Recent meetings between US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield and Lebanese officials raised doubts over the success of his mediation on the demarcation of the borders with Israel.
The Lebanese are now suspecting that Israel was dealing with the issue with “bad faith”, after Satterfield had conveyed more than once positive hints on Israel’s approval of the proposed Lebanese mechanism.
Official sources who attended the US envoy’s meetings in Lebanon said that the latter informed the Lebanese side of the Israeli response to the proposal, namely its refusal to hold demarcation negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations and its rejection to commit to a simultaneous demarcation of the maritime and land borders.
According to the sources, “the Israeli side considers that the UNIFIL forces do not have an international mandate to take care of the negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime border, as long as there is no Security Council resolution in this regard."
Moreover, according to the sources, Satterfield told Lebanese officials that Israel insisted that the duration of the negotiations would stretch over a period of 6 months and that the agreement be implemented after the expiry of this period.
Lebanon attaches great importance to the demarcation of the borders, especially the maritime ones, to accelerate the exploration of oil and gas in the economic zone of its southern territorial waters.
