The government convened and finally approved the maritime border agreement with Lebanon

The government convened for a special meeting in the Prime Minister's office  and finally approved the maritime border agreement with Lebanon, after two weeks have passed since the agreement was placed on the Knesset table. The meeting ended at 12:00, then Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed the agreement. Minister Ayelet Shaked voted against the agreement/ The signed agreement will be brought to the American mediator Amos Hochstein. Later in the day: the official signing ceremony of the agreement with the participation of the Israeli and Lebanese negotiation teams at the UN base in Bankura, and its submission as an official document to the UN. ynet broadcast the opening of the cabinet meeting live.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said at the beginning of the meeting that "the agreement strengthens and fortifies Israel's security and our freedom of action in the face of Hezbollah's threats in the north. All forces alike sign the move and its contribution to Israel's security. This is a political achievement - it is not every day that an enemy state recognizes the State of Israel in a written agreement, In front of the entire international community. It's not every day that the United States and France stand behind us and provide security and economic guarantees for the agreement." He added that "Israel will receive 17% of the profits of the Hana-Sidon reservoir, the Lebanese reservoir, which will bring money into the state economy that will be used for welfare and health, education and security. As you know, the court ruled unanimously that the government conducted a proper and responsible process. The State of Israel benefited today - security-wise, Economically, politically and energetically. Good luck to everyone."
Energy Minister Karin Elharer said before the meeting that "the agreement has security, economic, energy and strategic implications for the entire region. After the approval of the government and the signing of the agreement, we will move on to signing a detailed agreement with the 'Total' company, which will produce the gas and uphold the economic rights of the State of Israel. Happy day."
In the meantime, Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed the document confirming the American proposal, which will be presented at the signing ceremony at the southernmost border point in Lebanon in the town of Nakura. The head of the Lebanese negotiating team, Elias Bou-Saab, received the final version of the deal, and said during the confirmation that a "new era" would begin after the signing of the agreement with Israel. Hochstein, who received the document, said that the deal could be "an economic turning point for Lebanon." He added that the US would be a guarantor of the agreement, and that "if one side violates it, both sides will lose."
The exact nature of the planned ceremony is not entirely clear, but it will most likely not include handshakes between the representatives of Israel and Lebanon, nor will there be a joint photograph of them. The Americans don't want to embarrass the Lebanese, who don't want to equate a garnet ceremony with some kind of normalization between the countries. Apparently, contrary to what they estimated earlier, the delegations from Israel and Lebanon will actually be housed in one room, and not in separate rooms.
Each delegation will submit the signed agreement to the American mediator, Amos Hochstein. On the Israeli side, it will be signed by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who will do so only at 12:00 in the Prime Minister's Office - and on the Lebanese side, the agreement will be signed by Lebanese President Michel Aon. Hochstein will shake the hands of each of the parties, but there will be no joint handshake between the Israelis and the Lebanese.
An Air Force helicopter will fly the Israeli delegation and with it the signed agreement to Nakura. The delegation will include the director general of the Ministry of Energy Lior Shilat, Avivit Bar Ilan of the MLA, the head of the political formation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aliza Ben Nun, the representative of the strategic division in the IDF and the representative of the legal advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who accompanied the negotiations. At the end of the ceremony, the Israeli delegation will arrive at the point at Rosh Hankara, where they will make a statement to the media. From the Lebanese side, they announced the participation of the Director General of the President's Office, the government representatives at the UNPIL, a member of the Oil Management Council and the Chairman of the Legal Advisory Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon.
Immediately after the ceremony in Bankura, the agreement, in which the two countries declare that they have reached an agreement regarding the maritime boundary line, will be submitted as an official document to the United Nations. After the ceremony, mediator Hochstein will arrive in Israel and meet with Prime Minister Lapid.
Yesterday, Israel began producing natural gas from the Harish reservoir, and the Energian company announced that the first amount of gas had been successfully produced. The gas is currently extracted from the "Shark Center 2" well. At the same time, preparations are progressing to flow the gas through the pipeline system to the coast, and its sale to Energian's customers is expected to begin in the next two days. The "Karish Merkaz 1" well is expected to open in about two weeks, and the "Karish Merkaz 3" well in about four weeks.
"I am happy to confirm that Energian has begun the process of producing natural gas from the Harish reservoir," said Mathews Riggs, CEO of Energian, yesterday. , and brings clean energy, at affordable prices, that will help to replace the production of electricity using coal. We continue to be committed to achieving our goals for the medium term: producing 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and are focused on increasing the rate of gas production to the maximum, alongside other projects to find and develop additional reservoirs in the region."
The person who will take part in the Israeli delegation to Nakura is the Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Lior Shilat, who said in an interview this morning that "the stability that this agreement will achieve in the northern areas of Israel's economic waters will make drilling in the State of Israel attractive, and will remove a cloud of instability that could have been there." According to him, "The State of Israel now has a third rig, which will flow very large amounts of gas - about half of the country's annual consumption. This will affect the prices that citizens will pay, especially electricity prices. It's a historic event, and we should all be happy about it."