Israeli Official: Hizbullah Exploiting Maritime Border Issue to Wage War against Israel
An Israeli government spokesman accused Hizbullah of exploiting the issue of the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel in order to wage a war against the Jewish state, reported al-Liwaa daily on Tuesday.
He added that Hizbullah is labeling this matter as “the maritime Shebaa Farms,” noting that it is a strictly political affair, which the party is employing for its interests.
Tel Aviv is seeking to resolve this matter through direct negotiations with Lebanon, which has refused this proposal, he continued.
It has rejected this idea ever since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Israeli official remarked.
The land borders were demarcated then, but not the maritime ones because the Lebanese government at the time refused to do so it and it is still rejecting all direct and indirect contact with Israel, said the spokesman.
Negotiations are the best manner to solve this issue and if Lebanon maintains its position, then the matter should be addressed before the United Nations, but international law stipulates that the two concerned countries must resolve the dispute themselves, he concluded.
Offshore oil and gas have been found in the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to the Lebanese and Israeli coasts and a dispute has erupted between the two sides over the lack of maritime borders designating the areas the two countries have authority to explore.
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