Lebanon To Submit Response To Israeli Proposal On Maritime Border On Tuesday - Parliament

The Lebanese authorities will submit their response to US State Department Adviser Amos Hochstein, a mediator in maritime border negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, on Tuesday, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Elias Bou Saab said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2022) The Lebanese authorities will submit their response to US State Department Adviser Amos Hochstein, a mediator in maritime border negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, on Tuesday, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Elias Bou Saab said on Monday.

On October 1, Lebanese President Michel Aoun received an official response from Israel regarding the demarcation of the common maritime border, including disputed points regarding the division of the border's offshore gas fields.

"The observations of the technical group are included in the report that will be sent to the American mediator. It contains a demand for amendments and comments to his proposal. It will be sent by tomorrow. The final position will be after the response to the comments," Bou Saab said in a statement published by the office of the Lebanese president.

Israel and Lebanon have been trying to resolve an overlap between the two rival nations' territorial waters situated over large oil and gas deposits beneath the Mediterranean seabed since 1996. The US-mediated negotiations began in 2020. Lebanon initially laid claims to 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) of waters but then modified the bid to include an extra 1,430 square kilometers encompassing part of the Karish gas field, claimed in its entirety by Israel. Israel refused to discuss those new terms. The maritime border between the two neighbors, which have been formally at war since 1948, has not yet been established.