UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams says ‘neither of them are looking for a scrap on this… On the contrary they think they can de-conflict it’

Reuters
Published: 08.10.11, 13:11 / Israel News

Lebanese and Israeli leaders believe they can avoid conflict over their disputed maritime border despite rival claims to potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters, a senior United Nations official said.

The two countries, who remain formally at war, are disputing an 850-square-km stretch of sea off their coast, close to an area where U.S. and Israeli firms have discovered two massive natural gas fields.

In July Israel outlined maritime economic borders that challenged what it said were boundaries submitted by Lebanon to the United Nations. Lebanon, which has yet to explore off its own coast, last week passed a law to set out its own borders.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said signals he had received from the two countries — “from the prime minister’s office in both cases” — suggested they were seeking to avoid confrontation.

“Neither of them are looking for a scrap on this… On the contrary they think they can de-conflict it,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in a 34-day war five years ago and helped bring Prime Minister Najib Mikati to power in January, has said it will defend the country’s natural resources.

The issue gained importance after the discovery in the last two years of two natural gas fields in Israeli waters estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

Lebanon has not laid claim to those reserves, but has asked the United Nations to ensure Israel’s plans do not encroach on offshore reserves it believes lie in its own waters.

Williams, who visited Israel last week, said his talks showed there was “no magic wand” to solve the disagreement.

But Israel did “not want to let this move towards dispute and might even be in favour of some sort of outside involvement” to resolve the maritime border, although it had not asked the United Nations to mediate.

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