Beirut/ Wassim Seif El Din/ Anatolia
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said, on Monday, that “things are on the right track in the file of demarcating the maritime border with Israel.”
Mikati’s words came in statements to reporters following the end of the tripartite meeting between Presidents Michel Aoun, Representatives Nabih Berri and the government, Najib Mikati, at the presidential palace east of Beirut, to discuss the US offer of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Israel.
The Lebanese Prime Minister said: “President Berri and I had some remarks, and the technical committee took them in full, and we will have a response that will be sent to the American mediator within this entire context.”
He continued, “I would like to emphasize that all the premises and basic matters are fully within the agreement, and things are on the right track, and I assure that our position is unified in the interest of Lebanon.”
For his part, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told reporters during his departure: “The position is one and united.”
In turn, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab announced in the press conference that “tomorrow (Tuesday) at the latest will be the Lebanese response to the American mediator’s draft, and we hope to get the final answer from it before the end of this week.”
Bou Saab, who is assigned by President Aoun to follow up the demarcation file with the American side, said, “Lebanon has obtained its full rights in the Qana field, and I will not say more.”
He added: “Today we are not giving an official answer to Huxten, but rather observations, and the devils in the details are becoming very small.”
He continued, “We are proud that our position from the beginning was unified, and this is what led us to this result, and the technical team unified the observations to be submitted to the American mediator soon.”
Regarding the Qana field, Bou Saab said that “Lebanon has obtained all its rights in the Qana field,” explaining that “no agreement or treaty will be signed with the Israeli enemy.”
The American mediator presented a compromise proposal to Israel and Lebanon following several visits and contacts with the two countries during the past months.
Lebanon and Israel are quarreling over a sea rich in oil and gas in the Mediterranean, with an area of 860 square kilometers, and the United States is mediating indirect negotiations between them to settle the dispute and demarcate the border.
In October 2020, indirect negotiations began between Beirut and Tel Aviv, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the aim of demarcating the borders, and five rounds were held, the last of which was in May 2021, and then stopped as a result of fundamental differences.
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