US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker says that little progress is being made in talks between Lebanon and Israel over natural gas exploration, describing a remaining sticking point as “absurd.”
Schenker refuses to divulge what the sticking point is, but hints he may do so at some later point.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, right, meets with David Schenker, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, at the presidential palace, in Baabda east of Beirut, Lebanon, September 10, 2019. (Dalati Nohra via AP)
Schenker, who is involved in the talks, expresses frustration over the fact that Beirut has shown no urgency to find a way to start negotiating with Israel, with the talks only now getting back to the point where they were last year.
“For some inexplicable reason, there’s no sense of urgency there. We’re talking about free money for a state in a financial crisis. I’m hoping we can get there in the coming weeks but it remains to be seen,” he says in a Brookings Institute video conference.
Israel and Lebanon have competing claims on three Mediterranean gas prospects, thought to contain large amounts of the resource. The US is currently trying to broker a framework that will get the sides to begin negotiations on managing the leases.
Schenker also expresses hopes that Lebanon passes a sovereign wealth fund law, in order to keep it out of the hands of corrupt officials.
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