In response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent remarks about the suspended border demarcation talks between Lebanon and Israel, Lebanon has denied having deposited its maritime claim at the United Nations.
On Tuesday, Pompeo stressed his country’s willingness to “mediate constructive discussions” between Lebanon and Israel, urging both sides to negotiate based on the “respective maritime claims both have previously deposited at the United Nations.”
“Lebanon has not deposited any new maps with the United Nations, given that the maps are sent upon the conclusion of the agreement and the demarcation of the borders,” caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.
Noting that the border demarcation agreement has not been completed with Israel, Wehbe indicated that the only maps deposited with the U.N. are the maps of the land border that were drawn in 1922 between Lebanon and Palestine.
In 1923, these maps were deposited with the League of Nations and then confirmed in the Lebanon-Israel armistice agreement of 1949.
The official went on to say that Pompeo is sending a political message, “not a technical one, as he wanted to say that the U.S. continues to play its role as a mediator in indirect negotiations.”
Nonetheless, he said that Lebanon welcomes this role for reaching the demarcation of the maritime border.
