BEIRUT: The U.S. has denied Wednesday that it backed Lebanon’s version of maritime border demarcation with Israel submitted to the U.N. last August.
Earlier this week Haaretz newspaper reported that the U.S. “conducted a review and endorsed the document” Lebanon sent to the U.N. demarcating the borders.
Speaking to The Daily Star, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said the reports were untrue.
“We understand that both Israel and Lebanon have submitted different renderings of the maritime borders. The U.S. has not endorsed any version of this line,” the spokesperson said.
Haaretz also reported that Frederic Hof, who was responsible for Syria and Lebanon under former U.S. envoy to the Middle East for Peace George Mitchell, was working to prevent the maritime border dispute between the two countries from becoming a source of tension.
"Beyond the political and diplomatic interest, the United States has an economic interest in keeping the parties calm, not least because American companies are involved in the search for gas and oil in Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus," the paper said.
Israel is due to submit its own version of the borders to the U.N. in the next few days for an opinion, after the Israeli Cabinet passed approval for the plan Sunday.
The U.S. spokesperson also said that the U.N. was the proper forum for the resolution of the dispute regarding border delineation.
Lebanon’s proposal to the U.N. last year outlined the boundary of its exclusive economic zone in which oil and gas is contained. The zone is said to contain billions of cubic meters of fossil fuel and be worth an estimated $6 billion.
Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war and do not have diplomatic relations. Earlier this year, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that the U.N. may assist Lebanon in protecting oil and gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean from Israeli exploitation.