The naval agreement with Lebanon made headlines following Nasrallah's threats to the Shark rig and the heated political discourse due to the elections.
The residents of Israel deserve to understand what this is about, so it must be clarified what is on the agenda.
During the withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon in May 2000, I served as commander of the northern arena of the Navy in the rank of brigadier general.
I was responsible for stabilizing the new maritime boundary line after the withdrawal.
The maritime border line was established by Israel as a continuation of the land line, and it starts from Ras Ha Nakara at azimuth 291 (northwest).
Up to a distance of 12 miles (22 km) from the coast, this is the northern line of the sovereign waters of the State of Israel, which are Israeli sovereignty for all intents and purposes. Further along the line, and up to a distance of about 70 miles, the line delimits to the north the economic waters of Israel, in which there are no The state has sovereignty, but it has the exclusive right to use the minerals and fish found in them.
Six buoys were placed on this border line (up to a distance of about 5 km from the coast) to mark the Lebanese fishermen where the border line passes. We wanted to plant more buoys along the entire line, but the depth of the water beyond the sixth buoy did not allow this.
For more than a decade, Israel and Lebanon negotiated the maritime border with the mediation of the United States. Lebanon refused to recognize the 291 line that Israel declared, the negotiations were conducted lazily, and contacts were not a priority for the government.
The Harish drilling rig, photo: AFP
Gives up and allows
Far beyond the sovereign waters is Sde Harish, which according to our marking is in Israel's economic waters.
Lebanon never agreed to this statement.
West of Sde Harish, also within Israel's economic waters, is Sde Kana ("Sde Sidon").
According to our marking, this field is in the territory of Israel and a small part in the territory of Lebanon.
On the other hand, the Lebanese claimed that Kana belonged exclusively to them, and the negotiations remained at a standstill.
Against this background, the Israeli government's decision a few years ago to allow the Energian company to bring a rig to the Harish field without agreement on marking the border line, reawakened the dispute and led to Hezbollah's threats.
A simple thinking exercise would have revealed to the decision makers that a rig in Kharish without consent would put the security system in the north into a frenzy.
At this stage it appears that according to the American compromise proposal Sde Harish will remain in Israel's economic waters.
The demarcation line of the economic waters will be changed, so that the Kana field will be mostly in Lebanese territory.
In case gas is found in Qana, Lebanon will be able to produce it.
On the face of it, Israel gives up a share of the economic waters and allows Lebanon to develop the Kana field, which is close to the Shark field.
However, if the agreement does not touch the sovereign waters and only changes the area of economic waters, so that the Kana field will be in Lebanon's territory and the Harish field in our territory, Lebanon will be able to achieve energy independence.
Its dependence on Iranian fuel under the auspices of Hezbollah will decrease, and a balance of terror will be created that will allow economic and security stability for both countries.
Such an agreement should be approved.
The writer is a colonel (res.) and a former navy commander
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