Berri Unveils Israeli Proposal to Discuss Territorial Issue with Lebanon
Speaker Nabih Berri said that the United States notified Lebanon of Israel's readiness to discuss a controversial issue of defining the land and sea borders between the two countries, Berri told Russian Sputnik news agency on Wednesday.
Berri said a “message was received from the United States after a meeting with Israeli (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu in Israel that they are ready for a final solution on land and at sea.”
The Speaker added to Sputnik that Lebanon is ready for talks with Israel to define borders and is waiting for a response from the United States. “Negotiations should continue in Naqoura under the UN auspices,” he noted.
In February, Lebanon signed its first contract to drill for oil and gas off its coast with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek, including in a block disputed by Israel.
Israel says one of two blocks in the eastern Mediterranean where Lebanon wants to drill for oil belongs to it, and denounced any exploration by Beirut as "provocative".
The acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, David Satterfield, has shuttled between the countries in recent months as a mediator.
On Tuesday, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that “suggestion of new ideas proposed through the US back-channel talks to mediate a maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon have complicated operations for gas and oil exploration.”
He added that some “new ideas are on the table,” but declined to elaborate further.
On Monday, Lebanon’s senior officials met at the Presidential Palace where talks focused on the demarcation of Lebanon’s border and the dispute with Israel.
06 June 2018, 14:17
04
قال بري في مقابلة مع وكالة “سبوتنيك” إن “إيران موجودة في سوريا بطلب من الدولة السورية، تماما كما أن الوجود الروسي في سوريا قد جاء بطلب من الحكومة السورية”.
وفي ما يتعلق بـ”حزب الله”، قال بري إن الحزب “موجود في بلده، لأنه لو لم يكن متواجداً هناك، لكان “داعش” قد أصبح هنا” في لبنان.
وردا على سؤال حول الظرف الذي يمكن من خلاله أن يتحقق هذا الانسحاب، قال بري “حتى تتحرر سوريا وتصبح أراضيها موحدة”.
06 June 2018, 14:36
06
But when his shia went to commit massacres in Syria, he forgot to mention there was no ISIS in Syria. He also forgot to mention his shia terror group put ISIS on air conditioned buses provided by the Mahdi schools and served them fresh home made meals.
06 June 2018, 14:32
06
Exactly !
He is the Speaker of the joke parliament and has nothing to do with the Executive Branch of government.
06 June 2018, 19:37
02
Dutch PM mopping floor after spilling coffee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ItbbTEcZ1A
06 June 2018, 20:10
03
Good new, maybe delimitating the border could lead to the end of war in a near future between Lebanon and Israel. And later on peace, but at least the end of war because there won't be any fallacious pretext for Hizbullah to wage further useless conflict with the southern Hebrew neighbor.
06 June 2018, 23:24
05
Hopefully they'll take this offer more seriously than the 1994 Israeli proposal to withdraw from the south if the government sent the Lebanese army to replace it and then again in 1998 if the Lebanese government guaranteed that the border would not be used by guerrillas like it was after he Cairo agreement. Both offers were under UN Resolution 452 and both were rejected out of hand by the Syrian occupation so they could use the Israeli occupation as a red herring for it's own dominion over Lebanon.
07 June 2018, 15:28
03
They will never make peace with Israel. It would defeat the purpose of Ebola, their funding, their weapons, their existence... DO NOT count on it! Not gonna happen!
07 June 2018, 17:49
02
It does not have to be peace just the same conditions that the Syrians government has with Israel in the Golan. If it was good for Assad father and son why not Lebanon. Furthermore Israel offered to withdraw from Sheeb3a and Kfarchouba etc, if the Syrian government supplied the UN with the document that proved those are Lebanese. The onus is on the Syrian government and it's Lebanese allies to make that happen.
07 June 2018, 17:08
02
So now the question is, What does Lebanon prefer?
a - Peace with Israel and prosperity.
b - Occupation of half the country by Hizballah.
07 June 2018, 17:55
00
Nah, the Lebanese-Israeli general armistice agreement of 1949 is enough for now.
08 June 2018, 11:02
00
The Speaker added to Sputnik that Lebanon is ready for talks with Israel to define borders and is waiting for a response from the United States. “Negotiations should continue in Naqoura under the UN auspices,” he noted.
Why not sit face to face with Israel, it will be much more rewarding than going through the UN bureaucracy.
Turn round and declare - "The Lebanese delegation will be at (for example Naqoura) on..........at.........." then we'll see if Israel appears.
