The Israel-Lebanon Maritime Border Agreement: Does Lebanon Implicitly Recognize the State of Israel?
Abstract
In October 2022, Lebanon and Israel signed a Maritime Border Agreement brokered by the United States of America. Lebanon does not recognize Israeli statehood, and the two States have been at war since 1948. This Article seeks to examine the following legal question: Does the signing of the Maritime Border Agreement imply Lebanese recognition of Israeli statehood? In response, this Article begins with a brief examination of the history of the territorial and border disputes between Lebanon and Israel (discussed in Section I), then proceeds to analyze the definition of statehood and the two theories of statehood recognition. International law does not provide a precise definition of statehood and does not dictate a process for statehood recognition. As such, it is hard to interpret implicit ambiguous acts of statehood recognition (discussed in Section II). Despite this lacuna in international law, this Article argues that Lebanon’s Maritime Border Agreement with Israel implies statehood recognition.
Recommended Citation
Mireille Rebeiz,
The Israel-Lebanon Maritime Border Agreement: Does Lebanon Implicitly Recognize the State of Israel?,
128
Dick. L. Rev.
197
(2023).
Available at:
https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlr/vol128/iss1/5