Israel, Lebanon To Resume Talks Over Maritime Border

Israel and Lebanon next week will resume talks over their maritime border after initial negotiations, launched in October, stalled several months ago. The neighboring countries look to resolve their dispute and delineate territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean, believed to hold rich gas deposits.

In the first rounds of discussions, held at the United Nations peacekeeping facility in Lebanon’s southern coastal town of Naqoura, significant differences surfaced as Lebanese officials produced new maps calling for even more Israeli concessions than initially demanded. While Israel has in recent years discovered several offshore natural gas reserves in its territorial waters, Lebanon has yet to do so.