Tomorrow, American-mediated talks are set to begin between Beirut and Jerusalem over the precise location of the border between the two countries’ coastal waters. The two states are legally at war, as Lebanon declared war on the nascent Jewish state in 1948, and, although it signed an armistice agreement a year later, a formal peace has never been concluded. But the presence of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean has given Lebanon an impetus to resolve the dispute over the maritime border. Alan Baker writes:

On Saturday, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed a passerby in Jerusalem, and was then shot dead by two border guards. As the second bullet hit him when he was already on the ground, some Israelis have accused the guards of wrongdoing; a misleadingly edited viral video has also brought more attention to the incident. The editors of the Jerusalem Post comment: