Report: Israel wants understanding, not full sea border agreement

All parties, including Hezbollah, are awaiting the next two weeks to decide on the next steps, and Lebanese sides concerned with the sea border negotiations have received signals that Israel wants an “understanding” and not a “full agreement” over demarcation, a media report said on Thursday.

“The American side is showing clear desire to finalize the agreement before October, and it has advised the Israeli side not to postpone the matter until after the Israeli elections,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

“Yair Lapid’s government, which fears for its political situation in the next elections, wants to reach an understanding that would allow it to begin extraction operations without giving the impression that it has bowed to Hezbollah’s pressures,” the daily added.

“Lapid’s government wants to say that it can agree on a ‘blue line’ separating between the two sides without being obliged to steps that give the impression that it has bowed to the resistance. It is also concerned with reaching a swift agreement, because the agenda of the extraction companies are confined to a timeframe that does not exceed the first week of October,” al-Akhbar said.

It added that Israel is planning to grant Lebanon “an understanding considering Line 23 and the Qana field as fully belonging to Lebanon, which would imply that Lebanon has acknowledged that Karish is not within the disputed area.”

“Such an understanding would allow international firms to come explore in Lebanon, while the enemy gains the ability to begin extraction operations in Karish, therefore defusing Hezbollah's threats on the one side, and allowing Lapid’s government to say that it has not agreed to a full border demarcation nor to halting production in line with Hezbollah’s demands,” al-Akhbar added.