Reports: Sea Border Talks to Restart Monday, U.S. Pushed for Resumption
The suspended negotiations between Lebanon and Israel over the demarcation of their maritime border will resume next week following the arrival in Beirut of U.S. mediator John Desrocher, who is expected in the country on Saturday or Sunday, informed sources said.
“The decision to resume the negotiations came based on a U.S. move, which has been met by a positive Lebanese response, and the exact date will be announced in the coming hours,” a Lebanese military source and a source informed on the Presidency’s stance told Asharq al-Awsat daily in remarks published Friday.
The talks “will begin from the point at which they were interrupted, without any change to the composition of the Lebanese delegation,” the sources added.
The source informed on the Presidency’s stance meanwhile said that the talks “will likely begin on Monday, May 3, which is a semi-final date until now, pending an official declaration.”
“The importance now lies in the resumption of the negotiations and in the fact that they will pick up from where they stopped six months ago, especially that the (Lebanese) decree to expand the border has not been signed until the moment,” the source added.
“For the Americans, the priority now is for the resumption of the talks from where they stopped, without preconditions from both sides, unless Desrocher is carrying a new proposal as a middle ground solution, which would be discussed around the negotiations table,” the source went on to say.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/281258 |