Israel Warns Will Defend Maritime Rights in Mediterranean
By Zalman Ahnsaf
YERUSHALAYIM – Israel has warned that if necessary it will fight to protect its maritime rights in an area in the Mediterranean disputed by Lebanon.
In a joint statement Israel’s Minister of Defense Benny Gantz, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid, and Minister of Energy Karin Elharar regarding the “Karish” rig on Wednesday, they said:
“The State of Israel prioritizes the protection of its strategic assets, and is prepared to defend them and the security of its infrastructure, all in accordance with its rights.”
The statement reiterated Israel’s rejection of Lebanon’s claims to the site, saying that “with its anchoring, the rig is located in Israeli territory, several kilometers south of the area over which negotiations are being conducted between the State of Israel and the State of Lebanon, mediated by the United States. The rig will not pump gas from the disputed territory.”
It called the Karish rig “a strategic asset of the State of Israel and is intended to extract the energy resources and natural gas in the State of Israel’s Economic Zone and to advance Israel’s ‘green economy.’
The ministers called on Lebanon “to accelerate negotiations on the maritime border” which have been mediate by the U.S.
The statement came after a hostile reaction from Lebanon after Energean hooked up a production ship to the Karish gas field, about 80 km. (50 miles) west of Haifa on Sunday, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun claimed that the vessel entered “the disputed maritime area with Israel…[and] any action or activity in the disputed area represents a provocation and an aggressive action.”
Energean said on Monday that it plans to “immediately commence hook-up and commissioning operations” at Karish, and start to deliver gas from the reservoir in the third quarter of this year.
U.S. Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein is expected to be in Beirut next week to discuss the crisis, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Tuesday, according to local media, though the State Department declined to confirm the report.
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