According to U.S. media reported on April 30, the U.S. State Department said the same day, will send a mediation team to Lebanon on May 3, and on the 4th to restart negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on maritime delimitation.
In mid-April, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Hale visited Lebanon to meet with Lebanese President Aoun and other dignitaries, stressing that the United States is willing to continue to promote negotiations between the two sides on the basis of previous negotiations on the demarcation of the Lebanese-Israeli maritime boundary.
The first round of talks on maritime delimitation between Lebanon and Israel was launched on 14 October last year in Naqurah, southern Lebanon, with a view to laying the foundation for the joint development of offshore energy by Lebanon and Israel.
Under the mediation of the United Nations and the United States, the two sides held four rounds of talks, mainly around lebanon and Israel disputed, an area of about 860 square kilometers of triangular waters.
In December of the same year, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the caretaker Government of Lebanon, Mr. Wahba, announced that negotiations on maritime delimitation had been suspended because of Israel’s refusal to discuss the new Lebanese proposal.
