Lebanon and Israel held US-mediated negotiations over their disputed maritime border on Tuesday after a months-long hiatus, in efforts to clear the way for offshore oil and gas exploration.
The five-hour indirect talks, between countries still technically at war, were held at the UN base in the town of Naqura in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) said.
Washington said Friday they were to be brokered by US diplomat John Desrocher, and called the resumption of talks “a positive step towards a long-awaited resolution”.
Lebanon and Israel last year also took part in indirect US-brokered talks to discuss demarcation.
But those talks stalled after Lebanon demanded they cover a larger area, including part of the Karish gas field, where Israel has given exploration rights to a Greek firm.
Last year’s talks were supposed to discuss a Lebanese demand for 860 square kilometres (330 square miles) of territory in the disputed maritime area, according to a map sent to the United Nations in 2011.
But Lebanon then said the map was based on erroneous calculations and demanded 1,430 square kilometres (552 square miles) more territory further south, including part of Karish.
The Lebanese presidency said in a statement after Tuesday’s meeting that US mediation wanted negotiations to deal with Israeli and Lebanese maps “registered with the UN”, referring to the 860 square kilometre area.
“This contravenes the Lebanese proposal and the principle of negotiating without preconditions,” the statement said.
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