Following the ratification on Sunday of a joint agreement with Cyprus that sets Israel's northern maritime borders around an area believed to contain natural gas, Israel is asking the United Nations to demarcate its territorial sea border with Lebanon. Israel plans to send a message to the United Nations detailing its northern territorial waters, and, in so doing, reject the Lebanese definition which claims more of the sea on the Lebanese side. Israel emphasized that existing gas drill sites, including Leviathon and Tamar (controversial offshore sites near the Israel-Lebanon sea border), are located within Israel's territorial waters, even according to lines that the Lebanese are currently asking the United Nations to approve. Experts, however, claim that gas may also be found in waters near the existing drill sites - regions of sea that Lebanon is claiming for themselves. A Norwegian company is currently conducting a seismic survey of Lebanon's southern territorial maritime boundary to locate reservoirs of natural gas. The survey is to be completed within a few months. According to reports, Lebanon is asking gas-seeking companies to operate in areas that may well belong to Israel's territorial waters, something which Israel is opposed to and working to prevent. Israel currently exercises its sovereignty at a distance of 12 miles offshore across the entire length of the country. Within this area, Israel has economic rights as well as the right to conduct research. This includes the use of natural resources, fishing, and other activities. It is crucial for matters of state, economy and jurisprudence that Israel set its sea boundaries so that other countries cannot benefit economically from resources within its waters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the Lebanese are trying to gain the cooperation of the United Nations for the annexation of large sections of the sea, which according to international law and relevant technical guidelines actually belong to Israel. Israel fears that responding to Lebanese claims with silence may be interpreted by legal bodies as an agreement to those claims.
Jerusalem is requesting that the United Nations approve the demarcation outlined by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of National Infrastructures along lines that Cyprus, which along with Lebanon shares a northern sea border with Israel, approves.
