Energy Ministry director general to head delegation after cabinet approves agreement; gas production begins in Karish field
Israel and Lebanon are slated to sign their maritime boundary agreement at 3 p.m. local time on Thursday at the United Nations base in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Israel’s cabinet still has to approve the deal at its 10:30 a.m. meeting in Jerusalem that morning, and is expected to do so overwhelmingly.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid will sign the agreement in his office at noon, after which the Israeli negotiating team will take part in the afternoon ceremony along with a Lebanese delegation, US special envoy Amos Hochstein, and UN officials.
France’s envoy to Lebanon Anne Grillo will also attend, the Quai d’Orsay announced late Wednesday afternoon. French President Emmanuel Macron played an active role in mediating talks, one that Lapid publicly thanked him for.
The Israeli delegation will be led by Energy Ministry Director-General Lior Schillat, and will include Foreign Ministry political director Aliza Bin-Noun, National Security Council deputy head Avivit Bar-Ilan, and an IDF representative.
As of now, Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to sit in the same room during the signing ceremony, said Israeli officials, but that may change. Israel and Lebanon are technically at war and have no diplomatic ties.
The Israeli team will make a statement to the press at 5 p.m. at the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hochstein will then travel south to Jerusalem for a 7 p.m. meeting with Lapid.
Once the agreement is inked, Jerusalem and Beirut will send letters to the United Nations laying out the terms of the deal.
The signing ceremony will come a day after gas production started at Karish, the offshore field at the center of the deal.
“Gas is being produced from the Karish Main-02 well and the flow of gas is being steadily ramped up,” a statement from London-listed Energean said Wednesday.
