On Tuesday, June 14, 2022, Al Joumhouria Newspaper published a news item on its website entitled “Hockstein announces: The Lebanese response pushes the negotiations forward,” which is an excerpt from an exclusive interview with the American mediator in the file of demarcating the maritime oil borders between Lebanon and the Jewish entity, Amos Hochstein, with Al-Hurra Channel. The interview deals with the sensitive issue related to the withdrawal of gas from the Karish field, by the usurping Jewish entity of the blessed land of Palestine. The published excerpts suffice to know the position of the corrupt authority and its parties in Lebanon. It is known that Hochstein had made previous proposals on his first visit in March 2022, although these proposals were not clearly announced, but Hochstein’s words in this interview indicate what these proposals were, and the authority remained silent about them all this period with the sensitivity of the matter due to the election.
Hochstein noted, “The good news is that I found a greater consensus on the message…so I think it was a serious attempt to look at the options going forward, without losing sight of the idea that we have to compromise and think constructively.”
What concessions is Hochstein talking about?! If Line 29 is a right for Lebanon, does anyone in Lebanon even have the right to waive it?! And if Line 29 is not a right for Lebanon, as the corrupt politicians of Lebanon collectively decided unusually! but it is nothing more than a negotiating line, and the letter deposited with the United Nations 11 years ago says that Lebanon has the right to the 23rd, not the 29th, so what is the new concession made by Lebanon?! Is it in Block 8 in exchange for promises, illusions and slogans in the Qana field, which has not been technically proven to contain gas until now?! This is if we accept for the sake of argument that these lines, with all their numbers, represent established facts, and are not the product of America’s interests and the usurping Jewish entity.
When asked whether Lebanon had discussed Line 29 with him, especially since the Lebanese army’s technical and logistical team stated that it was preparing a solid file regarding Line 29, he said: “The most robust files that the Lebanese side is supposed to prepare are what may succeed, and the successful solution requires giving up thinking. Do I have the best legal case, am I in the best position, do I want to be right because sometimes when you’re right, you can’t prove it?” He continued, “There are two parties here and on both sides. Instead of focusing on what is my right versus the other party who sees what is his right, thinking must be based on the energy that is supposed to be spent in thinking, what are the creative ideas that we can all agree on. I may not get everything I wanted, but I got a lot more than I have now, and in the case of Lebanon, it’s nothing.”
Yes, you people of Lebanon, because you are bankrupt – according to this Hochstein – to stop thinking that line 29 is your right. The issue is not that you are right and defend your right, but that you remain silent despite all the techniques and studies that prove that the 29th line is a natural extension of Lebanon! And you should know as you say: This is your right, for the other side sees it as its right! Have you forgotten, Hochstein, that the one to whom you are really ascribed is an occupying, usurping enemy? Yes, he is, and if he clings to America, Europe and the whole world, he will remain an occupier, an intruder on Muslim countries that have no borders, except those made by you and those who preceded you from the colonizers, or the occupier whose army you served, and he is trying to impose his presence!
Perhaps the only truth that Hochstein referred to is when he was asked about his position on the idea put forward by the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, in terms of imposing the principle of “Karesh versus Qana”, where he said: “… I do not think that the matter is restricted to slogans,” and concluded by saying: “…I know it’s hard because people like slogans, and there’s no doubt that things are more complicated than that!”
In this, you deserve to hear these words: You have spoken the truth and you are the liar. This corrupt political class and its parties did not possess, and will never own, except empty slogans and arrogance, but at the moment of truth, they will sell and concede in exchange for staying on the crooked seats of their authority, or maintain a weapon that was used – In critical moments – in the face of the people of Lebanon and Syria, but remained silent and will not utter about sovereignty, border and the wealth of the country and its people.
O corrupt authority, you claimants in defense of the land and sovereignty: Karish, as we mentioned above, has dropped the fig leaf from all your slogans, or what is left of it, and you are proceeding swiftly in America’s project to arrange the gas situation in the region and tighten its grip on it to be a weapon that serves its interests in the region and the world, especially in the current gas crisis in the world, and here is your elder Biden rushing to the region to arrange the matter and movement of these enormous wealth, as his predecessors did before.
But we say to you and to your masters behind you: Draw and plan and bring platforms and excavators from all sides, for in a little while you will be regretful, on the day that Allah the Almighty will give victory to the workers, so they will remove the illusory borders, and unite the countries and the servants under the shadow of the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly-Guided Caliphate) that you planted upon the method of the Prophethood which will take advantage of what you have plotted. It will also take advantage of the wealth of the Muslims as commanded by its Lord, the Mighty and Sublime, Who made these riches in the land and appointed them as successors therein.
(عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُهْلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرَ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ)
“Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors in the land to see what you will do” [TMQ Al-A’raf:129]
Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon
Press Release
16 Dhu al-Qi’dah 1443 – Wednesday, 15th June 2022
No: H.T.L. 1443 / 16
(Translated)