Lebanon, Israel close on U.S.-brokered border deal
STORY: The governments of Lebanon and Israel appear to have reached what the Israeli prime minister is calling a "historic" agreement to resolve a disputed maritime border between them, after years of negotiations brokered by the United States.
And, not only is it a significant compromise between the two countries with a history of war and hostility, but it sets up each with a way to move forward on offshore energy projects, and the money from it.
It's not been officially enacted yet. It still needs to be approved by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's security cabinet and then the government, before it is reviewed by parliament, which an Israeli official said was expected in three weeks.
The deal concerns an area of the eastern Mediterranean sea that Lebanon, whose economy is in crisis, hopes to explore for natural gas. Israel is already producing gas nearby.
It sets a border between Lebanese and Israeli waters for the first time and it also allows both sides to get royalties from a particular offshore gas field that straddles the boundary.
Reuters sources say the deal is endorsed by Hezbollah as well, the Iran-backed group which until recently had threatened to attack Israeli gas facilities.
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz, here, is saying that Israel wants Lebanon to be "prosperous" and "stable," and that the agreement had got this far "despite" Hezbollah's threats and not because of it.
Hezbollah hasn't formally commented on the deal.
