Israel and Lebanon kept a low profile today while launching talks on demarking the bilateral maritime border. The talks' sponsors the United States and United Nations said in a joined statement on this morning's meeting, “During this initial meeting, the representatives held productive talks and reaffirmed their commitment to continue negotiations later this month.” A second meeting is scheduled for Oct. 28.
The meeting took place in a tent at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the southern Lebanon town of Naqoura, near the border with Israel. The two countries are technically at a state of war. Still, Israeli officials downplayed the importance of these rare negotiations this week, stressing they should by no means be taken as the beginning of a normalization process similar to that which took place with the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain.