, its foreign minister announced.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Council in Brussels, Antonio Tajani said the money would be transferred via the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and that he hoped further funding would be approved by the International Monetary Fund.

Italy has been pushing the IMF to unblock a $1.9 billion loan to Tunisia over fears that it could be destabilized without financial assistance, with significant consequences for Italy’s energy supplies and the flow of migration to Europe.

“We are in constant contact with the Tunisian government,” Tajani said. “I hope that the IMF will reach an agreement with the Tunisian President Kais Saied to ensure stability.”

International opposition to bailing out Tunisia centers around fears that Saied, who has drawn ire over constitutional changes, crackdowns on political opponents and his recent rhetoric about sub-Saharan migrants in his country, cannot be trusted to agree to significant reforms, let alone enforce them.

“It is important that reforms are made because funding is linked to reforms, and to prevent (Islamist) terrorism from appearing in North Africa,” Tajani said. “The fundamental problem is that of stability in North Africa and Tunisia.”

Tunisia is vital to Italy’s energy security, as part of the route of the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline, which delivers gas to Italy and Central Europe from Algeria.

In 2022, the EU granted €300 million for the construction of an €850 million electricity interconnector project, ELMED, to link Italy to Tunisia’s growing solar farm industry.

Tunisia is also the staging post for significant numbers of migrants attempting to reach Europe via the Italian peninsula from North Africa.

Saied recently prompted a surge in sub-Saharan migrants leaving his country for Europe after accusing them of changing “the demographic composition” of Tunisia and alleging they were responsible for an uptick in crime.

This in turn has resulted in numerous people suffering violence or facing eviction and deciding to cross the Mediterranean.

Data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior indicates that crossings from Tunisia to Italy are up 788 percent from the same period last year, with 12,083 people landing on Italian shores from Jan. 1 to March 13 — a third of the total number who made the trip in 2022.

Laurence Hart, director of the International Organization for Migration’s Mediterranean coordination office, told Italian outlet Agenzia Nova that migrants who would once have found work in Tunisia were being lured to Europe by the country’s growing instability and hostility and by the promises of people-traffickers.

“Migrants leaving Tunisia come from very specific countries, which, looking at the statistics…are the Ivory Coast and Guinea. These are countries with which Tunisia has an agreement on visa-free arrivals,” he said. 

“On the one hand, this stimulates regular migration, because many sub-Saharan (Africans) are regularly employed in the various sectors of the Tunisian economy. On the other, it obviously leaves room for many intermediaries who play on the lack of information or on distorted information for their own personal gain.”


UAE president pardons more than 1,000 inmates ahead of Ramadan

UAE president pardons more than 1,000 inmates ahead of Ramadan
Updated 21 March 2023

UAE president pardons more than 1,000 inmates ahead of Ramadan

UAE president pardons more than 1,000 inmates ahead of Ramadan

ABU DHABI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the release of 1,025 prisoners serving various sentences in the UAE, ahead of Ramadan, state news agency WAM reported.

Sheikh Mohamed’s annual pardon ahead of Ramadan aims to “enhance family cohesion”, the report explained, adding that it created a happier environment for the wives and children of those released as well as enabling them to pursue successful social and professional lives in the future.

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Israel repeals law that banned four West Bank settlements

Israel repeals law that banned four West Bank settlements
Updated 21 March 2023

Israel repeals law that banned four West Bank settlements

Israel repeals law that banned four West Bank settlements
  • The original law, passed in 2005, mandated the evacuation of four Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank along with Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM: Israeli parliament on Tuesday repealed legislation that ordered the evacuation of four settlements in the occupied West Bank, one of the first major moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition.
The original law, passed in 2005, mandated the evacuation of four Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank along with Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip. The repeal would allow Jewish residents to return to these settlements on condition of approval by the Israeli military.
Since the 1967 war, Israel has established around 140 settlements on land Palestinians see as the core of a future state. Besides the authorized settlements, groups of settlers have built scores of outposts without government permission.
Most world powers deem settlements built in the territory Israel seized in the 1967 war as illegal under international law and their expansion as an obstacle to peace, since they eat away at land the Palestinians claim for a future state.
Yuli Edelstein, head of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, hailed the move as “the first and significant step toward real repair and the establishment of Israel in the territories of the homeland that belongs to it.”

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Jordan says Israel disavows behavior of top minister over flag of expanded borders

Jordan says Israel disavows behavior of top minister over flag of expanded borders
Updated 21 March 2023

Jordan says Israel disavows behavior of top minister over flag of expanded borders

Jordan says Israel disavows behavior of top minister over flag of expanded borders
  • Inciteful rhetoric: The UAE also condemned finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statements

Jordan said it has received assurance from Israel that the behavior of a top cabinet minister, who spoke at a podium adorned with an Israeli flag that appeared to include Jordan, did not represent their position, an official source said on Tuesday.

The source told Reuters that top Israeli officials rejected Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s move during a speech on Monday, and said that they respected Jordan’s borders and Israel’s peace treaty with Jordan. Smotrich heads a religious-nationalist party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition.

The UAE on Tuesday condemned the finance minister’s statements as well as his use of a map of Israel that includes lands from Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation affirmed the UAE’s rejection of inciteful rhetoric and all practices that contradict moral and human values and principles, state news agency WAM reported.

The ministry stressed the need to confront hate speech and violence and noted the importance of promoting the values of tolerance and coexistence to reduce escalation and instability in the region, the report added.

The Arab League also condemned the Israeli minister's statements. The Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine to the Arab League, Saeed Abu Ali, said in a statement these statements by Smotrich represent a racist and colonial stance, and considered the statements a blatant threat to peace and security in the region.
The Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League stressed the need to be alert to the seriousness of these Israeli policies and the importance of confronting them with firm international stances and measures in support of the rights of the Palestinian people.
Amman late on Monday summoned the Israeli ambassador in Jordan and said Smotrich’s move was a provocative act by an “extremist” and “racist” minister that violated international norms and Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel.

“These statements are provocative, racist and come from an extremist figure and we call on the international community to condemn it,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at a news conference.

Safadi received a call from Israel’s national security adviser, assuring him that Israel — which shares the longest border with its neighbor to the West of the Jordan River — respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, the source said.

Smotrich made the speech as Israeli and Palestinian officials met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for de-escalation talks ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday.


Arab League chief, Russian deputy FM discuss regional issues, Ukraine war

Arab League chief, Russian deputy FM discuss regional issues, Ukraine war
Updated 21 March 2023

Arab League chief, Russian deputy FM discuss regional issues, Ukraine war

Arab League chief, Russian deputy FM discuss regional issues, Ukraine war

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Sunday expressed his concerns at mounting violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.

His comments regarding Israeli government actions came during a meeting in Cairo with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

Their discussions also centered around other regional issues and Arab-Russian relations.

Aboul Gheit’s spokesman, Jamal Rushdi, said Bogdanov outlined Moscow’s stance on Syria, Yemen, Libya, and the economic and presidential vacancy crises in Lebanon. Iranian and Turkish policies toward the Arab region were also discussed.

Separately, during his assessment of an Arab strategic report by the Egyptian Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Aboul Gheit said the conflict in Ukraine and rivalries between the US and China were among the most alarming issues since the end of World War II.

“The Arabs are cautious in dealing with the Ukrainian crisis and its effects.

“All of this does not miss China, which is building a large naval power capable of competing with America in the Pacific Ocean and perhaps the world,” he added.