Berri, Salam Agree to Ask Ban for U.N. Demarcation of Maritime Border
Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that he has agreed with Prime Minister Tammam Salam to ask U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for the demarcation of Lebanon's maritime border.
Berri told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the demarcation of Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone would resolve Lebanon's maritime conflict with Israel.
Lebanon and Israel are at loggerheads over the 850 kilometers of territorial water that each claims as part of its EEZ.
Beirut argues that a maritime map it submitted to the U.N. is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.
“It is no longer acceptable for this issue to remain frozen,” Berri said.
“It should be put on the move again in the government and at all levels so that Lebanon benefits from its natural resources,” he told the newspaper.
The speaker stressed that the U.N. can demarcate the maritime border the same way it demarcated the Blue Line, the U.N.-monitored border between Israel and Lebanon.
Berri said he already stirred the issue with Amos Hochstein, the Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs leading the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State, during his visit to Beirut last year.
The speaker stated that Hochstein sought to resolve the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
But Berri said that the only solution would come if the U.N. demarcates the EEZ with Washington's cooperation.
In January, the leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Israel pledged to work together to seize opportunities emerging from newly found offshore gas reserves in order to bolster stability and security in a region wracked by conflict.
The leaders agreed to set up a tripartite committee to study the possibility of building a pipeline to carry natural gas found in waters off Israel and Cyprus to Europe via Greece.
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