Washington Post: Cyprus offers mediation between Lebanon, Israel to solve undersea oil, gas dispute

 Cyprus has offered to mediate between Lebanon and Israel over a maritime border dispute that is delaying some oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean, a Cypriot official said Monday.

Both Lebanon and Israel claim a small maritime area of 850 square kilometers. The dispute has held up ratification of the 2007 Lebanese-Cypriot agreement, defining Exclusive Economic Zones among the three countries. It has also led to bitter exchanges and threats between Israel and Lebanon.

Neither immediately commented on the mediation offer from Cyprus.

Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war and have fought several battles over the past four decades.

“We are already involved in this sort of thing to help as much as we can,” Solon Kassinis, director of the Department of Energy in Cyprus, told The Associated Press about mediating between Israel and Lebanon. He spoke in Beirut while taking part in the Lebanon International Oil and Gas Summit.  MORE