The port of Tire: Stroll off Tire, south Lebanon. Photo credit: François el Bacha, for Libnanews.com. All rights reserved.
The port of Tire: Stroll off Tire, south Lebanon. Photo credit: François el Bacha, for Libnanews.com. All rights reserved.

Going to the ancient Phoenician city of Tire in the early 1970s, my relatives had a conversation with a resident about Lebanese wealth. The latter then declared that fortunately the Lebanese authorities did not “discover” oil, even though Lebanon was surrounded by those off Haifa in Israel and Lattakia in Syria, thus preventing our 2 neighbors from invade the Land of the Cedars. History has shown the contrary, the civil war from 1975 to 1990 is the cruel example.

During the 1990s, at a reception, the subject was discussed again, this time with a retired senior Lebanese civil servant, who was in charge of various economic issues. He thus confirmed to us the discovery of oil on Lebanese territory and in particular in the Bekaa and in southern Lebanon, a discovery quickly hidden from the public for the aforementioned geostrategic reasons. Lebanon could thus have up to 600 million barrels of oil. Still, according to him, the plans of the Lebanese discoveries stored on microfilm in the 60s disappeared during the civil war, probably carried away by the belligerents, it would be interesting to know which belligerents it is, did these documents have disappeared like so many others during the Israeli invasion of 1982, before this invasion or after. Embittered by the errors made according to him in these years, he would have liked Lebanon to exploit these resources, in order to reduce the various social fractures, in order to strengthen the institutions of the state and in particular the military institution and perhaps, would have – at that time, civil war was avoided, according to him.

We can also recall the problem of water, a problem posed since the 1950s and the Litani project led by Lebanon. Faced with Israeli threats to undertake a military operation including against American nationals involved in the project, Lebanon was only able to complete the construction of the only Karaoun dam in the Bekaa. These threats were indirectly reiterated by the Israeli AF Minister in the 1990s, Shimon Perez, who considered that “rainwater belongs to everyone”, except that if Lebanon cannot currently have water from a river that flows exclusively in its territory, in accordance with international law, this was due to Israeli threats since the 1950s.

In addition to the oil-water issue today, that of gas is added via the delimitation of executive maritime zones, which moreover makes some media say that there is “water in gas”, according to expression which is in such a case, well established.

The Lebanese authorities extend by a straight line – as can be seen for the areas of the Gaza Strip or Egyptian spaces – the Lebanese land borders in accordance with international law provided for by the various conventions on maritime spaces to arrive from point 1B to point 23, while the Israeli authorities, for their part, already contesting point 1B which could be the starting point of land borders – the blue line being a demarcation line which in no way already represents the final border which should be one of the many disputes that any discussion of Peace should address, it is therefore a new violation of the rights of Lebanon, a new demonstration of the inability of the Israeli authorities to take a step towards Peace, since they already refuse to basis the recognition of a starting point of a future border line, refusal which is added to the various violations of the territory and the airspace Lebanese since the conclusion of the conflict in July 2006 – choose to shift the dividing line in their favor, therefore towards the North, for an unknown reason and to arrive at point 1 at sea, 17 km from point 1. The triangle thus contested represents an area of approximately 1000 km ^ 2.

Faced with this problem, the Lebanese authorities want recourse to UN mediation and in particular to the International Maritime Tribunal , the Israeli authorities refusing this appeal, seeming to want to buy time by demanding direct negotiations, things unacceptable for the moment, other cases including the right of return of Palestinian refugees present in Lebanon to also be addressed.

Some in Lebanon believe that, without a direct or indirect agreement, no oil or gas exploitation or exploration is possible in the disputed area. They are in error since Israel has already poached in 2011 the same American company, Noble Energy – the same operator of the gas sheets off Haifa – to exploit the gas present in the zones devolved to Palestine (IE in Gaza). whereas English companies with Lebanese partners , having obtained a permit from the Palestinian authorities to carry out this exploitation, have been unilaterally prevented from doing so since 1999 by the authorities in Tel Aviv.

The defense of Lebanon’s right to prosperity, a right so long sacrificed on the altar of an improbable Peace, our two neighbors having already attacked in the past, the weak link that was Lebanon, must become one of the essential policies future governments, since it can only be a long-term policy. It was unacceptable that Lebanon, under cover of a political quarrel had not already ratified through its parliament the agreement on the delimitation of exclusive economic zones signed in 1997, just like any additional delay today for the defense of its rights are equally unacceptable. The prosperity expected from the exploitation of its resources would allow Lebanon to eliminate the different threats that weigh, via the sharing of prosperity capable of limiting the ravages of sectarianism and religious fanaticism, prosperity which would also make it possible to reduce the cost of the public debt which amounts to 52 billion dollars officially for a GDP of about 23 billion dollars and to avoid the threat of the exploitation of this cost of the debt to impose the Palestinian implantation on us.

However, we must not forget the pitfalls posed by the discovery of important energy resources including the famous Dutch paradox or the impoverishment of part of the population following the discovery of oil resources in the North Sea via a significant increase in the rate. inflation that this country knew then, accompanied by a widening of the lines of social fractures. This financial windfall must be fairly shared in order to avoid, in such a fragile country, that social fractures can lead to societal tensions which can be fatal for it.

All those who work precisely so that Lebanon benefits from its right to the exploitation of its natural resources, namely water, oil and gas, but it is to be feared that the land of cedars can only respond to Israeli threats. by verbal gestures like those of Hezbollah, Israel being the only major maritime military power in the region, apart from perhaps Turkey which has no interest in supporting our demands. It should however be noted that the USA, for once is not customary, support the Land of the Cedars in the request for a UN mediation and recognize the legitimate character of the demarcation of the Lebanese maritime borders by Beirut.

To conclude with a little humor, this is also reminiscent of one of Tintin’s scenarios, namely the Broken Ear, largely inspired by a true story, the San Theodoros / Nuevo Rico war for oil being a transposition of the Chaco war which opposed the Paraguay and the Bolivia during the 1930s , except that Lebanon will have no international support against the Hebrew state. In the end, he can only count on himself. To meditate on …

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