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

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, the states have reached an agreement on their offshore exclusive economic zone boundary that heavily favors Lebanon. During negotiations, mediated by the Biden administration, Israel conceded the entirety of its claims to the 330-square-mile zone to Lebanon in return for a 3-mile internationally recognized buffer zone adjacent to the shoreline. The remainder of the zone goes to Lebanon, which will also have the right to exploit a natural gas field known as Qana, which extends south of the frontier, and an obligation to remunerate Israel for the extracted gas there.