Israel and Lebanon approve maritime deal; Lapid hails ‘recognition’ by enemy

Israel on Thursday approved its US-brokered maritime deal with Lebanon, which Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed as an enemy state’s formal recognition of the State of Israel.

The cabinet vote on the deal, which was unanimously in favor, came hours ahead of the expected signing of the agreement by both sides at a ceremony at a United Nations base in Lebanon, and shortly after Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun signed a letter confirming that Beirut accepted the deal. Lapid signed the agreement shortly after the cabinet vote.

“It is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement, in view of the entire international community,” Lapid said at the start of the special cabinet meeting to vote on the deal.

“It’s not every day that the United States and France stand behind us and provide security and economic guarantees for the agreement,” he said.

In an apparent response to Lapid, Aoun said in a statement that the agreement “has no political dimensions or impacts that contradict Lebanon’s foreign policy.”

Israel and Lebanon are technically still at war and the deal does not touch on the land border. However, the agreement is seen as tacit recognition of Israel by Lebanon, including the powerful Hezbollah terror group.

In this photo released by Lebanon’s official government photographer, Lebanese President Michel Aoun signs the US-brokered deal setting a maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, at the presidential palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 27, 2022 (Dalati Nohra via AP)

“This agreement strengthens and fortifies Israel’s security and our freedom of action against Hezbollah and the threats from the north. There is a rare consensus from the whole defense establishment on the importance of the agreement,” Lapid said, adding that the deal was also an economic achievement.

The Israeli negotiating team is set to take part in a ceremony at 3 p.m. local time at the UN base in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura.

The ceremony will also be attended by a Lebanese delegation, by US special envoy Amos Hochstein and by UN officials.

Rafic Chelala, a spokesman for the Lebanese presidency, asserted, however, that the Lebanese delegation “will not… meet the Israeli delegation.”

A Lebanese navy patrol boat sails in the Mediterranean sea waters on its side of the maritime border off Lebanon’s southern coast near Rosh HaNikra in northern Israel on October 27, 2022 (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Hochstein, who mediated the deal, praised the two sides’ “good will” after meeting with Aoun and senior officials in Beirut on Thursday morning and receiving Lebanon’s signed copy of the agreement.

“This agreement was written with the idea in mind that it was between two countries that don’t have diplomatic relations,” he told reporters at the Baabda Presidential Palace. “I think the good will and good faith efforts by all parties is what’s going to make…