Lebanon Aims to Steal Israel's Maritime Gas Fields

Daniel F opined, "Now that the Jews have done the heavy lifting and discovered enormous natural gas reserves in Israel’s territorial waters, there is a sudden demand by their enemies to finally create “borders” in those areas at Israel's expense. This is the perfect metaphor for the Arabs’ abrupt yearning for “Palestine” in 1967 after 2000 years of Jewish exile and 1700 years of Arab/Muslim neglect. Indeed, all history from ancient Rome to the present shows the same “coincidence.” The Nations’ claims against the Land of Israel become more or less intense in direct relation to the presence, activities and prosperity of Jews there."

Next Flashpoint in Mideast Could Be Gas Fields Off Mediterranean Coast Benny Avni, NY Sun

UNITED NATIONS – The next flashpoint in the Middle East could be the gas fields off Israel's Mediterranean coast, where the discovery of large cashes of natural gas is raising homes that Israel could soon become energy-self-sufficient but where a dispute with Lebanon could be ignited.

The Iran-influenced Beirut government is threatening to defend its maritime “rights” and is complaining about Israel’s explorations. Lebanon’s appeals for international intervention begun last summer, immediately after Israel’s off shore gas explorations showed signs of positive results. Now that years of exploration have yielded what some energy experts estimate to be the world’s largest deepwater gas discovery in a decade, Beirut is raising the tone of its demands.

Lebanon’s foreign minister, Ali Shami, in a letter to Secretary General Ban, demanded the United Nations assure that “Israel does not exploit Lebanon’s marine and oil wealth, which lies within its exclusive economic zone.” Last June a Shiite politician with ties to Hezbollah, Nabih Berri, speaker of the parliament at Beirut, asserted that Israel’s newly-discovered gas was actually found in Lebanon’s territorial waters.

The United Nations is to date unwilling to intervene, but today it added to the confusion by saying Israel “unilaterally” delineated its maritime border with Lebanon. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky also said that Mr. Shami’s letter has not yet arrived here. But, as is often the case, the contents of letters addressed to U.N. entities are released to the press before they actually get to Turtle Bay.