Lebanon responds to 'Israel' rebuff of maritime demands

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun responded on Thursday to the Israeli occupation's rejection of Beirut's proposed changes to the Lebanese-Israeli maritime borders agreement. He underlined that Lebanon had proposed the changes to the US-mediated deal with its rights to extract oil in its exclusive economic zone in mind.

"The remarks prevent any explanations that do not fall into the framework detailed by Lebanon for the demarcation process and during the negotiations," President Aoun said.

An Israeli official said Thursday that the Israeli occupation rejected revisions requested by Lebanon to the US-mediated border demarcation proposal.

The official, announcing Israeli occupation Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s decision to reject the revision requests, warned that any further negotiations would cease should Hezbollah threaten the Karish gas rig.

According to the Israeli official, "Israel will begin production of natural gas from its Karish field as soon as that is possible," and he warned the Lebanese resistance against taking any retaliatory action against the occupation.

Maritime deal 'make or break'

The US-brokered talks between Beirut and "Tel Aviv" were at a "make or break" point after the latter rejected the negotiations, top Lebanese negotiator Elias Bou Saab told Reuters.

Earlier, Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz said "Israel" is prepared to defend its infrastructure whether a deal with Lebanon is signed or not.

Gantz warned that the military cost to Lebanon and Hezbollah "will be very grave" in case the Lebanese Resistance party attacked the Israeli occupation, claiming that "we are not eager for war but are prepared for one."

The deal "is 90% done, but the remaining 10% could make it or break it," Bou Saab added, dealing that he had been in constant contact with US mediator Amos Hochstein.

This comes after Lebanon received the written proposal from the US mediator Amos Hochstein through US Ambassador Dorothy Shea regarding the demarcation of maritime borders.

The United States made an offer to the Israeli occupation and Lebanon to resolve the maritime border issue, Israeli media claimed in late September. The proposal is reportedly linked to the path the Lebanese-Israeli maritime borders will follow.

The settlement proposal, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz, asked to change and adjust line 23 toward Lebanon instead of near the coast in order to allow for a "bigger defensive area against possible threats from the sea, near the coastline."

In turn, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, stressed in a speech that "the importance of what is happening today is there being a written text from the mediating party that the President, Parliament Speaker, and the Prime Minister have received."

It is noteworthy that the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, has been a very effective factor in bringing the Israelis to the indirect negotiations table after it announced from day one that it has the Lebanese government's back in its righteous and sovereign claims.

Extraction of gas from Karish without guarantees to Lebanon that it will be able to explore and extract its maritime resources has been declared a red-line by Hezbollah since the negotiations kicked off, with the Israeli military receiving the threats loud and clear and increasing preparation to anticipate operations against the gas platform by the Resistance.