US steps up efforts to avert conflict between Israel and Lebanon

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Lebanon next week in a final push to resolve the maritime dispute ahead of Hezbollah's 15 September deadline

Amos Hochstein, US State Department special envoy for energy, and US President Joe Biden (Photo credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Over the past few days, the US mediator in the maritime negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein, has intensified his meetings with all concerned parties in a final push to secure a deal before 15 September.

Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on 1 September that Hochstein held a meeting with the national security adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the role of French companies in Lebanon’s energy market.

Hochstein urged the European leaders, notably France, to support French multinational petroleum company Total in announcing its readiness to operate in the southern Lebanese maritime blocs.

“The two discussed the need to formulate a solution in which Israel appears to have not compromised, even if this comes at the expense of the foreign oil companies,” Al-Akhbar reported.

The Lebanese Minister of Energy in the caretaker government, Walid Fayyad, told Al-Joumhouria newspaper that neither Total nor the Italian oil company, Eni, can work in the Lebanese blocks without obtaining guarantees from the US and Tel Aviv.

As a result of this reality, Fayyad stressed the importance of the equation set by the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, who announced that “either both countries extract gas, or neither do.”

Hochstein is expected to visit West Asia next week, and will land in Lebanon on 7 September after concluding his meeting with Israeli officials in light of the new developments.

Additionally, the White House has shown an increased interest in avoiding a possible conflict. During a call with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on 31 August, President Joe Biden “emphasized the importance of concluding the maritime boundary negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in the coming weeks.”

“We firmly believe a deal has the potential to promote lasting stability and economic prosperity for both countries,” an official from the Biden administration told Al-Arabiya TV.

However, despite US optimism, the Israeli army continues to ramp up its defensive procedures in case the negations fail and an armed conflict takes place with Hezbollah.

Israel’s reluctance to openly discuss the progress made during the negotiations has cast doubts on its seriousness to conclude a deal before the Israeli elections in November.

In an interview with Kann TV channel on 28 August, Israeli Professor of Law at Ariel University, Talia Einhorn, revealed that “Lapid’s transitional government does not have the authority to hand over territories to Lebanon as part of the maritime negotiations.”

Similarly on 22 August, Israeli lawmaker Yariv Levin called on the Israeli government to allow a vote at the Knesset and hold a referendum before it reaches a deal to demarcate the maritime border with Lebanon.