Lebanese President Michael Aoun warned Israel on Sunday, June 5, against the move to produce gas from the disputed Karish fields off its coast, saying that this “constitutes a provocation and a hostile act.” In a statement after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Aoun claimed that “negotiations to demarcate the southern maritime borders are still ongoing.”
European vessel Energean Power arrived at the Karish gas field located on the southern Lebanese coast last month in order to produce gas for Israel. Lebanon had submitted a letter to the UN Security Council in February (letter number S/2022/84) claiming that the Karish gas field is located in a disputed area, National News Agency of Lebanon reported.
Reacting to the Israeli move, Mikati said on Sunday that it is “the enemy’s attempts to create a new crisis.” He accused Israel of “encroaching on Lebanon’s water wealth and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area.” He also warned that this is “extremely dangerous and would cause unimaginable tensions.”
Israel did not react to the Lebanese claims on Sunday but has previously claimed that the field is in its exclusive economic zone. Israel has now started production from the Karish field in collaboration with European companies and is expecting that the production would be “online” by the end of the year.
Lebanon does not recognize the state of Israel and they do not have a settled border. It still considers Israel as “occupied Palestinian territories.”
Israel has invaded Lebanon twice since 1975. From 1975 until 2000, it had occupied a large part of southern Lebanon. It again invaded the country in 2006 but its forces were forced to withdraw due to fierce resistance from Hezbollah.
Both the countries have claimed ownership and sovereignty over 330 square miles of the Mediterranean Sea. According to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, up
to 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea of a country is considered as the exclusive economic zone of that country where it has special rights of exploration and production of marine resources.
Israel has used a 2011 map (prepared by US ambassador Frederic C Hof) submitted to the UN to claim sovereignty over the maritime fields. According to the map, now disputed by Lebanon, both Karish and Block 72, two major gas fields, fall into Israeli territory.
The talks to delineate the maritime borders between Israel and Lebanon have been ongoing since 2000. Fresh negotiations were started in October 2020 under US mediation. The talks, though still taking place at intervals, have so far failed to resolve the dispute.
