JERUSALEM — Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a draft deal to resolve a decades-old dispute over control of an eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, the two countries announced Tuesday, in a major diplomatic breakthrough between two neighbors who remain technically at war and have no direct official relations.
If ratified by both governments, the agreement should avert the immediate threat of a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, after fears of an escalation if negotiations fail, and facilitate the extraction of the gases from the eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
The deal would award drilling rights to a disputed gas field in Lebanon and confirm Israeli control of another field to the south, safeguarding new sources of energy and revenue for both countries.
Officials and analysts hope the deal will give Israel more security, give Lebanon greater leeway in the future to ease its crippling energy and financial crises, and provide Europe with a potential new source of gas amid energy shortages caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The office of Lebanese President Michel Aoun said in a statement on Tuesday morning that the draft agreement satisfied “Lebanon, meets its demands and preserves its rights over its natural resources”.
Minutes later, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement: “This is a historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security, bring billions to Israel’s economy and bring stability to the northern border. .”
Later, President Biden called the deal a “historic breakthrough in the Middle East”, which “paved the way for a more stable and prosperous region, and tapped into vital new energy resources for the world”.
Mediated and guaranteed by the United States, the agreement is much more limited than those of radical normalization that established full diplomatic relations between Israel and three Arab states in 2020, after years of Israeli isolation in the Middle East.
Israel and Lebanon have still not established diplomatic relations and their pact will take the form of two separate agreements with Washington – one between Israel and the United States and the other between the United States and Lebanon – rather than a direct agreement between Israel and Lebanon, according to a senior Western official and a senior Israeli official familiar with the terms of the agreement.
The agreement nevertheless represented a significant step forward for two countries that have a long history of conflict. Israel occupied parts of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000 and fought a month-long war in 2006 with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia, which killed more than 1,500 people, mostly Lebanese .
“None of us are under any illusions that this is a peace deal, or anything like that,” said Ariel Ezrahi, an expert on energy diplomacy in the Middle East. .
Nevertheless, “we cannot underestimate the importance of this agreement, not only for Lebanon and Israel – but for the region as a whole, and beyond”, added Mr. Ezrahi, analyst for the Atlantic. Council, a US-based research group. . “It brings peace and calm to the eastern Mediterranean, which is also good news for Europe, as Europe seeks to diversify its energy supply,” Ezrahi said.
The agreement settled a decades-old dispute over the location of the two countries’ exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean, delineating where the two countries have the exclusive right to extract resources.
Lebanon also recognized Israel’s existing control over a three-mile-wide body of water closest to their shared coast, while Israel granted Lebanon the right to drill in a previously disputed gas field that stretches between the Israeli and Lebanese economic zones, according to the senior Western official and the senior Israeli official.
In exchange, Israel will receive compensation for any gas extracted from the section of the field, known as Qana, which is within the Israeli zone. And Lebanon has waived any claim to a second nearby gas field, Karish, allowing Israel to extract gas there without fear of retaliation from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah had threatened to disrupt Israeli drilling efforts at Karish, if Israel went ahead with the process before a deal was reached. Earlier this year, the Israeli military shot down several drones that Hezbollah had sent as a warning to a platform in Karish, raising fears of a wider escalation if negotiations failed.
Analysts said the deal offered security to Israel and a long-term ray of hope for Lebanon, which is in the grip of a deep political and economic crisis that has caused huge energy shortages and blackouts. current.
Officials still do not know how much gas is in the Qana field. In any case, it will take years to extract and distribute to Lebanese consumers, or sell in foreign markets.
“To monetize the money from such a field takes years,” said Asaad Joubran, an investor in the Middle East energy market. “But it is a good step towards the growth of the economy and the success of governance in Lebanon.”
Negotiated by a US envoy, Amos Hochstein, the deal also bolsters European governments seeking to find long-term alternatives to Russian gas, amid growing fuel shortages in Europe created by the war in Ukraine.
“It could take several years for this gas to reach European consumers,” Ezrahi said. “But it sends a very important message to Russia.”
Within Israel, the deal could falter further if Mr. Lapid decides to put it to a vote in parliament, where the government has lost its majority.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the deal, presenting it as a reward for Hezbollah’s belligerence that will encourage the group to take more liberties in the future.
The Israeli right has also argued that Mr. Lapid, the only interim prime minister since the collapse of the majority of his government this summer, does not have the legitimacy to make such an important decision.
Mr Netanyahu focused on the deal ahead of the November 1 general election, using it to portray himself as a stronger leader than Mr Lapid.
“Lapid folded,” Netanyahu said this month, as reports of the deal began to emerge.
“Israel needs a different leadership, an experienced and strong prime minister who stands up to pressure and does not bend in the face of threats,” he added.
In response, the Israeli government said it was Mr. Netanyahu who harmed Israeli security by portraying Hezbollah as a winner. “He circulated videos that serve as propaganda for Hezbollah,” Karine Elharrar, Israel’s energy minister, said this month. “The main thing is that Israel and Lebanon benefit from it,” she added.
The senior Western official said Mr Netanyahu came close to accepting an almost identical deal when he was in power. A spokesman for Mr Netanyahu, Ofer Golan, denied that the two agreements were identical.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel, and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon.