Lebanon Offers Compromise via US in Maritime Dispute With Israel

Lebanese officials offered a new compromise in the negotiations over its maritime border with Israel. The new offer came on Tuesday during meetings in Beirut between Lebanese leaders and US Senior Adviser for Energy Security Amos Hochstein. The dispute came back to enter stage earlier this month after a new drilling platform arrived at the Karish offshore gas field site in the Mediterranean Sea to produce gas for Israel. Hochstein had been scheduled to visit the site on Monday.

Under the new offer, Lebanon’s maritime border would be reconfigured to exclude Karish and to include the entire Qana field. Lebanon had been demanding 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of disputed territory, including part of the Qana field, and then demanded 1,430 square kilometers more, which included part of the Karish field. The new compromise offer would include all of Qana but none of Karish.