Lebanon and Israel are getting closer to reaching a deal in a maritime border dispute

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to A-U-S. Broker deal aimed at resolving the longstanding maritime dispute between the two West Asian nations. Negotiators from both countries say that the final draft satisfies all their requirements and can imminently lead to a historic deal. The Lebanon negotiations were led by busarab while National Security Adviser Ayal Hulata led Israel's negotiations. The draft was ali submitted by US Amos Hochstein. After months of diplomatic engagements aimed at a resolution, Israel said that all their demands were met and the changes they asked for were corrected, adding that the final draft protects Israel's security interests.

 Lebanon echoed the same sentiments and said that all its requirements were taken into consideration. Last week, Israel rejected the last-minute amendments suggested by Lebanon. Since then, officials from both countries were in close contact with the US. Mediators to resolve outstanding differences. The draft has now been accepted, but it is still unclear when the deal will be signed. Israel will go to the elections or to the polls on 1 November and it is not confirmed whether the deal will require parliamentary approval or not. The historic deal, once cemented, will resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean Sea, where Lebanon aims to explore natural gas.

The area is near the waters where Israel has already found commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons. Lebanon's president, meanwhile, has said that a deal would not signify a partnership with Israel, as Lebanon still does not recognize Israel as a country and officially regards it as an enemy. And for more perspective about this report, we are correspondent Jody Cohen is now joining us live from Ranan and Hi Jodi's report suggests Lebanon is satisfied with a US proposal. What is the assessment from Israel?

 Lebanon has said that the US's updated proposal is satisfying and has suggested that this could be a historic deal if agreed upon. Now, we know that Hezbollah chief Nasrallah is said to be giving an address on Tuesday marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, and is expected that in that address he will comment on the deal. We'll see what he says. But he had originally suggested that the deal could help to rescue Lebanon from its economic crisis. Now Lebanon's caretaker, PM McCarthy had said that the deal could avert a war on the premise side. The Israeli government welcomed the original US. Proposal. They had been rejected. Lebanon's proposed amendments saying that they were just too significant. And now on Tuesday, National Security Adviser Ayel Cruncher suggested that the US's revised proposal would preserve Israel's security interests and that all Israel's maritime border demands have been met by Lebanon. So it's looking promising right now, but still, more to be done.

The Security Cabinet first needs to vote on this deal. Prime Minister La Piers has also suggested that this would go to a parliamentary vote and it's not clear how that would go. And the opposition Likud is suggesting that Lapid, as the interim Prime Minister doesn't have the authority to give up Israeli territory. And also so close to the elections. They're also saying that legally, any deal that would give up Israeli territory would need 80 votes in parliament to pass and not the usual simple majority of 61. And it's thought that this deal would involve giving up Israeli rights to some territorial waters. Now, we know that the Attorney General will look at the legal issues when the final details of this deal are known. Meanwhile, Lebanese President Allen's term is coming to an end on 31 October.