LF petitions for parliamentary review of border deal

The Strong Republic bloc submitted Friday a petition to Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, requesting that the maritime border demarcation agreement be referred to Parliament for discussion and vote.

LF MP Ghassan Hasbani said in a press conference that the text must be referred to Parliament as soon as possible before it goes into force.

The Change MPs and Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel has also asked for the text to be referred to parliament for approval, but Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri considered that the deal "does not require a debate in parliament because it is not an agreement with Israel."

He said he had asked parliament’s general secretariat to distribute the deal’s text to MPs so that they take note of it, following calls by some lawmakers for discussing it in parliament.

The text of the agreement sent to both Lebanon and Israel by U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein said it "establishes a permanent and equitable resolution of their maritime dispute".

It will go into force as soon as the U.S. sends a notice confirming it has received from Lebanon and Israel their separate approvals.