Lebanon president rejects claims about concessions in talks on maritime border dispute with Israel
SMA NEWS – BEIRUT
Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday that “all the statements made about the indirect negotiation process with Israel on the concession in the maritime border dispute with Israel are not true. Those launching these claims are not aware of what happened during the discussions, which will preserve Lebanon’s rights and natural wealth, and that is what is important.”
His office refused to disclose any information relating to the talks, saying that “it must be strictly confidential because it relates to national security.”
The People Want Movement, an activist group, had requested information regarding the negotiation on the grounds that “when the ruling authority agrees to start negotiations with Israel accepting Line 23 as the new starting point for maritime border negotiations, it gives up 1,430 square kilometers of Lebanon’s right.”
The presidency dismissed the movement’s request for information, stressing that “the required information should not be disclosed as it deals with secrets of national defense, national security and public security.”
Dr. Issam Khalifa, a professor of history at the Lebanese University who has been researching for more than two decades the demarcation of Lebanon’s borders stressed that it is “important that the Lebanese delegation, negotiating indirectly Israel through a US mediation, adhere to Line 29 as the starting point for maritime border negotiations. This line represents the border between the two areas for Lebanon and Israel with the approval of the president,” he said.
“Line 23 is illegal. It means that Lebanon has abandoned 1,430 square kilometers, which is contrary to the interests of the Lebanese people,” Khalifa said.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said on Monday: “Lebanon received from the US mediator Amos Hochstein when he visited Lebanon on Feb. 8 an oral offer that I cannot disclose, but nothing is written or official yet.”
Ali Hamdan, adviser to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, said: “The result of the demarcation determines the line. It may be Line 23 or Line 29 or an area before or after these two lines. It is up to the demarcation process to determine that.
“In 2010-2011, the Lebanese government sent a letter to the UN spelling out Lebanon’s claim to the demarcation area based on Line 23,” Hamdan said.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government sent in 2011 Decree No. 6433 to the UN, which adopts Line 23 for demarcating the maritime border with Israel.
