Lapid claims historic agreement, Netanyahu says 'historic submission'

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Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced on Tuesday that "Israel" has reached a historic agreement on maritime demarcation agreement mediated by the US.

"This is a historic achievement that will bolster Israel's security, bring billions into the Israeli economy and bring stability to the northern border," Lapid said in a statement.

The written draft agreement, added Lapid, will be presented to Security Cabinet and the government for approval on Wednesday.

According to Lapid's office, the draft agreement "meets all the security and economic principles laid out by Israel."

Israeli media, soon after Lapid's statements, gave former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a platform to criticize the drafted agreement from a position of opposition. The opposition leader argued that "this is not a historical agreement, but rather a historical submission, liquidation [in the commercial sense] one that pertains specifically to Lapid."

Over the weekend, Lapid explained, intensive negotiations took place between "Israel's" negotiating team and the US to reach a working draft. The US, in the meantime, held negotiations with Lebanon which had been interested in demarcating its southern maritime economic zone.

The negotiations became necessary after Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to target the Karish rig if "Israel" began oil production at a time when Lebanon remained sanctioned and forbidden from taking on an equal endeavor within its maritime economic zone. 

According to the office of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Lebanon is content with the draft agreement, since it meets all of its demands.

"Israel" urges US to tell Lebanon that no gas production begins today

On the 9th of October, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that "Israel" raised the level of alert for fear of "possible escalations in the north in the shadow of upcoming tests on the Karish oil field's pipeline connection to Israel's shore."

Just around noon, and following the raising of the alert by the IOF, senior Israeli correspondent Barak Ravid tweeted that "Israel" has "informed Lebanon through the American envoy Amos Hochstein that the gas injection is part of the process of running the rig and is not the beginning  of gas production."

On Sunday, as part of his Twitter thread, Barak Ravid revealed that "Senior Israeli officials stated that the fear is that if an agreement is not reached on the Lebanese maritime border, the United Nations will designate Line 29 as its official position, which will make the "Karish" rig contested."

Ravid further stated that "Between the lines: The "Karish" rig is south of line 23 where the sea border between Israel and Lebanon will pass according to the draft agreement. However, during the negotiations, the Lebanese demanded Line 29 - a much more southern line that would have put the rig into the area of ​​dispute between the countries."

The importance of this information, in his opinion, is grounded in Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's threats to target the Israeli rig "if gas production begins from Karish field before Lebanon receives its economic rights in the area of ​​dispute in the Mediterranean between the parties," which was also described by Ravid, citing Nasrallah, as "the crossing of a red line that will lead to a reaction."

Read more: Nasrallah: Our eyes and missiles are locked on Karish