Israel and Lebanon hold first direct talks since 1993

After nearly three decades of silence, Israel and Lebanon agree to US-brokered direct talks on a maritime border dispute. | Contesto: cronaca

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• Israel and Lebanon hold first direct talks since 1993

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Israel and Lebanon have agreed to launch direct negotiations to resolve a long-standing maritime border dispute, the United States announced on Thursday. The talks, the first of their kind between the two nations since 1993, will be mediated by American officials, though a specific time and location for the inaugural session has yet to be finalized. The breakthrough follows years of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, who has been shuttling between Beirut and Jerusalem in an attempt to de-escalate tensions over offshore energy exploration rights. The core of the dispute lies in a roughly 860-square-kilometer area of the Mediterranean Sea, rich in natural gas potential. Both countries claim the waters as part of their exclusive economic zones, a disagreement that has blocked hydrocarbon exploration and raised fears of a military confrontation. Lebanon, mired in a profound economic crisis, views the development of offshore gas fields as a potential lifeline for its bankrupt state. Israel, already a major gas exporter, seeks to secure its northern maritime flank and enable further development of its Leviathan and Tamar fields without the threat of legal challenges or conflict. This diplomatic initiative represents a rare moment of coordination between two nations technically still at war. The last direct talks, held in the early 1990s, collapsed without agreement. Since then, all communication has been indirect, often through UN intermediaries or, more recently, U.S. diplomats. The involvement of the United States as a formal mediator underscores Washington's strategic interest in stabilizing the Eastern Mediterranean and reducing opportunities for regional adversaries, notably Iran and its ally Hezbollah, to exploit the dispute for political gain. The announcement has been met with cautious optimism but also significant political constraints on both sides. In Beirut, the government emphasized that the talks are strictly limited to the technical question of maritime borders and do not signify any normalization of relations with Israel, a politically toxic concept in Lebanon. The powerful Hezbollah...

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Categoria: cronaca