Schenker holds talks with Berri after Israel-Lebanon border talks

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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament speaker met Thursday with a visiting U.S. official, a day after Beirut began indirect negotiations with Israel over their disputed maritime border.

File photo U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker holds talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, the top American diplomat for the Middle East, did not speak to reporters after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Berri has been the main Lebanese official dealing with U.S. mediators regarding the dispute with Israel over the past decade.

On Wednesday, Schenker attended the opening session of in a U.N. compound in the border area known as Ras Naqoura. A joint statement released Wednesday by the U.S. State Department and Jan Kubis, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, said the Israeli and Lebanese teams “held productive talks and reaffirmed their commitment to continue negotiations later this month.”

Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations and are technically in a state of war. They each claim about 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea as being within their own exclusive economic zones.

Israel has already developed a natural gas industry elsewhere in its economic waters, and Lebanon hopes oil and gas discoveries in its territorial waters will help it overcome the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

Lebanon’s economic crisis is the result of decades of corruption and mismanagement, but has been dramatically worsened by the coronavirus pandemic as well as , which killed and wounded many and caused damage worth billions of dollars.

Schenker visited Beirut after the blast and met members of Lebanon’s civil society. He did not hold talks with politicians at that time.

The international community has said it will not help Lebanon get out of its economic crisis before it implements major reforms, on top of fighting corruption.

President Michel Aoun was scheduled to hold binding consultations with members of parliament on Thursday to name a new prime minister, but postponed it for a week at the last minute.

A top candidate for the post was former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. He resigned in October last year, days after nationwide protests broke out demanding an end to the rule of the political class that’s brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy.

On Wednesday, Hariri failed to win the backing of the two largest Christian blocs in parliament.

Schenker is expected to meet with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace during his four-day visit to Beirut al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Schenker had met ًWednesday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rai in Bkirki. He declined to make any statement to reporters afterwards.

“It takes two to tango “

The International Monetary Fund is reportedly willing to work with Lebanon to solve its financial problems and restructure its debt, but needs a partner in the Lebanese government, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday.

“It takes two to tango,” Georgieva told CNN during the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank

AP/Reuters

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6 responses to “Schenker holds talks with Berri after Israel-Lebanon border talks”

  1. Lebanon and Israel: the first step towards resolving border disputes
    Michael Pompeo confidently called the start of the Lebanese-Israeli talks an event of historic significance. What surprise, however, will Hezbollah prepare in response?

    1. For Beirut, the signing of a border agreement with Israel opens up prospects for the development of offshore hydrocarbon deposits in the Mediterranean with the assistance of foreign companies. The United States, which mediates with the UN in negotiations, is seeking to use this economic interest to involve Lebanon in the process of normalizing relations with Israel, following the example of other Arab states. The Shiite party Hezbollah, which is part of the ruling parliamentary coalition, is strongly opposed to such a scenario

      1. No photo for history

        The first round of indirect talks kicked off in Lebanese Al-Nakur on October 14 at the headquarters of the Italian peacekeepers who are part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Both the Lebanese and the Israeli sides took all measures to prevent a breakdown in the negotiations, so they decided to do without journalists who were not allowed into the border zone.

        The Blue Helmets, which appeared in southern Lebanon back in 1978, are now commanded by Italian General Stefano del Col. The peacekeepers provided a platform for negotiations and took over security. The role of their main curator went to the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Slovak diplomat Jan Kubis. In addition, Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Schenker, who has been carrying out a mediating mission between the parties since 2019, and US Ambassador to Algeria John Desrocher, who is to become the new mediator, were present at Nakur.

        On the eve of giving instructions to the Lebanese delegation at the Baabda Palace, President Michel Aoun stressed that negotiations with Israel “are of a technical nature and should not go beyond this framework.” Such an attitude of the head of state, obviously, led to the fact that the deputy chief of the general staff, Brigadier General of the Air Force Bassam Yassin and his colleagues refused to leave their tent when they were invited to take pictures with other participants in the meeting in Nakur. In addition, the Lebanese general in his speech at the opening ignored the presence of the Israeli side and addressed only Kubis and Schenker with greetings. Israeli sources interpreted this behavior of Yassin as a result of Hezbollah’s intimidation.

        At the same time, according to analyst Maysam Rizk, “these were only formal moments,” since the Lebanese side departed from its previous position and included in the delegation, in addition to the military (General Yassin and Navy Colonel Mazen Basbus), one of the leaders of the Lebanese oil administration, Wissam Shbat and border expert Najib Messihi. The involvement of civilians in “contacts with the enemy”, while Lebanon and Israel are still at war, has provoked strong opposition from the Shiite parliamentary factions Amal and Hezbollah, who regarded this step as “a change in the format of negotiations and an unacceptable concession Israel “. The Shiites demanded that the head of state retain the purely military composition of the delegation, but President Aoun remained adamant.

        According to the newspaper “Al-Akhbar”, President’s son-in-law Gibran Basil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (SPD), insisted on the inclusion of Shbat, who dealt with offshore fields, and expert Messihi in the delegation. “The formal reason was the need to maintain a balance between Muslims and Christians in the delegation, but it seems that Basil planned to use Shbat as a window for close communication with the Americans,” the newspaper said

        1. US pressure

          Lebanon and Israel, through the mediation of the United States, already signed a peace treaty between themselves on May 17, 1983, which was denounced a year later by the Lebanese parliament. Then strong pressure on Beirut was exerted by neighboring Syria, whose troops were in Lebanese territory. The main politicians of the Muslim community came out against the “separate peace”. In addition, the deal was not approved by other Arab countries. Egypt, which made peace with Israel at Camp David in 1978, was isolated.

