In addition to Israeli voices opposed to the maritime border demarcation agreement with Lebanon, former US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, in an exclusive interview with the daily “Israel Hayom”, strongly criticized the agreement, believing that what happened conveys an image to the world that Tel Aviv is subject to blackmail and is ready to compromise to establish security on its borders.
Waiver of rights!
In the interview, Friedman claims that Israel has made concessions that contradict the Trump administration’s US proposals. What happened recently was Hezbollah’s blackmail against Israel, as the party pressured Lebanon to demand the entire disputed area. He addressed the Israeli government, addressing the issue saying, “Do you want to be seen as excess pay and added value to a terrorist group to protect you in exchange for giving up your sovereign rights? What happened is a very strong argument. that this behavior sends a very dangerous message. “
“Under the Trump administration we agreed with Israel that the demarcation of the border would be a very fair solution for the Jewish state, in which Lebanon would be allocated 60% of the disputed land and Israel would get 40%. Israel was ready. to do so, and we thought it was very fair. I believe that the new Israeli concessions that led to the surrender of the entire region to Lebanon were due to pressure from the Biden administration. “
appease Hezbollah
Speaking of Hezbollah’s role in the agreement, Friedman continued: “During the negotiations that took place at the time, we concluded that the 60 for 40 proposal would be well received by the Lebanese government but was not accepted by the Hezbollah delegates, which is why so the deal was not implemented during the Trump era. It seems to me that Hezbollah is in a very good position within Lebanon to be credited with having reached the stage of the best economy and best deal. ‘whole idea here is to show that Lebanon has its own identity independent of Hezbollah, then what happened proves the exact opposite, it shows that Hezbollah God was a great negotiating party and it was he who managed to get those additional privileges that we did not accept two years ago ”.
He continued: “The deal could be good for Israel if its strategy revolves around appeasing Hezbollah to make sure it starts extracting gas from the Karish camp, and these are not illogical calculations, and it seems to me that this is what they did. : they overpayed in the Qana camp so that they could get some protection in Karish. But these calculations reveal, to some extent, a weakness that gnaws at Israel and pushes it to make these kinds of concessions to avoid Hezbollah attacks. . It may or may not work, I will not evaluate this decision, but people need to understand the message that comes with it. The decision and its consequences. In short, what has happened tells the world that Israel is ready to pay too much for the protection”.
American warranties
Friedman warned that US guarantees to Israel to ensure Lebanon’s compliance with the agreement could be problematic. He justified it by saying, “As an American citizen, I really couldn’t understand the idea of American guarantees to Israel. There are simply no guarantees. To explain to us what exactly America will do? Suppose, God forbid, the Lebanese have decided. to withdraw from this agreement, so what would America do then? Look at the letter George W. Bush wrote to Ariel Sharon in 2005, look at the Budapest Memorandum, they are just paper deals that can be repudiated. “
And he added: “What is the American commitment if Lebanon decides to leave this agreement in the future, what will America do? Will it defend Israel if Lebanon attacks Karish? History tells us that guarantees do not mean much and, above all, Why is Israel seeking American guarantees for these things? The goal of the Israeli National Security Strategy is to make Israel able to stand up for itself, and never try to force America to fight its own battles Well, Israel has made a deal with a foreign country, and the United States has pledged to provide guarantees, but if America does not honor its commitments What will happen Israel will start making demands on the United States, and the United States may accept or refuse to respond, and then the tensions between the two allies begin. “
