The Biden administration hailed the US-mediated maritime deal reached between Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday as a “historic breakthrough” for two neighboring countries that remain technically at war, Al-Monitor reports.
The new agreement establishes a permanent maritime boundary between Israel and Lebanon, resolving a longstanding territorial dispute over a potentially gas-rich 330-square-mile stretch of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
“This agreement is historic for a number of reasons,” said a senior administration official briefing reporters on Tuesday.
“It provides security and safety for Israel. It provides economic opportunity and hope for Lebanon.”
The official framed the agreement as a potential economic lifeboat for Lebanon, which is suffering its worst financial crisis in decades. The small Mediterranean country's currency has lost more than 90% of its value since 2019, and the state electricity company is unable to provide residents with more than a couple hours of electricity per day.
The agreement “will over time improve the energy conditions in the country and perhaps have an immediate response to the electricity crisis long before these fields are discovered and developed,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, Lebanon's Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said French energy giant TotalEnergies would “immediately” begin work in Lebanese waters. Under the US-brokered deal, Israel is reportedly entitled to a share of future revenues from the prospective Qana gas field, which straddles the demarcation line.
The deal also paves the way for increased Israeli gas exports to energy-starved Europe. The administration official speaking to reporters touted Israel’s “ability to export and be part of the solution for the global and European crisis” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The maritime accord delivers a foreign win to President Joe Biden, who last year tapped senior US energy envoy Amos Hochstein to oversee the stalled Israeli-Lebanese negotiations after previous administrations failed to secure a deal.
Biden held separate phone calls on Tuesday congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun. He called on both parties to “uphold their commitments and work toward implementation,” according to a White House statement.
