Biden's official head to Lebanon, Israel to finalize maritime deal

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - A special coordinator for US President Joe Biden will head Wednesday to the Middle East to finalize a maritime deal between Lebanon and Israel, according to the State Department.

"Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein will travel to Lebanon today to finalize the historic agreement to establish a permanent maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel," the agency said in a statement.

Hochstein will meet Lebanon President Michel Aoun, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut, where he will extend his gratitude to each "for the consultative and open spirit demonstrated throughout the negotiations."

"Hochstein will then travel to Naqoura to take the final steps to bring Israel and Lebanon’s agreement into force," said the statement.

The parties will later submit the maritime coordinates to the UN in the presence of the US, it said.

After talks in Lebanon, Hochstein will head to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Yair Lapid and "thank him and his team for their persistent and principled diplomacy to reach a resolution on this critical file."

Lebanon will sign the US-brokered deal Thursday.

Lebanon and Israel have been locked in a dispute about a maritime area of 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) that is rich in gas and oil, according to maps sent by both countries to the UN in 2011.

Negotiations about the territory in the Mediterranean Sea, which contain part of the Karish gas field and Qana, a prospective gas field, have been ongoing since 2020.