NAQOURA (LEBANON) – Lebanon and Israel held unprecedented talks on Wednesday on their disputed maritime frontier. It went on for an hour before breaking up and agreeing to meet again in two weeks.
The talks between the two foes were brokered by the US, which has pushed for negotiations to resolve the dispute over potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters.
The Lebanese side arrived in two military helicopters. The Lebanese team was expected to be led by a military officer, and the Israeli side by the director-general of its energy ministry.
The talks were announced after the US pressured the allies of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah by imposing sanctions on a senior politician from the main Shi’ite ally, the Amal party.
Hezbollah made it clear that the negotiations were not an indication of peace with its long-time enemy. The Israeli minister said expectations about the talks should be realistic.
The negotiations come in the wake of the UAE and Bahrain agreeing to have diplomatic ties with Israel after US-brokered efforts to realign some of the nations in the Middle East with Israel to counter the clout of Iran.
The meeting was hosted by the UN, which has been monitoring the land boundary since Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, ending a 22-year-old occupation. The next round of talks will take place on October 28.
