Israel, Lebanon Maritime Boundary Claims Escalate Dispute
Israel and Lebanon have found new cause for dispute with overlapping claims to offshore territory in the eastern Mediterranean. Israel on 10 July announced that it would submit to the UN the maritime coordinates of the eastern Mediterranean that it claims as its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The area overlaps with that claimed by Lebanon as its EEZ in a letter to the UN made in July 2010 (MEES, 1 November 2010, 25 October 2010). Lebanon has for some time complained that the area claimed by Israel encroaches into its own offshore territory and has asked the UN to step in and demarcate it, but it does not appear that Israel will agree to such mediation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 10 July that the maritime line proposed by Lebanon is a “significant distance south of the proposed Israeli line,” according to Reuters, which also cited Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as saying: “In terms of procedure, international law and maps, we have a very strong position, and we won’t give an inch.”
Israel’s proposed offshore border runs at about a 90° angle from the land border with Lebanon, but Lebanon is said to be claiming a maritime boundary that runs east to west. Late last year, Israel reached a delimitation agreement with Cyprus on their respective EEZs, and Lebanon has signed a delimitation accord with Nicosia, although the Lebanese parliament has not ratified it. It now appears that Lebanon is also disputing the agreed demarcation of the maritime boundary with Cyprus. Lebanon’s NBN television reported on 13 July that Cyprus has agreed to review the original 2007 agreement.
Tension over East Mediterranean boundaries has risen since the discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields offshore Israel in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The two fields together hold some 25 tcf (708 bcm) of natural gas and their discovery sparked in Lebanon claims that Israel was on the verge of exploiting natural resources that belong to Lebanon. Beirut last year rushed through a new hydrocarbon law but has yet to assemble a Petroleum Administration or take other measures to fully establish a hydrocarbon sector. The country hopes to launch its first offshore licensing round in 2012 (MEES, 4 July, 27 June).
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur on 11 July told Beirut’s Daily Star newspaper that the country would protest the Israeli move to the UN. “This is an aggression on our gas and oil rights and we will not remain silent. This is a de facto policy that will not bring peace for Israel. Israel is creating a new area of tension,” he said.
Copyright MEES 2011.