          37 years later, the speaker of parliament and leader of the Amal Shiite movement Nabih Berri, who announced on October 1 about the framework agreement reached with the assistance of the United States on the demarcation of the border between Lebanon and Israel, hastened to add immediately that the upcoming talks in Nakur “do not mean normalization of relations with Israel and will not lead to a peace treaty. ” Berry, who has held the border dossier in his hands for ten years and has hosted US intermediaries, made his statement after the US imposed sanctions on his political adviser, ex-Treasury Secretary Ali Hassan Khalil on September 8. A former Lebanese official who ran the finance department from 2014-2020 was accused in Washington of facilitating the plans of Hezbollah and Iran.

          According to political scientist Mohanad Haj Ali, Shiite parties agreed to enter into negotiations with Israel for tactical reasons. “Their goal was to ease the pressure from Washington and prevent the introduction of a new package of US sanctions ahead of the US presidential elections,” he said. At the same time, Haj Ali did not rule out that the start of negotiations could be part of a multi-step game being played in Lebanon and in the regional arena by the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and France.

          The fact is that relations between Beirut and the rich oil-producing states of the Persian Gulf, which have made generous investments in the Lebanese economy, have deteriorated in recent years due to the participation of Hezbollah fighters in the war on the side of the government army in Syria. Lebanese have become acutely aware of the lack of Arab support since the financial collapse in March, which has led to critical attacks on Hezbollah. The opposition, led by the Sunni movement Al-Mustaqbal, openly blamed the Shiite party for all the troubles that befell Lebanon.

          The explosion on August 4 in the seaport of Beirut, which became a real tragedy for the Lebanese, further exacerbated the dire economic situation. President Aoun, speaking on September 23 at the general political debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, cited data from the World Bank, according to which the restoration of Beirut and the destroyed infrastructure will require $ 10-12 billion.

          French President Emmanuel Macron, who took on the role of coordinator of international financial assistance, promised that he would not leave the Lebanese to their fate, but Saudi Arabia and the United States set tough conditions. They made it clear that money from donor countries would go to Lebanon only after the creation of a government without Hezbollah, which in Riyadh, following the example of Washington, was declared a terrorist organization.

          Against this background, according to the observer of the newspaper “Oryan-zhur” Munir Rabih, Lebanon’s entry into negotiations with Israel on a peaceful resolution of border disputes may lead to cardinal changes in the balance of political forces within the country. Rabikh does not exclude the possibility that the political alliance between SPD and Hezbollah, which has existed since 2006, may fall apart due to the threat of US sanctions. “The main efforts of American diplomats are now focused on this,” he said. “Relations between the two allies reached a critical point after President Aoun’s refusal to change the composition of the delegation.”

          1. Chances and illusions

            Unlike the Lebanese, the group of Israeli negotiators in Al Nakur was headed by the Director General of the Energy Ministry, Udi Adiri. It also included the political adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister Reuven Azar, the general director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Jewish state Alon Bar and the head of the strategic planning department of the Israel Defense Forces, Oren Seter. As noted by the Al-Akhbar newspaper, the composition of the Israeli delegation “left no doubt that the negotiations with Lebanon pursue political and economic goals.”

            Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking Thursday in the Knesset at a meeting on the ratification of the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), pointed to the “enormous potential economic importance” that the demarcation of the maritime border with Lebanon has. According to him, “perhaps this will be the first step towards achieving genuine peace.”

            At the same time, the Minister of Energy of the Jewish state, Yuval Steinitz, noted that Israel is not yet building illusions about the speedy normalization of relations with Lebanon, and the talks that have begun are designed to resolve the “technical and economic dispute, which delayed the development of natural resources for a whole decade.”

            Lebanese expert Rudolf Barrudi believes that with existing modern technologies, the demarcation of the sea border between the two neighbors may take several weeks or months. Lebanon and Israel dispute the 856 sq. km. Each of the parties considers it part of its exclusive economic zone. It is noteworthy that the American diplomat Frederic Hof developed in 2012 a compromise plan for dividing the disputed area, which provided for the transfer of more than 500 sq. km, but Beirut rejected it.

            Israel has already begun exploiting the Leviathan and Tamar offshore gas fields. Lebanon lags behind not only him but also Cyprus and Egypt. The first licensing tender was held in Beirut only in 2018, it was won by a consortium of the French company Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek. Test drilling was carried out by the consortium on one of the offshore blocks in February, on another block, where there are supposedly large hydrocarbon reserves, drilling work was postponed to the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

            The economic benefits that open up as a result of the development of offshore fields forces the Lebanese to rush. However, there are other challenges that the Lebanese leadership has to ponder over. As noted by the expert Silva Baalbeki, the development of trade and economic relations between Israel and the Gulf countries may lead to the fact that the port of Haifa will “steal” from Beirut the strategic role that it played for 100 years as an international maritime transport hub.

            It is understandable that the American mediators are pushing the Lebanese squeezed into a corner to make a choice in favor of normalizing relations with Israel. Therefore, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo confidently called the start of the Lebanese-Israeli talks an event of historic significance. What surprise, however, will Hezbollah prepare in response?

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