Bassam Abou Zeid, “Akhbar al-Yawm” agency

Baroudi calls for the United Nations to amend the lines

Lebanon continues to struggle with the delimitation of the maritime boundary with Israel in preparation for the exploitation of oil and gas wealth in the southern blocks. This struggle is manifested in the following matters:

1.   a campaign against the new American envoy Amos Hochstein on the background of his Jewishness and upbringing in Israel and the accusation that he would stand by Israeli interests at the expense of Lebanese interests.

2.   the continued disagreement between the army on the one hand, the president of the Republic, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the government over the amendment of the maritime boundary and the replacement of line 23 with line 29, despite the fact that the army threw the ball in the court of politicians who agreed not to cross line 23, each for their own reasons.

President Aoun wants a good relationship with the Americans that will benefit the FPM president, MP Gebran Bassil, President Berri wants to commit to the Framework Declaration he announced last October, and President Mikati does not want to change the reality of the 23 line.

3. there are news that no one has denied about pledges made to the Americans to accept the Hof line, which divides the disputed area of 860 square kilometres into two parts between Lebanon and Israel.

All of the above indicate that the Lebanese are impeding themselves the acquisition of their rights guaranteed by international law, at a time the Israeli side is continuing the exploration and development of offshore fields and the sale of gas, specifically to Egypt. News has emerged of the new pipeline between Israel and Egypt to supply Egypt with more gas, to be completed within two years.

In the field of the new U.S. mission to resume Naqoura negotiations, International Energy Expert Rudi Baroudi stressed that whatever ideas that the U.S. envoy holds, the only legal way is to start negotiations from Ras Al-Naqoura point between Lebanon and Israel.

The Lebanese line adopted in 2010 and the Israeli line adopted in 2011 are wrong, because the data proposed by the two countries to the United Nations do not start from Ras Al-Naqoura, Lebanon started from 62 meters in the sea, as well as Israel started from 38 meters in the sea, and the attached map proves the points, thus, according to Baroudi, the two states must redraw their lines on the basis of these data, which gives Lebanon an area greater than the proposed 862 km; the rocks cannot be relied upon when demarcating the border as the inhabited islands, pointing out that the International Court of justice and special courts for maritime affairs have adopted this principle in all 27 similar cases that they have ruled in 30 to 40 years.

Baroudi stressed that it is important to move away from political rivalries on the subject of energy and the subject of demarcation. Baroudi stated, for example, that Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus had carried out geological surveys during the years 2001 to 2003 and 18 years later we see that Israel and Cyprus have excavated and extracted gas and used it in their energy production plants. Lebanon is still mired in political rivalries and accusations. twenty years have passed away from the future of the rising generations and from the economy of Lebanon.

Baroudi concluded by saying that the delimitation of the maritime boundary would enable Lebanon to exploit much-needed wealth.