* Sanity Needed In Gas Fields Debate

You probably heard about the complaints in Lebanon of “Israel stealing our gas”. While the premise is indeed infuriating, this is one of the topics where facts and cool heads should matter more than macho politics.

It is easy to get worked up about defending Lebanese gas fields “by force if necessary”, but like gas, this issue is highly combustible. Israel has started creating facts on the ground and Lebanon needs to act effectively to secure its rights if it has any.

There are 3 ways to go about this:

1- We can complain loudly and get ignored by Israel because it’s too busy drilling.

2- Hezbollah can start a war in which Israel lashes out on Lebanon, bombs the south to smithereens, and keeps drilling anyway.

3- Lay off the tough talk and start an international PR campaign, with scientific proof of Lebanon’s stake in the Tamar gas field. The clear goal of such campaign would be establishing a UN entity that will give Lebanon its fair share of the proceeds. Nobody dies, everyone benefits.

Which road would you choose?

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