Water Fact: October 17, 2022

Water Fact: October 17, 2022

Israel and Lebanon agree to ‘historic’ deal over maritime gas fields but politics might yet scuttle it

Significant reserves of natural gas were discovered in the Levant Basin off the coast of Israel and Lebanon early in the 21st century. Ever since then, a 330 square mile area of the Mediterranean Sea has been a potential flashpoint between the two countries which have technically been in a state of war with each other since 1948. The dispute over two particular gas fields (Karish and Qana) has been especially tense, with Hezbollah threatening to take action if Lebanese rights to resources in its maritime waters are not recognized by Israel.

On October 11, President Biden congratulated President Michel Aoun of Lebanon and caretaker Prime Minster Yair Lapid of Israel on what he called a “historic breakthrough.” Since the countries do not talk to each other, it took two years of painstaking negotiations with US mediators to reach an agreement that delineates the maritime border between them, recognizes Israel’s complete control over the Karish gas field and puts the development of Qana in Lebanon’s hands, with the stipulation that it would pay royalties to Israel amounting to about 17 percent of the revenue. How much that could be is unknown, as the exploration of Qana has not yet begun.

The calamitous collapse of Lebanon’s economy and energy sector made Aoun eager to reach a deal which Hezbollah head Nasrallah has endorsed, despite the US assertion that it guarantees that none of the revenues will go to the militia. Lebanon has denied that it represents an embrace of normalization with Israel. With the vote scheduled for November 1, Lapid is using it to bolster his election campaign. His chief rival, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has stated that “this is not a historic agreement. It’s a historic surrender.” It is not clear if the Knesset will give its approval to the agreement – or if it is even required to do so.