NAQOURA, Lebanon — Hundreds of people and several lawmakers protested Saturday in southern
Lebanon against Israel moving a gas production vessel into an offshore field
partly claimed by Beirut.
اضافة اعلان
The demonstration
comes just days before the
US envoy mediating maritime border talks between the
two neighbors is expected in Lebanon, and after the ship operated by London-listed
Energean Plc arrived in the Karish gas field last week.
Several hundred
people waved Lebanese and Palestinian flags at Lebanon’s border town of Naqoura
to protest Israel’s claim on the area where the Karish field is located, an AFP
correspondent said.
“We absolutely
refuse to neglect Lebanon’s maritime resources, which belong to all Lebanese,”
said lawmaker Firas Hamdan, reading a joint statement from 13 independent
parliamentarians, most of whom were newly elected last month.
Lebanon and Israel
have no diplomatic relations and are separated by a UN-patrolled border.
Lebanon’s President
and Prime Minister have condemned Israel for moving the vessel into the Karish
field and have invited US envoy Amos Hochstein to Beirut for mediation.
Hochstein is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Monday for a two-day visit,
according to the US State Department.
Lebanon’s powerful
Iran-backed
Hezbollah group this week warned Energean against proceeding with
its activities.
Lebanon and Israel
resumed negotiations over their maritime frontier in 2020, but the process was
stalled by
Beirut’s claim that the map used by the UN in the talks needed
modifying. Lebanon initially demanded 860sq.km of territory in the disputed
maritime area but then asked for an additional 1,430sq.km, including part of
Karish.
The independent lawmakers said in Saturday’s statement that
they supported Lebanon’s claim to part of Karish.
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