View of the Beirut embankment near the lighthouse from the sea. File photo BEIRUT, Aug. 1 Lebanon has rejected Israel's offer of mutual concessions on the delimitation of the maritime border, a Lebanese diplomatic source told RIA Novosti. Earlier, the US State Department reported that the State Department's senior energy security adviser, Amos Hoxteen, will travel to Lebanese capital Beirut to facilitate negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on a maritime border.Hezbollah showed a video with ships in the disputed waters of Israel and LebanonAccording to the source, Israel expressed its readiness to abandon its claims to the Qana gas field in exchange for Beirut transferring part of block No. 8 from the Lebanese exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the source, this proposal was rejected in Lebanon. In July, Israeli Energy Minister Karin Elharar met with Hokstin, who mediates in negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon. In June, Israel called on the Lebanese authorities to expedite negotiations on the maritime border, called the his strategic asset and assured that he did not intend to produce gas in the disputed territory. In October 2020, representatives of Lebanon and Israel continued to discuss the principles of the demarcation process at indirect negotiations mediated by the United Nations and the United States. The parties disagreed on the positions to determine the main line and the starting point in the process, after which the negotiation process was again stopped. After a six-month break, indirect negotiations resumed, based on an area of 860 square kilometers of disputed territories. However, during the meetings, the Lebanese side announced a new line, which increases the area of the disputed water area by 1,420 square kilometers and captures part of the Israeli Karish field. The Israeli side, in turn, refused to discuss the new requirements.Negotiations to determine the land and sea borders between Lebanon and Israel have been going on in the settlement of Naqoura in southern Lebanon since 1996 on the basis of a memorandum of understanding under the auspices of the UN and mediated by the United States.
Israel has violated Lebanese airspace 22,000 times since 2007
