The team managing the talks on the maritime border with Lebanon is examining the possibility of bringing the agreement to secret approval by the cabinet, before it is presented to the public. This was learned by "Israel Hayom" from sources close to the negotiations.
According to the government regulations, when an international agreement is reached with another country, the minister who drafted the agreement must place it on the Knesset table for two weeks.
It is then submitted to the government for approval.
However, in special cases, the regulations allow the relevant minister to avoid disclosing the agreement to the public and to content himself with its approval by the political-security cabinet.
"The prime minister may determine, for special reasons of the state's security and/or its foreign relations, that a certain international treaty will be brought for approval before the ministerial committee for national security, instead of before the government," states section 10f of the regulations.
The negotiations on the area around the Shark rig continue,
The question of defining the agreement
According to the sources updated on the procedure, the political level is also examining the possibility of defining the procedure for the distribution of economic water between Israel and Lebanon, as "marking a border" and not as "determining a border", with the aim of avoiding the need to approve the agreement in a referendum.
According to the basic law: a referendum, approved in 2014, in the event that "the government has decided to ratify an agreement or sign an agreement, according to which the law, the judiciary and the administration of the State of Israel will no longer apply to the territory... approval in a referendum is required, unless approved by a majority of 80 members of the Knesset".
Nasrallah warns that drilling in Karish could lead to escalation (archive), photo: Arab Networks
The talks between Israel and Lebanon on the border line of the economic waters are led by the American mediator, Amos Hochstein.
Officials in Lebanon, Israel and the US have confirmed in recent days that the agreements are close. According to reports, they will include significant Israeli flexibility, in relation to the original border line that Israel demanded, and which will give Lebanon a sizable share of a potential gas field located in the disputed area.
Discussion on the negotiations with Lebanon: "Lapid leads a surrender agreement to Hezbollah", photo: Dodi Vaaknin
Israel's former UN ambassador Danny Danon, the candidate for Reali's place in Likud, told "Israel Hayom" in response that "Lapid is leading a surrender agreement to Hezbollah.
He knows that the public is not with him and therefore secretly promotes, through a legal trick, a precedent agreement that will bypass the Knesset and the will of the public.
One day we will wake up and discover that Lapid has already signed an agreement with Lebanon, giving up a gas reservoir worth hundreds of billions of dollars and creating a dangerous precedent for future negotiations on maritime borders.
Lapid must stop the shameful surrender agreement now.
The Likud-led government that will be elected will continue, with public legitimacy, to promote a solution to this complicated issue."
The Prime Minister's Office responded: "There is no approval for the information because there is no agreement at this stage, when there is something to update on the matter we will update."
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