Israel Falls for Lebanon’s Treaty Bait-and-Switch

Oct 11, 2022

Also published in Wall Street Journal
Buoys mark the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea - source: Reuters
About the Authors
David Schenker
David Schenker

David Schenker is the Taube Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics. He is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

Articles & Testimony

The maritime border agreement is a mixed bag, demonstrating how far Israel will go to make peace with Arab states while doing little to decrease the prospects of an eventual war with Hezbollah.

I visited Beirut in 2020 while serving as assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs to restart the maritime border negotiations between Israel and Lebanon that had been stalled for nearly a decade. A Lebanese journalist expressed concern that Jerusalem would outnegotiate Beirut in the impending talks. “You are the Phoenicians,” I assured him—the venerated ancient merchant Mediterranean civilization that became modern-day Lebanon. “I am confident you will hold your own.” My quip turned out to be prescient. Two years later, Israel conceded the entirety of its claims to a 330-square-mile exclusive economic zone in return for a 3-mile internationally recognized buffer zone adjacent to the shoreline...

Read the full article on the Wall Street Journal website.

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