Interpol Warrants Ahead of Government’s 1st Meeting
Mariam Ali
Once again, Lebanon is to the International front.
As the country tries to enter a new era with the formation of the new government, "Israel" interferes in the scene by a clear decision to steal Lebanon's embedded oil wealth.
The beginning of the first week of the government's work life witnessed a new item to be added to its Thursday heavy schedule. As the government's agenda was prepared, and on its head, the renewal of the Lebanon's Bank Governor Riad Salameh as well as the appointment of the Chairman of the Army Staff, "Israel's" aggression on our natural resources highlighted the scene under the title: Lebanon will not waive any of its sea oil wealth.
Lebanon to Face "Israel's" New Aggression
Lebanon emphasized Sunday it would file a complaint with the United Nations against "Israel", after the Zionist entity approved a map of its so- called maritime economic borders.
"Israel's" aggression and an infringement on Lebanon's right to an exclusive economic zone came as the "Israeli" cabinet announced that it will soon present the map of its maritime economic zone located between Lebanon and Cyprus for a U.N. opinion.
"For sure we will file a complaint to the UN. This is an aggression on our gas and oil rights and we will not remain silent," Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told "as-Safir" Lebanese daily.
"This is a de facto policy that will not bring peace for "Israel" which is creating a new area of tension," he added.
Mansour said that the borders drawn by "Israel" constituted an aggression against Lebanon's economic borders.
"When there is an economic zone linked to a number of states, demarcating borders does not happen by one state unilaterally or by two states at the expense of the third," he said.
"We left in the region 23 of the agreement map a line length of 17 kilometers without demarcation and "Israel" doesn't have the right to annexe the area," Mansour told "an-Nahar" Lebanese newspaper.
Mansour clarified that "Israel's" demarcation of its maritime borders with Cyprus had infringed on Lebanon's right to its economic zone. "This contradicts international law."
In remarks to "An-Nahar" daily Monday, Mansour said that Washington hasn't warned Lebanon about anything linked to the issue.
His denial came after the "Israeli" newspaper Haaretz quoted a foreign ministry official as saying that "Israel" asked "the U.S. several months ago to relay a warning to Lebanon that it would not accept the oil issue from becoming a source of tension between "Israel" and Lebanon."
""Israeli" foreign ministry officials told U.S. envoy Frederic Hof that Tel Aviv would not allow a provocation on the matter or an attack on "Israeli" gas installations," Haaretz said.
Commenting on the "Israeli" threat, Lebanon's Energy and Water Resources Minister Jibran Bassil assured the Lebanese that the country's natural resources were "not in danger."
"We are determined to defend them, especially since we are fully committed to the law of the sea. If "Israel" violates this law, it will pay the price," he assured.
Bassil said that Lebanon had given its maritime maps to the U.N. and the "UN should behave in line with law."
"This treaty mentions how borders should be demarcated, and Lebanon is a signatory of this treaty, while "Israel" has yet to sign it. "Israel" must respect international law, not through words but rather through joining this treaty and signing it like Lebanon did, or else let it shut up and stop talking about international laws," Bassil confirmed.
Noting that the "Israeli" remarks might be "a prelude to a breach, as has always been the case with "Israel" and its violation of our sea, water, sky and territory - and now of our oil rights," Bassil added that ""Israel" has rarely respected international treaties."
The minister said that he would call for placing the issue first on the agenda of the government session scheduled for this week.
"We will take the suitable measures, like launching a diplomatic and political campaign to defend our right," he said.
Asked about "Israeli" Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's remarks that "Lebanon, under pressure from Hizbullah, is looking for friction," Bassil said that "any "Israeli" breach concerns entire Lebanon, not only Hizbullah," adding that "no Lebanese accepts to relinquish oil or maritime right."
The Lebanese minister said that "the companies cooperating with "Israel" in the field of oil and gas excavation must realize that the investment atmosphere in the region and the Mediterranean ... will become turbulent should any breach of our rights occur."
"Israel's" Step to Rob Natural Resources
Earlier Sunday, "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that "the "Israeli" cabinet approved the draft of the northern maritime border of "Israel".
Claiming that this line demarcates the area of the so- called entity's economic rights, including the exploitation of natural resources, Netanyahu said that "the outline that Lebanon submitted to the U.N. is significantly further south than the line "Israel" is proposing."
"It also conflicts with the line that we have agreed upon with Cyprus and, what is more significant in my eyes, it conflicts with the line that Lebanon itself agreed upon with Cyprus in 2007," Netanyahu added.
For his part, "Israel's" Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the occupying entity was convinced it would win support for its position at the U.N.
"We will soon be presenting the United Nations headquarters in New York with our position on our maritime borders," Lieberman told "Israeli" radio.
"We have already concluded an agreement on this issue with Cyprus ... Lebanon, under pressure from Hizbullah, is looking for friction, but we will not give up any part of what is rightfully ours," he claimed.
Appointments, Interpol Warrants
As for the internal political scene, this week gains the importance in terms of the government's first meeting Thursday with the file of appointments and the beginning of setting work priorities.
"In addition to the renewal of Salameh, Thursday's meeting will appoint Antoine Choukair as a Director General of the Presidency of the Republic, and General Walid Salman as a Brigadier General," "al-Akhbar" daily revealed.
The Lebanese paper pointed out that "the Council of Ministers will send a request for renewal of the international forces operating in the south (UNIFIL), which ends its term at the end of August."
Meanwhile, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said on Sunday that Interpol had circulated arrest warrants.
"I can confirm that the tribunal has requested Interpol to notify all states of the arrest warrants against the accused in the 14th February 2005 attack," the court's spokesman in The Hague, Martin Youssef, told Agence France Press.
Not only the tribunal did not wait for the deadline of 30 days to demonstrate the ability of the Lebanese authorities to inform the memos of arrest, but it also did not pause until the completion of phase II by publication of the charge sheet and calling the so- called accused by the press.
Minister Marwan Charbel commented on the step by stressing that the "government cannot order the arrest of those indicted by STL", adding that "final authority in the issue belongs to Attorney General Said Mirza."
"The government will not interfere in Mirza's work," he told NBN, adding that the government "works in politics and not security."
In a parallel context, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman denied media reports that he was intending to visit Beirut soon.
Media reports had said that Feltman's visit was aimed at pushing the Lebanese government towards committing itself to the resolutions on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and cooperate with the court.
Feltman told "an -Nahar" that the U.S. stance from the tribunal and Lebanon's obligation to cooperate with it is known and there is no need for him to visit Beirut for this purpose
Raad: Indictment isn't Worth Ink
In the same context, Head of "Loyalty to Resistance" parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad commented on the issue.
"This indictment is not worth the ink with which it was written. It is aimed at mobilizing the international public opinion and provoking Arab and Muslim states and Latin and North America against the resistance and something called Hizbullah in Lebanon in the hope they can succeed in surrounding the resistance and tightening the noose around it psychologically, politically, financially and socially."
Describing the tribunal as a lie, Raad clarified: "He who has withstood your world war in 2006 finds it easy to tolerate your latest lie through the indictment. As your goals were thwarted in the 2006 war, the ramifications of this lie will be thwarted and will also boomerang on you and on anyone who got involved in concocting plots, rumors and false accusations and allegations which have no proof at all."
