After the discovery of large deposits of oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon is engaged in a struggle with both Cyprus and Israel to prevent encroachment on its maritime boundaries.
At the University of Nicosia’s Second Levant Energy Forum, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil requested that the Israeli ambassador to Cyprus leave the venue of a joint session between the Lebanese minister and Cypriot President Demetris Christofias.
But Bassil’s request was not only about objecting to the presence of the Israeli ambassador. According to political sources familiar with the situation, the objection was instead directed at both Cyprus and Israel.
This comes after Cyprus breached its agreement with Lebanon and signed an agreement with the Zionist state, which then attempted to gobble up 860km2 of Lebanon’s maritime zone.
One goal behind the objection then was to reaffirm Lebanon’s right to fully restore the zone wrongfully seized from it.
This incident raises once again the need for Lebanon to assert the integrity of its maritime boundaries and to recover all of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — currently being disputed by Israel following its agreement with Cyprus.
There has been a growing clamor in Beirut, after Lebanon managed to recover 500 out of 860km2 of its EEZ, while 360km2 remain effectively under Israeli control.
Lebanon stands to lose with the Cypriot-Israeli agreement and US interference over determining the geographical criterion for the designation of its maritime boundaries. For one thing, this entails lost oil and gas resources.
All this raises a fundamental question: Why are some attempting to downplay the issue, or exaggerate the futility of demanding that the remaining 360km2 in the EEZ be restored to Lebanon?