Q & AMiddle East & North Africa

Israel-Cyprus Maritime Border Deal Fuels Mediterranean Energy Tensions

The announcement this week that Israel's cabinet approved a new maritime demarcation agreement with Cyprus may pave the way for Israel to start tapping prized offshore oil and gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean.

But it also exacerbates an already tense geopolitical standoff between Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Cyprus surrounding the energy reserves, which, though relatively small compared to those in the Persian Gulf, are estimated to be worth billions.

"You've got all the ingredients for a problem," says James M. Dorsey, a World Politics Review contributor and senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute.

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