Jerusalem - (AFP) - The London-based energy company, Energean, began Sunday testing pipelines between Israeli territory and the Karish offshore gas field in the eastern Mediterranean, which is witnessing a dispute between the two enemy neighbors, the Hebrew state and Lebanon .

Israel has always confirmed that the entire Karish field falls within its exclusive maritime borders and that it is not subject to negotiation in the indirect maritime border talks with Lebanon, which are mediated by the United States.

In practice, the two countries are at war, and the last war Israel fought against Hezbollah, in 2006, lasted 34 days.

The company said Sunday that "after obtaining approval from the Israeli Ministry of Energy to start conducting certain tests, gas has started to flow from the shore" to the Karish floating production storage offloading platform.

According to Enerjian, which was granted the license to operate the field, the tests, which take several weeks, are an "important step" towards extracting gas from the Karish field.

For his part, a Lebanese source familiar with the negotiations said that the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, told the Lebanese authorities that what was happening was a "back test."

The source confirmed to AFP that "negotiations are still continuing," as Hochstein is holding continuous meetings with the two parties.
The source indicated that the Lebanese team will hold a meeting via video technology with the American mediator, on Sunday afternoon.

Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel began in 2020, then stopped in May 2021 due to differences over the size of the disputed area after Lebanon demanded to amend the map used by the United Nations during the talks, which it said was based on wrong estimates.

Since the beginning of June, developments related to the file have accelerated after a pause for months, following the arrival of a production and storage ship near the Karish field, in preparation for the start of gas extraction from it. Beirut considers that the field is located in a disputed area, while Israel says it is within its economic zone.

Washington, through mediator Amos Hochstein, presented a draft agreement to resolve the conflict to the Israeli and Lebanese sides, which included a set of proposals related to the demarcation of the southern maritime borders.

Israel had welcomed Hochstein's terms and said it would be subject to legal review, but gave no indication it was seeking substantive changes. Lebanon submitted its response to Washington's proposal on Tuesday.

Two days later, Israel rejected the Lebanese amendments to the draft agreement, which was attacked by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, threatening not to respect any possible agreement if he returned as prime minister after the legislative elections scheduled for November 1.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz commented on Netanyahu's opposition, saying, "I have known Netanyahu for years. He will sign this (proposed) agreement from a security and strategic standpoint."

Gantz described what the opposition leader is doing as "manipulation," adding, "This is a good agreement for both sides."

For its part, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday that Paris had "a clear contribution to the American mediation."

The terms of the American draft, which was leaked to the press, stipulate that the Karish field be completely subject to Israeli control in return for granting the Qana field to Lebanon, noting that part of it crosses the demarcation line separating the waters of the two countries.

The French company Total will obtain a license to produce gas from the Qana field, and Israel will receive its share of its revenues in the future.

For its part, Hezbollah had earlier warned Israel against taking any activity in Karish before an agreement on demarcating the maritime borders.
In response to Hezbollah's threats, Gantz stressed that "the Israeli army is ready for a possible escalation."

He added, "If Hezbollah makes this mistake and attacks Israel in any way, we will single out Lebanon."