Tovah Lazaroff
Israel has turned to the United Nations to protest Lebanon's issuance of a tender for offshore drilling in disputed maritime waters, over which both governments have claimed sovereignty.
"I would like to raise my government’s serious concerns regarding the recent tender issued by the Government of Lebanon to grant offshore licenses in maritime areas where Israel asserts sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with International law,” Israel Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote Sunday in a letter he penned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
At issue is a long-standing border dispute over an 860 square kilometer area in the eastern Mediterranean near Israel’s natural gas fields.
Although Israeli and Lebanon do not have diplomatic ties, the former Trump administration brokered talks last year between the two countries in an effort to resolve that longstanding dispute.
Israel has turned to the United Nations to protest Lebanon's issuance of a tender for offshore drilling in disputed maritime waters, over which both governments have claimed sovereignty.
"I would like to raise my government’s serious concerns regarding the recent tender issued by the Government of Lebanon to grant offshore licenses in maritime areas where Israel asserts sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with International law,” Israel Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote Sunday in a letter he penned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
At issue is a long-standing border dispute over an 860 square kilometer area in the eastern Mediterranean near Israel’s natural gas fields.
Although Israeli and Lebanon do not have diplomatic ties, the former Trump administration brokered talks last year between the two countries in an effort to resolve that longstanding dispute.
