Bassam Abu Zeid – Nidaa Al-Watan
Those familiar with the path of mediation by Amos Hochstein to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel denied that Lebanon had received any new Israeli offer so far, noting that the Israeli Channel 14 had mentioned that a new Israeli offer was presented in this context, an offer that has been improved, but it does not give up Any way regarding Karish field.
Those insiders pointed out that Lebanon wants a clear response to what it demands, namely, the 23rd line with the Qana field, and that the Israelis have two options to respond:
The first is the 23rd line, complete with a meander at the Qana field, bringing it under Lebanese sovereignty.
The second, line 23 as it is without any aliasing with a written text that gives Lebanon the right to exploit the entire Qana field.
In addition to these two options, and if the Israeli does not want to commit to one of them during this period, he may resort, according to these insiders, to a request to postpone the decision on the issue of demarcation until following the end of the legislative elections next October, but this proposal will not be accepted by Lebanon if it does not stop Israel will extract gas from the Karish field and keep the extraction ship away from it. Will the Israelis respond to the Lebanese proposal?
Some information reported that in the course of the talks that Hochstein had with Israeli officials, the American mediator heard from them regarding the necessity of changing the name of the Qana field as provocative, because Lebanon accused the Israeli occupation army of committing the Qana massacre in April 1996.
There will be no new demarcation file except through two developments:
The first is the return of Amos Hochstein to Lebanon, carrying with him an Israeli answer or proposal regarding the operation, provided that the matter is acceptable to the Lebanese side.
The second is that Hezbollah took military action once morest the Karish platform, in which it would anticipate any move by Hochstein, or take any Lebanese rejection of what the American mediator might hold as a pretext for launching war.
In this regard, American diplomatic sources were surprised how the Secretary-General of “Hezbollah” became the first negotiator in the demarcation process, and that the Lebanese state had become only the recipient of the results, to the extent that it was silent regarding what is happening in all this file and regarding Nasrallah’s threats. It seems that some in Lebanon do not realize the catastrophic consequences of any war with Israel, but the most dangerous, according to these diplomatic sources, is the one who understands the repercussions of this war and provokes Mr. Nasrallah’s enthusiasm towards it, in order to win more people in a position of presidency on scorched earth.
